As the 1930s came to a close, the screwball comedy was still around and going strong. Midnight feels like the perfect transitional film from the screwballs of the 1930s and their preoccupation with exorbitant wealth (My Man Godfrey, If You Could Only Cook) and screwballs of the 1940s, which kept a class-conscious interest (and penchant for sending up the uber-rich) but branched out to feature, for example, anxieties of war (To Be or Not To Be, Hail the Conquering Hero).…
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Daisy Kenyon 1947
I first watched Daisy Kenyon in 2018. As a few years had past (and I'd watched over a thousand movies in the interim), the specifics of the plot had not stuck around, but the intense emotions this movie made me feel were still quite memorable and came flooding back to me as the eponymous Daisy (Joan Crawford), Dan O'Mara (Dana Andrews) and Peter Lapham (Henry Fonda) were all introduced. All of the love I felt for Peter and all the…
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Humoresque 1946
TW: mentions of suicide
Some spoilers
"I spend my life doing penance for things I never should have done in the first place."
"I don't know how you men get that way but every time you meet an attractive woman you begin to plan on how and where you can club her wings down."
"Paul, what good is a woman who's no use to anyone?"
I can't believe I gave this film three stars back when I first watched it…
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Hands Across the Table 1935
"I wonder what the poor people are doing on a day like this."
"Marry the rich one, Ted. Believe me, if I were you, it's what I would do."
After watching and adoring Mitchell Leisen's screwball comedy Midnight the other night, I was even more eager to finally watch Hands Across the Table, a movie that had been on my radar for a while due to the combined star power of Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, both of whom proved…
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Hollywood 2020
There is a throwaway line in Hollywood where Ernie, hoping the film he's starred in will win Best Sound Editing, is frustrated when that Oscar actually goes to Body and Soul. He calls Body and Soul "that piece of shit".
Hollywood is built around self congratulatory masturbation for its creators. Lord knows how proud Ryan Murphy must be for rewriting Hollywood history in an attempt to give a voice to Black men and women, Asian-American women, and gay men who…
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Down Argentine Way 1940
A breezy 88 minute musical with an unmemorable and thin romance and plot (though I'll admit I got quite invested in Furioso's final race) but it's all mostly just an excuse for some excellent song and dance numbers. The Nicholas Brothers, as always, steal the show; they really never stop astounding me with their energy, talent, and combination of flexibility and strength. Carmen Miranda is another highlight, singing three songs and doing so with her now iconic charisma and style.…
