I’ve never cared much for Design for Living, and I’m not quite sure why. It doesn’t seem to be a favorite of many other critics, either. It’s respected, but not loved. James Harvey, whose Romantic Comedy in Hollywood from Lubitsch to Sturges is like Scripture for me, makes an interesting claim about this. He arguesContinue reading “Design for Living (1933)”
Category Archives: Fredreck March
The Affairs of Cellini (1934)
In his prime in the late ’20s and early ’30s, Gregory La Cava was an amazingly versatile and restless director of comedies. When he was assigned to direct The Affairs of Cellini by RKO he had made some of W.C. Fields’s best silents (and according to Fields, invented his lasting screen persona), as well asContinue reading “The Affairs of Cellini (1934)”
Nothing Sacred (1937)
Nothing Sacred is very funny and true to its title, very irreverent. It’s a core film in the screwball canon. It’s one of Carole Lombard’s showcase comedies, and the script, credited to Ben Hecht, is crazy witty. For all that, I’m not crazy about it. There are strange things going on that put me offContinue reading “Nothing Sacred (1937)”