Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
I had to watch His Girl Friday again to reassure myself it was based on the same play. The content is broadly similar: journalist Hildebrand "Hildy" Johnson (Jack Lemmon) wants to retire and get married, but becomes tangled up in circumstances -- a hanging which becomes a jailbreak -- and the schemes of his editor, Walter Burns (Walter Matthau), to keep him on.
Where the two films differ most is in tone. Well, strictly speaking, the most obvious difference is that Hawks' version features the intrepid female reporter Hildegaard "Hildy" Johnson (Rosalind Russell). The result, however, is a screwball romance with Burns (Carey Grant), kept going at a fast comic clip.
Billy Wilder's is dark. The situation at the jail is much more explicitly painted as the result of incompetence and corruption. The business of journalism is likewise treated with markedly less affection -- reporters more cynical, Burns' manipulations more cruel. It's also funnier.
By and large, a superb effort, a must-see for Wilder fans.