Commissions Earned

The 1940 film “His Girl Friday“ arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray this December 2nd via The Criterion Collection. Howard Hawks directed the movie. It starred Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, Ernest Truex, and Cliff Edwards. EDITORIAL NOTE: This movie was previously released on the 4K UHD format as part of a box set from Sony [“Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection: Vol. 4“].

This features a new digital 4K restoration. The tech specs for the 4K UHD Blu-ray include a Black and White 2160p video presentation in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio featuring Dolby Vision and HDR10, accompanied by Uncompressed (Linear PCM) Mono sound. The 3-disc set will come as a “combo pack” with its Blu-ray Disc counterpart and a bonus disc. Those Blu-rays will also include the 1931 film “The Front Page” — “Lewis Milestone’s famous pre-Code adaptation of the same material.”

The 4K UHD Blu-ray is now available for preorder at Amazon. You can also preorder directly via the Criterion website. The bonus materials set to be included with this release are listed below and span across 3 discs (one 4K, two Blu-ray).

• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film, The Front Page, and the special features
• 4K digital restoration of The Front Page, made from a recently discovered print of director Lewis Milestone’s preferred version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Interview with film scholar David Bordwell
• Archival interviews with His Girl Friday director Howard Hawks
• Featurettes from 1999 and 2006 about Hawks and actor Rosalind Russell
• Radio adaptation of His Girl Friday from 1940
• Program about the restoration of The Front Page
• Program about playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht
• Radio adaptations of the play The Front Page from 1937 and 1946
• Trailers
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Plus: Essays on His Girl Friday and The Front Page by film critics Farran Smith Nehme and Michael Sragow
• Cover by Randy Glass