For most film historians, the “continental style” of Hollywood comedies in the Interwar period was represented by Ernst Lubitsch and his circle at Paramount Studios, and later by the Jeanette Macdonald-Nelson Eddy operetta kitschfests at MGM. What this received knowledge ignores are the Deanna Durbin musicals at Universal Studios, produced and written by the circleContinue reading “His Butler’s Sister (1943)”
Category Archives: 1943
Wintertime (1943)
Wintertime was the last of the nine Sonja Henie skate-musicals made by the Fox studios, and basically the last notable film in her career. It was also the last film the indefatigable Cesar Romero made for Fox before shipping off to the Pacific theater. (He was already enlisted when the film was shot, and shippedContinue reading “Wintertime (1943)”
Best Foot Forward (1943)
Lucille Ball was ill-served by her studios — first RKO and then MGM –, by history, and probably by her own misplaced ambition to be a topline star. Apparently no one detected, or desired to detect, the slapstick dexterity and hysterical demeanor that would make her the greatest American television comedienne of the post-World WarContinue reading “Best Foot Forward (1943)”
DuBarry Was a Lady (1943)
DuBarry Was a Lady was adapted from a successful Broadway musical by Cole Porter. Like most of Porter’s Broadway productions, it was a racy affair. (Apparently, there was a Madame DuBarry rage at the time. Marie Antoinette’s court rival has receded into the historical background since then.) Like most Hollywood adaptations of Porter’s shows, theContinue reading “DuBarry Was a Lady (1943)”
Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
Arsenic and Old Lace was the first Capra comedy I ever saw, long before I cared about who Frank Capra was. As a young teenager watching a Halloween special, I thought it was howlingly funny. When I watched it again as an adult, I thought it was pretty bad. Nowadays, I still think it’s oneContinue reading “Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)”
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
On the surface, Thank Your Lucky Stars is just one of the star-studded wartime variety shows that were intended to display Hollywood’s commitment to the war effort. Most film historians treat it like Stage Door Canteen from the same year, and Hollywood Canteen, released a year later. Those films explicitly referenced actual clubs that providedContinue reading “Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)”
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)”
Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943)
Of all of Preston Sturges’s films, and maybe of all the comedies of this period, this may be my favorite. The comic pitch, the impossibility of separating satire from comedy, the nonstop 5-dimensional humor, the physical clowning in perfect sync with verbal pyrotechnics, the total commitment of the ensemble to absolute craziness, and the demolitionContinue reading “Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943)”