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Watch free His Girl Friday 1940
The full film, free and legal: public domain in the United States.
A star newspaper reporter drops by to tell her editor and ex-husband that she's quitting to marry a mild insurance man. He has other ideas, and a death-row story breaking across the street gives him the perfect excuse to drag her back in. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell talk over each other at a speed that still feels modern, and Howard Hawks keeps the whole thing moving like a screwball machine. It's routinely named one of the funniest films Hollywood ever made. It was adapted from the 1928 play The Front Page, which is itself now in the public domain.
Watch it if you like fast, witty romantic comedies, or you've never seen a true screwball classic.
Why is it free?
Its US copyright lapsed: US law at the time required a copyright notice on release and a renewal after 28 years, and the owners didn't keep it up, so it entered the public domain.
Last checked 2026-11-01; re-checked every week. Own rights in this film or this copy? Email hello@movietrailer.channel and we'll take it down while we look into it.
Questions
Is it legal to watch His Girl Friday for free?
Yes, in the United States. Its US copyright lapsed: US law at the time required a copyright notice on release and a renewal after 28 years, and the owners didn't keep it up, so it entered the public domain. We only play it to visitors in the US because copyright rules differ from country to country.
Where does this copy come from?
It plays from the Internet Archive, a non-profit library that hosts public domain films. We embed the plain original, never a restored, colourised or re-scored version, because those can carry new copyright.
How long is His Girl Friday?
1h 32m.
- Released
- 1940
- Runtime
- 1h 32m
- Directed by
- Howard Hawks
- Starring
- Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart
- Genre
- Comedy, Romance
- Sound
- Original soundtrack
