Friday, January 27, 2012

Comedic

Time off work and the complete lack of anything worth watching on TV resulted in four old movies providing me with varying degrees of entertainment in the last week.
"Mr Deeds Goes To Town" (1936) is the story of a naive small-town musician (Gary Cooper) who inherits a fortune, goes to the big city and is taken advantage of and made a laughing stock by the city slickers. All ends well of course. Loved Jean Arthur ( a very underrated actress in my opinion) as the jaded reporter who falls for Mr Longfellow Deeds. Very enjoyable.
"Topper"(1937) with Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as two mischievous
ghosts who must do a good deed before they can "move on". Slightly disappointed in this. It depended a lot on physical comedy and what I can only assume were state of the art special effects back in 1937. On occasion, I could see the "invisible" strings attached to various objects the ghosts were moving around.
 "Nothing Sacred"(1937) is the first movie I've watched so far in glorious technicolour! This movie was a delight from beginning to end. Carole Lombard simply adorable as the girl allegedly dying of radium poisoning who is taken to New York and treated like a superstar. Fredric March as the reporter (of course, there's always a reporter in these screwball comedies) was also wonderful. Plenty of laughs throughout.


"Bringing Up Baby"(1938) is probably the most well known screwball comedy of this period. Katharine Hepburn as the daffy (and very irritating) rich girl and Cary Grant as the long-suffering paleontologist she attempts to "help" were both very good in their roles. I have watched this movie within the last couple of years because C wanted to watch it. I can never quite pinpoint why I don't like it as much as I should.


Katharine Hepburn with "Baby" the leopard.

4 comments:

Cardemom said...

Not sure if you're looking for suggestions but these popped into my mind when I saw your list:
1. "Harvey" - with Jimmie Stewart and the invisible rabbit
2. "You Can't Take It With You" with Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur
3. "Arsenic and Old Lace" with Cary Grant.
4. "Philadelphia Story" with BOTH Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant AND Katherine Hepburn. Sharp!

Amanda Lee said...

Thanks for commenting, Cardemom!These are all great movies - "Arsenic and Old Lace" is one of my all time favourites. At the moment, I'm only rewatching the movies I actually own but after that I'll be on the lookout for the ones I really should have in my collection.

Patti said...

Love your blog and absolutely love your current post, although I have to admit, "Bringing Up Baby" is one of my favorite romantic comedies. Of course, I love anything with Cary Grant in it.

I looked at your profile and see that some of your favorite books are also some of mine. "Rebecca" is my all-time favorite. (Hmmm, does your screen name "Manderley" have anything to do with Maxim's home?!!) I've been recommending "The Book Thief" and "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" to every book lover I meet!
Anyway, I'll be coming back to your blog often. Wish you were on Facebook!
Take care!

Amanda Lee said...

Thanks for visiting Patti! Great to hear from a fellow movie buff and book lover. Yes, I love the book and movie "Rebecca" and my name is taken from this but it is also a play on my real name...
(PS.I adore Cary Grant!)