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)”
Category Archives: Neglected Gems
Dance Hall (1941)
I love Dance Hall pretty much unreservedly. It is as pure and perfectly made a B-comedy of the period as one could imagine. Made just at the start of 20th Century Fox’s jazz-comedy heyday, it displays all the elements that made them so interesting and fun. All the more puzzling why it’s nearly impossible toContinue reading “Dance Hall (1941)”
The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
The Mad Miss Manton is one of the dozens of comedy-whodunits made in the 1930s following the success of The Thin Man. Although you rarely hear it mentioned as a classic of the period, it’s always praised as one of the funnier films. It stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda three years before their collaborationContinue reading “The Mad Miss Manton (1938)”
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)”
Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932)
Washington Merry-Go-Round is an inexplicably neglected gem of a political comedy from the early sound era. I can’t figure out why it gets so little respect. Maybe it’s because its director, James Cruze, a visually inventive director of silents, didn’t make many other sound films and never made the A-list. Maybe its star, speed-talking LeeContinue reading “Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932)”
Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944)
Edward G. Robinson was a fine comic actor, but he did not get many opportunities to show it. In his two best known comedies, Talk of the Town and Brother Orchid, he is cast as comic versions of the gangster boss persona he made famous in Little Caesar. His acting is great, but the rolesContinue reading “Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944)”
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)”
Two Girls on Broadway (1940)
I find Two Girls on Broadway interesting for two reasons. First, it’s one of the three dance comedies Lana Turner made as a 19-20 year old in the 1939-40 span. The other is that it’s a remake of the foundational Hollywood film musical, The Broadway Melody (1929), and it attacks the problems of that filmContinue reading “Two Girls on Broadway (1940)”
The Broadway Melody (1929)
Film historians pretty universally consider The Broadway Melody to be the most influential of the early sound musicals. Richard Barrios in his great book A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film says that every technique used in later musicals can be seen in it. It was an incredible sensation at theContinue reading “The Broadway Melody (1929)”
Dancing Co-Ed (1939)
MGM did Lana Turner wrong in a big way. Early in her career she starred in three fine comedies — Dancing Co-Ed, These Glamour Girls, and Two Girls on Broadway — and it’s obvious that she could have been a contender as a comedienne, maybe even a successor to Carole Lombard. Instead, she became theContinue reading “Dancing Co-Ed (1939)”