Smart Woman was one of Gregory La Cava’s first soundie comedies, and one of Mary Astor’s very few leading comic roles. Astor was a competent comedienne, but by the time sound was introduced her aura and style were practically fixed in stone: serious, refined, intelligent, ethereally beautiful, and dignified — so dignified that pratfalls wereContinue reading “Smart Woman (1931)”
Category Archives: Gregory LaCava
She Married Her Boss (1935)
Gregory La Cava was an ingenious, supremely gifted director of comedies. He was universally respected and admired, but like his peer Leo McCarey, he has never been accorded auteur status because he didn’t have the power (and probably the desire) to write his own screenplays like Preston Sturges, or to choose scripts that could beContinue reading “She Married Her Boss (1935)”
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)”
Bed of Roses (1933)
Gregory La Cava’s Bed of Roses was one of the films that inspired me to blog about Hollywood comedies of the ’30s and ’40s. I stumbled on it on TCM. I’d never heard of it before then. I admired My Man Godfrey, so I was interested in La Cava’s other films. Bed of Roses surprisedContinue reading “Bed of Roses (1933)”
Stage Door (1937)
Stage Door is one of the most revered movies in the high canon of classic Hollywood comedies, deservedly. Probably the most utopian, non-heterosexist story produced by Hollywood by that time. Read as queer, it works. Read as women’s friendship and solidarity, it works, too. As critique of the whole infrastructure of romantic comedy, also works.Continue reading “Stage Door (1937)”
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Gregory La Cava’s My Man Godfrey has a beautiful reputation. It’s viewed as La Cava’s signature film, with legendary performances by Carole Lombard and William Powell. Many of its fans consider it among the best screwball/romantic comedies ever made. It was surely the most highly regarded comedy of its time in Hollywood itself — itContinue reading “My Man Godfrey (1936)”
The Half-Naked Truth (1932)
If there’s a totally distinctive American contribution to the comic pantheon it’s probably the confidence-artist as the quintessential modern character. Clever servants and tricksters abound in tales from the Old Worlds, but they are usually outsiders of a stable village or court society. Now and then a royal pretender arrives on the scene like theContinue reading “The Half-Naked Truth (1932)”
Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)
Director Gregory LaCava’s enshrinement in the Hollywood comedy pantheon is mainly due to My Man Godfrey (1936), which is still considered one of the peak achievements of the period. I’m not as taken with that film as most folks, but it’s clear that LaCava was an original director with a strong personal sense of howContinue reading “Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)”