Saturday, September 7, 2:30 p.m. | It was a fortuitous confluence of events: in the early 1970s, the rights to HIS GIRL FRIDAY temporarily went into the public domain; at the same time, David Bordwell had started his teaching career at the University of Wisconsin–Madison—a young film professor at a nascent film studies program. The rest, as they say, is “cinema studies” history. David snatched up a 16mm print—the first he ever bought for the university—and the whip-smart, hard boiled newsroom rom-com became one of his go-to sources to teach countless students about auteur theory, classic Hollywood narrative, and technical innovation in sound (some scenes in the film run over 300 words per minute—that’s twice the rate of normal conversation!). When I filmed David for the 2016 Criterion Collection home video edition, he hauled out his beaten up print, and with a glint in his eye, delivered a masterclass with his singular brilliance and ebullience. He brought fun into formal analysis: “Every time I see the film, after 45 years of studying it and re-watching it, I still find it immensely entertaining. Every time I see it, I still laugh my ass off." (Kim Hendrickson, Executive Producer, Criterion) The feature will be followed by David Bordwell’s Criterion Collection video essay “On HIS GIRL FRIDAY” (25 min.).

Remembering David Bordwell: David Bordwell (1947–2024), a beloved film scholar, passed away earlier this year at the age of 76. Bordwell’s impact and legacy is widespread: film curators and critics, cinephiles and casual viewers have been shaped, educated, and invigorated by Bordwell’s perspectives. With this series, we invited friends and colleagues of Bordwell’s to select a film that was special to him, in the hopes that, through these titles, we can pay tribute to his enthusiasm for cinema through our own. Read more

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu