My Classic Movie Essentials - His Girl Friday (1940)

Setting:  A newsroom in New York city right before World War II. 

Cast:
Walter Burns - Cary Grant
Hildy Johnson - Rosalind Russell
Bruce Baldwin - Ralph Bellamy
Sheriff Hartwell - Gene Lockhart

Premise: On the eve of her remarriage newspaper editor, Walter Burns, tempts his ex-wife, Hildy Johnson, back into the fast moving world of journalism with the race to stay an execution.

My Thoughts:  "Oh Walter you're wonderful in a loathsome sort of way" so says Hildy Johnson in the airy arch way that only Rosalind Russell can do with such perfection.  This movie has a blazing fast pace and a constant flow of incredibly witty banter.  It's funny and suspenseful and incredibly entertaining.   For the age of the movie it feels incredibly fresh and funny and feels shockingly undated - despite a lot of very dated opinions that get bandied around. 

My only negative would be that if you are even slightly hard of hearing you may want to make sure the background noise is at a minimum.  The dialogue is so fast and zippy it could be hard to hear clearly if there is any white noise.  And also as far as I can tell this is the only movie that Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell costar in and their chemistry is so fantastic that this is an absolute tragedy.

Why I Think It's Essential - This movie is funny and crisp and just a total delight.  And really more people should watch it.