Watching His Girl Friday, one may not only enjoy dynamic comedy but also learn much about the technique of cinematography by how Howard Hawks fills energy in the static, prosaic environment. The restaurant scene, where Walter Burns leads his ex-wife Hildy Johnson and her fiancé Bruce Baldwin, shows a sign of craftsmanship that allows compact, without ruffle or excitement, use of space. There is no need for angles that show the fourth wall. This kind of priming fits perfectly into a movie based on dramatic, temporal, spatial continuity.
Sometimes it is interesting to notice some discontinuities through editing. Still at the restaurant, when Walter brags, and Hildy replies that he never had anything to brag about, Walter reacts and turns his head. Initially, Walter is stunned, obviously preparing for an answer; but he smiles in the cut. It is partly a triumphant grin to show that he forced Hildy to follow his orders, but it is also an admission of her wit, a kind of pride. This instant switching gives the scene a double value.
In the case of corners and edges of the frame, Hawks is fastidious for a painterly balance. In a lengthy opening scene in Walter’s office, a slight track forward put Walter in the cadre’s bottom corner. Simultaneously, the edge of the pant leg is illuminated, and it is the only thing that moves in the frame. When Hildy walks over to the table and sits down to it, Walter stares resolutely into the area where she is not, which creates a kind of spatial tension. Further, the cadre starts with the actor’s head in the lower right corner, in the middle of the frame, and finally ends in the lower-left corner. As a result, what appears to be sterile geometry seems entirely unforced on screen.
To conclude, Howard Hawks is a master of staging an action, which flows unobtrusively. One of the overall impressions people get from his film is that it is fast-paced. Moreover, the director’s craftsmanship allows the compact use of space. At the same time, some discontinuities through editing give the scenes a double effect, and corners and edges of the frame create a kind of spatial tension.