Editing His Girl Friday (section)

==Plot==
[[File:His Girl Friday (1940, SDR).webm|left|thumb|thumbtime=20|The Full film is in the public domain.]]
Walter Burns, a hard-boiled newspaper editor, learns that his ex-wife and former star reporter, Hildy Johnson, is about to marry insurance man Bruce Baldwin and settle down as a housewife in [[Albany, New York|Albany]]. Determined to sabotage these plans, Walter convinces a reluctant Hildy to cover one last story: the execution of Earl Williams, convicted of murdering a black policeman. Walter maintains that Williams is innocent and that the city fathers are only going through with the execution to curry favor with black voters. Hildy accepts the assignment on the condition that Walter buy a large life insurance policy, earning Bruce a hefty commission. Wary of Walter’s trickery, Hildy has Bruce give her for safekeeping the $500 he is carrying and instructs him to hide the $2500 certified check for the insurance premium in the lining of his hat to prevent Walter’s pickpocket associate, Louie, from stealing it back.

While Hildy works on a story sympathetic to Williams, based on irresistible impulse in an insanity defense, Walter does everything he can to keep Bruce from taking her to Albany. Louie plants a watch on Baldwin, who is arrested for theft, forcing Hildy to bail Baldwin out of jail (Baldwin finds his wallet gone as well as other personal items). Exasperated, Hildy quits, but when Williams escapes, her journalistic instincts get the better of her. 
[[File:HisgirlFriday.jpg|thumb|right|425px|{{center|[[Cary Grant]] as Walter Burns, as a manipulative newspaper editor,  and [[Rosalind Russell]] as Hildy Johnson, his ex-wife and former star reporter.}}]]
Williams escapes by shooting Sheriff Hartwell, using Hartwell’s gun, provided to him during a reenactment of Williams’s crime during a sanity examination by psychiatrist Dr. Eggelhoffer. Hildy uses $450 of Baldwin's money to buy the story from Warden Cooley, which Walter promises to reimburse, sending Louie with counterfeit money. Walter frames Bruce again for mashing of a blonde (Evangeline, another associate), who faked a dizzy spell, and Baldwin is immediately sent back to jail. Meanwhile, a messenger from the governor arrives at the mayor's office with a reprieve for Williams. Determined to see Williams hanged, the mayor bribes the messenger to delay delivering the reprieve until it is too late. The mayor gives a “shoot to kill” order on sight for Williams. Williams enters through the window of the press room where Hildy is working, holding her at gunpoint. She hides him in a [[rolltop desk]], notifies Walter, and puts off bailing out Bruce. Williams’s girlfriend, Molly, arrives on scene and helps Hildy distract everyone from Williams. 

Hildy's future mother-in-law, Mrs. Baldwin, enters the press room, having eluded a kidnapper sent by Walter. She reveals to the mayor and the reporters that Hildy has claimed to have found Williams. To redirect the press from Williams, Molly jumps out the window, surviving the fall, but wounded, drawing the reporters away to cover her story. Walter arrives and attempts to trick the Sheriff into carrying out the desk from the building by impounding the Post’s property. The Sheriff finds the gun Williams left in the room, recognizing it as his own gun. Mrs. Baldwin returns, having escaped from a second kidnapping attempt, accusing Walter for the kidnapping. Denying the charge, Walter unintentionally pounds on the desk three times, the signal to Williams that he can come out. Williams reveals himself and is apprehended.

Williams is taken back to his cell, and Walter and Hildy are arrested for abetting his escape. At this point, the messenger returns with the reprieve, telling the mayor that he has decided not to take the bribe after all. Walter uses this information to blackmail the mayor into letting them go. 

Walter tells Hildy that she is free to go to Albany with Bruce. Dejected by this, Hildy realizes that she still loves Walter and is not ready to give up her career as a journalist. Bruce then calls to say he has been arrested again, this time for carrying counterfeit money. Recognizing Walter’s ploy to stop her leaving with Bruce,  Hildy is relieved to learn that Walter never had any intention of letting her go quietly. Walter proposes to Hildy, promising to take her on the honeymoon they never had in [[Niagara Falls, New York|Niagara Falls]]. He then learns that there is a strike in Albany, on the way to Niagara Falls. Hildy agrees to honeymoon in Albany, accepting that Walter will never change.