I confess that I never cared much for the Marx Brothers. I was always aware that this was a minority opinion. I just didn’t find them funny. As a teenager, I thought they were basically just cut-ups, forcing laughs and trying to take control of every situation — uncomfortably, now that I look back, likeContinue reading “Duck Soup (1933)”
Author Archives: Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr.
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Broadway Melody of 1940 was the only film in which Astaire danced with Eleanor Powell; it may also have been the only film in which he played opposite George Murphy. (I need to check this out.) It was the third in the Broadway Melody reprise series, each of which starred Eleanor Powell. Murphy had beenContinue reading “Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)”
A Damsel in Distress (1937)
A Damsel in Distress was the first film in the RKO Astaire-Rogers period in which Astaire was featured solo. The Astaire-Rogers magic was wearing thin by 1937. The previous year’s Shall We Dance was less popular than the films that preceded it, and both stars were eager to decouple. The studio decided to take AstaireContinue reading “A Damsel in Distress (1937)”
Shall We Dance (1937)
Shall We Dance has been my favorite Astaire-Rogers film for a long time. That said, it has most of the flaws of the earlier films — a dull plot, uninspired camera work, bad jokes, bad pacing, and interminable mugging from Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore. Except for the dances, it feels tired. And theContinue reading “Shall We Dance (1937)”
Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)
Broadway Melody of 1936 was the first of a series of Broadway Melody films that MGM made to match Busby Berkeley’s successful backstage Broadway series, which by 1936 had already delivered five films and had a sixth (Gold Diggers of 1937) in production. Despite their titles, the Broadway Melodies of ’36, ’38 and ’40 wereContinue reading “Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)”
Busby Berkeley and the “Fascist Aesthetic”
Busby Berkeley’s classic films of the 1930s were very popular and much imitated but they weren’t analyzed very much until recently. An online content search reveals that even reviewers’ discussions of the films tailed off gradually between the 1940s and the 1960s. The great classics were rarely seen until repertory movie houses, film festivals, andContinue reading “Busby Berkeley and the “Fascist Aesthetic””
The Thin Man (1934) – 2. Novel vs. Movie
One shouldn’t spend too much time comparing an original story with its film adaptation. All writers know that as soon as the options are picked up and the payments deposited, the film version is out of their hands. It’s lucky that they aren’t forced to sign non-disclosure agreements enjoining them from claiming that they actuallyContinue reading “The Thin Man (1934) – 2. Novel vs. Movie”
The Comic Fetish and The Phallus Game
A core premise of this blog is that Comedy is based on a game I call “Phallus, Phallus, Who’s Got the Phallus?” or The Phallus Game. It’s based on the notion of a comic fetish. The core principle of a fetish is that it veils an absence, the absence of something that is deeply desired.Continue reading “The Comic Fetish and The Phallus Game”
My Favorite Blonde (1942)
I was never fond of Bob Hope. He was ubiquitous when I was growing up — TV specials, USO shows in Vietnam, celebrity golf-tourneys, beauty pageants –, and always the same: bland, smug, delivering one joke at a time that generally hinged on some insider allusion to Hollywood celebrity. I didn’t think he was funny.Continue reading “My Favorite Blonde (1942)”
“Who’s Lubitsch?” — Ninotchka (1939):: Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
Until recently, Lubitsch was rarely mentioned as one of the great Hollywood auteurs. Maybe it was because his bailiwick was comedy. Maybe it was because of his self-effacing mien. Even now, when no one would contest his place in the Hollywood pantheon, he’s rarely discussed as a reflective artist capable of making “meta-comedies,” like VictorContinue reading ““Who’s Lubitsch?” — Ninotchka (1939):: Sullivan’s Travels (1941)”