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: Gary Cooper
Desire (1936)
I’m on the fence about Desire. I’m not sure whether I dislike it or I’ll think of it as really good sometime down the road. A lot of talent was involved in it. Frank Borzage, a romantic darling of the French cinéastes, directed it. Lubitsch, newly named as producer at Paramount Studios, produced it, choseContinue reading “Desire (1936)”
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)”