Destry Rides Again is on every list of canonical Hollywood comedies. A lot has been written about its peripheries. How it influenced the comedy Westerns that came after it, most notably Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles. How it saved Marlene Dietrich’s career. The steamy romance between Dietrich and Jimmy Stewart during filming. Producer Joe Pasternak’s andContinue reading “Destry Rides Again (1939)”
Category Archives: James Stewart
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Philadelphia Story is in a class of its own. If you tried to construct a canon of Hollywood high comedy of manners, it might be the only member. Lubitsch is satirical about that genre to the point of camp. There are several British films that fit the category but American producers insisted that thereContinue reading “The Philadelphia Story (1940)”