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: The Grand Canon
Design for Living (1933)
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)”
Lady for a Day (1933)
I haven’t written much about Capra’s comedies so far because so much has been written about them already that it’s hard to screen out the noise and to say something new. For the record, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town was revelatory for me when I first saw it some fifty years ago. It was theContinue reading “Lady for a Day (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)”
Shall We Dance (1937)
Shall We Dance has been my favorite Astaire-Rogers film for a long time. That said, it has most of the flaws of the earlier films — a dull plot, uninspired camera work, bad jokes, bad pacing, and interminable mugging from Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore. Except for the dances, it feels tired. And theContinue reading “Shall We Dance (1937)”
The Thin Man (1934) – 2. Novel vs. Movie
One shouldn’t spend too much time comparing an original story with its film adaptation. All writers know that as soon as the options are picked up and the payments deposited, the film version is out of their hands. It’s lucky that they aren’t forced to sign non-disclosure agreements enjoining them from claiming that they actuallyContinue reading “The Thin Man (1934) – 2. Novel vs. Movie”
My Favorite Blonde (1942)
I was never fond of Bob Hope. He was ubiquitous when I was growing up — TV specials, USO shows in Vietnam, celebrity golf-tourneys, beauty pageants –, and always the same: bland, smug, delivering one joke at a time that generally hinged on some insider allusion to Hollywood celebrity. I didn’t think he was funny.Continue reading “My Favorite Blonde (1942)”
“Who’s Lubitsch?” — Ninotchka (1939):: Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
Until recently, Lubitsch was rarely mentioned as one of the great Hollywood auteurs. Maybe it was because his bailiwick was comedy. Maybe it was because of his self-effacing mien. Even now, when no one would contest his place in the Hollywood pantheon, he’s rarely discussed as a reflective artist capable of making “meta-comedies,” like VictorContinue reading ““Who’s Lubitsch?” — Ninotchka (1939):: Sullivan’s Travels (1941)”
Ninotchka (1939) – 1.
As a film comedy, Ninotchka is as close to perfect as the Hollywood studio system could ever produce. As an event — the conjunction of Garbo, Lubitsch, Brackett and Wilder, and MGM — it’s almost supernatural. As a Hollywood product, it’s that exceedingly rare thing: it’s a unique comedy. It’s both a loving parody ofContinue reading “Ninotchka (1939) – 1.”
Top Hat (1935)
Top Hat is considered by many to be the best of the Astaire-Rogers films, and for many others it’s second only to Swing Time. I don’t feel that way. I’m not crazy about it and I like it less and less with each viewing. I know that’s very much a minority opinion but it’s myContinue reading “Top Hat (1935)”