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ENGLISH 299B: FILM AS NARRATIVE ART MR. KELLEY. HIS GIRL FRIDAY (HOWARD HAWKS, 1940). According to Joseph McBride, the films of Howard Hawks
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According to Joseph McBride, the films of Howard Hawks “almost always deal with a tightly knit group of professionals trying to perform a difficult task together while upholding their own rigorously defined code of conduct. Whether they are gunfighters, aviators, hunters, detectives, newspapermen, or scientists, Hawks’s people function in a self-enclosed society in which the standard of personal conduct are professional skill, group loyalty, and self-respect.”
POINTS TO CONSIDER: • What is marriage in this film? What is divorce? How are they portrayed? What values are represented by each “institution”? • What role does the introduction of typical Communist rhetoric play in the film? • What are the major tensions or values in the film?
More Points to Consider: • Consider the character of Earl. Bear in mind that the action of the film takes place against the background of an impending death. Why is this? • The images of jail and imprisonment are central to the film’s themes. Where do we see this imagery, and how, and why?
More Points to Consider: • How is journalism portrayed here? What are “facts”? What are these journalists interested in? • What is the verbal style of the film? Why is it appropriate for the themes of the film?
SELECTED HAWKS FILMOGRAPHY • Scarface (1932) • Bringing up Baby (1938) • Only Angels Have Wings (1939) • Sergeant York (1941) • Ball of Fire (1941) • To Have and Have Not (1944) • The Big Sleep (1946) • Red River (1948) • Rio Bravo (1959)