A double scoop of screwball bliss
If “The Post” has whetted your appetite for breathless Hollywood portraits of old-school print journalism in action, you could hardly find a better, livelier or funnier specimen than “His Girl Friday.” Much prized for its razor-sharp, milea-millisecond dialogue, Howard Hawks’ gender-bending 1940 remake of “The Front Page” stars Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell as two newshounds and ex-spouses thrown into the madcap story of their lives.
A 4K digital restoration of “His Girl Friday” screens Friday at the Aero Theatre, followed by a 35-millimeter print of another sublime Hawks comedy, 1941’s “Ball of Fire.” A cheeky screwball spin on “Snow White” that pairs Barbara Stanwyck’s slang-tossing moll with Gary Cooper’s hopelessly smitten lexicographer, it’s the sort of verbally dexterous farce you’d have to be a total Crabapple Annie not to enjoy. “His Girl Friday.” Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, 7:30 p.m. Friday, $12 ($8 with membership). www.americancinemathequecalendar.com