June 14, 2011

Between the lines of "His Girl Friday"

I found this gem yesterday and just had to share. Somebody edited out all the parts of His Girl Friday (1940) that feature someone talking, leaving an 8-minute short film that still essentially communicates the plot and humor of the full-length version. If you're not familiar with HGF, it's a screwball comedy known for containing one of the highest ratios of dialogue per square inch. It constantly overlaps and barely offers the cast (or the audience) a chance to catch their breath. The wordless version, then, reads kind of like an alternate reality, even though the material is all pulled from the original. Whether or not you've seen the film, you'll love this (particularly if you're a fan of the funny noises Cary Grant makes in his comedies). I've embedded it below for the lazy, or you can find a higher quality version here. Either way, enjoy!

1 comment:

Chris said...

I remember viewing His Girl Friday, I has to pause like every 10 minutes or so to catch my breathe, haha. Gives new meaning to the term quick-fire dialogue ( :