MGM’s 1941 version of Charley’s Aunt shouldn’t be a neglected gem. It was very popular when it was released. It made the studio a lot of money. The play on which it is based has been one of the most popular farces in modern history. Wikipedia tells me that it has been performed continuously allContinue reading “Charley’s Aunt (1941)”
Category Archives: 1941
Maisie Was A Lady (1941)
Maisie Was a Lady, the fourth film in the MAISIE franchise, is the best made of the nine MAISIE films. (I take a stab at describing the MAISIE series here.) Cinematically, it’s the most polished. Its script is the tightest (the MAISIE dream-team of Mary McCall, Jr. and Betty Reinhardt was joined by Capra-BFF MylesContinue reading “Maisie Was A Lady (1941)”
Love Crazy (1941)
Following the popularity of The Thin Man in 1934, MGM decided to keep the golden pairing of William Powell and Myrna Loy running on two parallel streams. One was to be the series of increasingly tepid and unimaginative sequels to The Thin Man. The other was a string of stand-alone comedies, all of them betterContinue reading “Love Crazy (1941)”
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)”
Dance Hall (1941)
I love Dance Hall pretty much unreservedly. It is as pure and perfectly made a B-comedy of the period as one could imagine. Made just at the start of 20th Century Fox’s jazz-comedy heyday, it displays all the elements that made them so interesting and fun. All the more puzzling why it’s nearly impossible toContinue reading “Dance Hall (1941)”
The Lady Eve (1941)
The Lady Eve is the Sistine Chapel of screwball comedies. A lot has been written about it, but somehow it eludes analysis. When I taught courses on film comedy, I’d warn my students: don’t ever think you’re smarter than Preston Sturges, don’t ever think to yourself “I’ve got this all figured out.” On a thirdContinue reading “The Lady Eve (1941)”
Hellzapoppin’ (1941) – 1.
Hellzapoppin’ is the Citizen Kane of anarcho-comedy. The movie adaptation of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson’s long-running and apparently endlessly inventive Broadway show, it’s widely considered one of the funniest movies ever made, competing with Duck Soup for top honors among madcap films. And yet amazingly it was unavailable until quite recently, tied up byContinue reading “Hellzapoppin’ (1941) – 1.”
Honky Tonk (1941)
I have a problem with Clark Gable. Never liked him. I learned to appreciate his comic thing of the Thirties, but I never really liked it. Honky Tonk was conceived as a Clark- Gable-Comedy-After-Gone-With-The-Wind. By this time Gable was so much “Clark Gable” that the scales were ready to moult. The real star of theContinue reading “Honky Tonk (1941)”
Ball of Fire (1941)
For some reason Ball of Fire doesn’t figure in the Grand Canon of classic Hollywood sound comedies. Film historians who write endlessly about its director, Howard Hawks, and its screenplay writers, Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, rarely mention the film, except maybe in footnotes. Apparently it isn’t dazzling enough when compared with Hawks’s ground-breaking motormouthContinue reading “Ball of Fire (1941)”
Sweetheart of the Campus (1941)
Some folks won’t be surprised, but I’ll bet some you will be mind-blown by this. I adore this movie, a true unappreciated little gem. This was the last film that starred Ruby Keeler, now without Dick Powell. I have no love for Keeler as an actress or dancer, but lo and behold, the center ofContinue reading “Sweetheart of the Campus (1941)”