Nothing Sacred is very funny and true to its title, very irreverent. It’s a core film in the screwball canon. It’s one of Carole Lombard’s showcase comedies, and the script, credited to Ben Hecht, is crazy witty. For all that, I’m not crazy about it. There are strange things going on that put me offContinue reading “Nothing Sacred (1937)”
Monthly Archives: March 2020
Slightly Dangerous (1943)
Slightly Dangerous is the last fully comic film that Lana Turner starred in. It’s very funny, but it’s also disorientingly schizophrenic. It can’t decide whether it’s a 1930s gold-digger-with-a-heart of gold story, a screwball romance, or the gothic tale of a beautiful psychopath. It feels like MGM in 1943 was effectively paralyzed in their visionContinue reading “Slightly Dangerous (1943)”
Two Girls on Broadway (1940)
I find Two Girls on Broadway interesting for two reasons. First, it’s one of the three dance comedies Lana Turner made as a 19-20 year old in the 1939-40 span. The other is that it’s a remake of the foundational Hollywood film musical, The Broadway Melody (1929), and it attacks the problems of that filmContinue reading “Two Girls on Broadway (1940)”
The Broadway Melody (1929)
Film historians pretty universally consider The Broadway Melody to be the most influential of the early sound musicals. Richard Barrios in his great book A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film says that every technique used in later musicals can be seen in it. It was an incredible sensation at theContinue reading “The Broadway Melody (1929)”
These Glamour Girls (1939)
Of the three dancing comedies Lana Turner made for MGM in 1939-40 — Dancing Co-Ed, These Glamour Girls, and Two Girls on Broadway — I like These Glamour Girls the least. It’s clear the studio was experimenting with her, trying out different styles to see which would fit best. I get the feeling they thoughtContinue reading “These Glamour Girls (1939)”
Dancing Co-Ed (1939)
MGM did Lana Turner wrong in a big way. Early in her career she starred in three fine comedies — Dancing Co-Ed, These Glamour Girls, and Two Girls on Broadway — and it’s obvious that she could have been a contender as a comedienne, maybe even a successor to Carole Lombard. Instead, she became theContinue reading “Dancing Co-Ed (1939)”