Posts tagged as:

screwball

20 Movies: Topper (1937)

by Bill on August 19, 2010

This was a movie I knew absolutely nothing about when I picked it up. I watched it and found it was one of the funniest movies I had seen in ages. This surprised me because of its age. There are a lot of movies that amuse me but not many that actually make me laugh. [...]

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Leopards and actors and Cary Grant

by Bill on August 2, 2009

I rewatched for the nth time (I’ve lost track) Howard Hawk’s Bringing Up Baby (1938). Apart from being great fun each time I watch it, this time was a bit different having read Marc Eliot’s book, Cary Grant: A Biography, and having previously watched Cary Grant: A Class Apart (a documentary on the second disc [...]

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Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

by Bill on July 26, 2009

Directed by Frank Capra There are good comedies and there are great comedies. Arsenic and Old Lace is a great comedy. It achieves greatness through all the elements that make any great film: wonderful script and wonderful performances. In many ways, in making the movie Frank Capra had only one job: don’t get in the [...]

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What Topper meant to Cary Grant

by Bill on July 19, 2009

Although the movie Topper, despite it’s summer success in 1937, could hardly be considered a big movie, not in the Hollywood terms we usually speak of, it was a key movie in the career of Cary Grant (and for those people who came to love the movies of Cary Grant) because of what it did. [...]

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Harvey (1950)

by Bill on July 4, 2009

Directed by Henry Koster “Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be’ – she always called me Elwood – ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote [...]

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Topper (1937)

by Bill on June 28, 2009

Directed by Norman Z. McLeod Fun, light and funny, the movie Topper is a delightful screwball comedy. It shares the style of, and comes a year or two after, the classic My Man Godfrey. Though not as good as that film, it excels in many ways, not the least of which is a very good [...]

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My Man Godfrey (1938)

by Bill on January 2, 2009

Directed by Gregory La Cava Everyone has their favourite movie and I have mine – My Man Godfrey. I love screwball comedy, I love Carole Lombard and I love this movie, perhaps because both, the genre and the star, are at the top of their form. And let’s not forget the pitch perfect William Powell [...]

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