His Girl Friday

The style of editing in His Girl Friday follows the description of what Bordwell labeled as "invisible editing." The majority of the shots have a very smooth flow that causes people who watch the film to be almost entirely unaware of the cuts between scenes. For example, the very first scene of the movie is a lateral tracking shot that shows the scale of the newsroom. The very next shot is of the women working at the switchboard in the newsroom and it transitions between scenes with a dissolve. This effect effortlessly blends the two shots together. The camera tracks at the same speed in the two shots, thus enhancing the overall smoothness of the cut between shots. This forces the viewer to concentrate on how the camera movement is uninterrupted

In shot two, Hildy is walking away from the women working in the newsroom and then in shot three her movement is smoothly continued across the screen in the medium shot. Because of the smooth transition, the human eye focuses more on Hildy's movement rather than the cut between the shots. There are many other types of cuts that are used often in His Girl Friday. Examples include cross cuts, point-of-view shots, and shot/reverse shots. These cuts appear to us as being smooth primarily because they are so often used in classical Hollywood films that they have become the norm and we are virtually unaware of them. Even in certain scenarios the cuts are not considered to be perfectly smooth, yet they are masked by important lines of dialogue or a strong plot line which makes the transition seem invisible to viewers. A perfect example of this takes place after Walter unexpectedly tells Bruce that he will be taking him and Hildy out for lunch. The very next shot that occurs is of the three characters sitting at their table in the restaurant. The audience is so distracted by what Walter has said that the transition and jump in time goes seemingly

Hildy finally realizes that her true calling in life is as a reporter and being married to Walter. In the alternate plotline, Walter and Hildy manage to expose the mayor and sheriff of their corruption. Earl Williams manages to be pardoned by the governor. Bruce (the momma’s boy), is happily reunited with his mother in the end. Bruce is forever cut out of Hildy and Walter’s world as he and his mother are symbolically cut out of the screen by the door to the courtroom as it closes. This is quite a literal example of closure in a movie. The endings of films in classical Hollywood almost always seems inevitable. The audience’s expectations and desires that they have had since the start of the film are fulfilled and given