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)”
Category Archives: 1942
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Preston Sturges was the only true comic genius of classic Hollywood comedy. He was the most artistically ambitious comic director of his time. He wanted to do everything better than anyone else around him. He wanted to be the best screenwriter, the best director, the best synthesizer of comic styles — not just of filmContinue reading “The Palm Beach Story (1942)”
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)”
The Male Animal (1942)
The Male Animal is only intermittently funny, often plodding as a comedy — but it’s interesting from beginning to end. It was directed by Elliott Nugent, who had written the original Broadway play of it in collaboration with his friend and fellow Ohio State alum, James Thurber. Nugent had played the lead role on stage;Continue reading “The Male Animal (1942)”
You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
The Astaire-Rogers partnership began to evaporate after Shall We Dance in 1937. They did make one other Sandrich-directed film, Carefree, before their subsequent films began to count as reunions, but you can feel that the studios no longer trust the magic. Both Astaire and Rogers had to some extent been yoked into the partnership byContinue reading “You Were Never Lovelier (1942)”
Holiday Inn (1942)
I’ve seen the Astaire-Rogers films so many times that I can practically name the dance steps, but I’ve seen very few of Bing Crosby’s movies. I wasn’t into him — I didn’t get the appeal. I knew him mainly from television and records, and the crooning style left me cold. (I don’t care for Sinatra,Continue reading “Holiday Inn (1942)”
Orchestra Wives (1942)
Orchestra Wives is one of the 20th Century Fox musicals of the 40s that were made on B-budgets, but are elevated to A-status by their music and cinematography. It’s a dreamy jazz band movie with almost zero narrative — but very funny and erotic, with great music and the best routine by The Nichols BrothersContinue reading “Orchestra Wives (1942)”
Her Cardboard Lover (1942)
Her Cardboard Lover was directed by George Cukor two years after Philadelphia Story and two years before Gaslight. The movie has its fans, but to me it’s a royal mess. It’s clearly an adaptation of a French bedroom farce — literally, in fact, since it’s based on a 1927 Parisian play that was immediately translatedContinue reading “Her Cardboard Lover (1942)”
Syncopation (1942)
William Dieterle’s Syncopation is a comic bio-pic about the evolution of New Orleans jazz. Basically a love letter to the New Orleans origins of jazz, and some say based on the Bix Beiderbecke-Bunny Berrigan-Louis Armstrong friendship, it’s a sincere white lefty plea to take jazz seriously as not only an African-American art, but as theContinue reading “Syncopation (1942)”