MovieChat Forums > His Girl Friday (1940) Discussion > Almost unwatchable (in one go at least)

Almost unwatchable (in one go at least)

posted 16 years ago by the_piano_dude
34 replies | jump to latest

I read somewhere - i think it was Empire's Movie Guide - that most films that an average of 85/90 wpm (words per minute), and that this film has 240! For an hour a half we're subjected to this machine-gun style of delivery. Why, in the name of all that is holy, is this nessecary?

I don't care if the story and the characters were good (which they were, or they at least had the potential to be), the sheer pace of the dialogue meant I had to watch this film in 10 minute doses - it was wearing me out! It was a serious detriment to the film, I thought - they could have had them talk like that in a few scenes where everyone was panicking, but for the rest of the film why couldn't they talk like normal human beings?

I can see why the film (or the original play) was remade so many times - lots of pople must have thought "there's a good story here, let's try and make a version of it where our actors won't collapse from exaustion!"

I only saw this film because I'm working my way through the Top 250 - now that I've seen it, I don't think it belongs in there, so on the one hand I hope it drops out to make way for a more deserving film (like Arsenic and Old Lace - a far superior screwball comedy) but on the one hand I kind of want it to stay in there so I won't have seen it for nothing!

[–] Filmfanatic11 11 years ago

I sort of agree with you. Good film, but it was very exhausting to say the least. People don't really talk like the way they do in the film. The t.v. show Gilmore Girls had the same rapid fire talk and it got old.

[–] hodie 10 years ago

Try watching it with Closed Captioning. The dialog IS fast.
I had to use CC to watch "In the Loop" to understand the Scots accent of the main character, who spoke very quickly (to my ears, anyway).

Get me a bromide! And put some gin in it!

[–] fanaticita 10 years ago

Watched this film last night and had to turn on the subtitles at one point, but for the most part it was understandable without subtitles. Had to pay veeeery close attention.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] JacintoCupboard 9 years ago

For about a decade or so, obviously longer in this case, after sound came to movies, some directors forgot all about action and became obsessed by dialogue. It became popular to adapt stage plays to the screen but even on stage these works would have been peculiar with this sort of lack of real visual interest.

It was a period where there was a collective loss of sense. Some people love this stuff. Most people don't. It's basically film making that is blind.

[–] xagezos 8 years ago

Totally agree! I came here just to see if others felt like me. This film was exhausting, and not in a good way.

[–] Prismark10 8 years ago

I have seen some so called classics that are unwatchable but this is not one of them.

It's that man again!!

[–] TheArgentinian (6468) 3 years ago

Imagine having to watch it with subtitles. Yes, tiring experience.

[–] trevorh321 (5495) 2 years ago

240 wpm? I can believe it. I just finished watching it and it was exhausting, but in a great way. At times, I was having to rewind and catch what the characters were saying. This film starts out fast and never relents. And it is almost all driven by wonderfully unrealistic snappy interesting dialogue. I think this is the 9th Cary Grant film I've seen and I doubt I have ever seen a better leading man, though I can think of a few others in the running.
As for its inclusion in the IMDB top 250? I have no problem with that whatsoever. I can name several films just in the top 20 I would put below His Girl Friday.