Shipmates Forever isn’t really a comedy but it was deceptively marketed as one by Warner Bros. It may even have been originally conceived as one. It stars Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler at the peak of their popularity. It has tunes by Warren and Dubin, Dick Powell’s regular providers of hits in his crooning comedies.Continue reading “Shipmates Forever (1935)”
Monthly Archives: October 2022
A Gentleman at Heart (1942)
Fox made three Runyonesque comedies in the early 40s starring Cesar Romero — Tall, Dark and Handsome, A Gentleman at Heart, and Dance Hall. All were witty, full of surprising turns, and well crafted. And all were produced as B-movies. While folks have varied judgments about Dance Hall (it was panned at the time, printsContinue reading “A Gentleman at Heart (1942)”
Tall, Dark and Handsome (1941)
I have a special affection for the Fox comedies of the early ’40s. At a time when the other major studios were going for toney production values to make “prestige” comedies or marrying lurid technicolor to tepid stories playing to Midwestern sensibilities, Fox somehow remained loyal to the gritty escapism of the early and midContinue reading “Tall, Dark and Handsome (1941)”