Archive for May, 2009
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Rapid-Fire Comedy
Want to see the true genius of Howard Hawks? You only have to look as far as His Girl Friday (1940). As good as Ben Hecht’s play The Front Page was, it took Hawks (with Hecht’s assistance) to take it to the next level. Hawks talked about the origin of the film in an interview [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cable and DVD by DavidE
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Solid Value
Only Preston Sturges could begin a movie with a frantic-paced ending to another movie that doesn’t even exist, and then weave the story so it circles back to explain the improbable beginning. The Palm Beach Story (1942) is Sturges’ funniest film. That’s high praise when you consider that so many of his other directorial efforts [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cable and DVD by DavidE
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Crowd Control
Fritz Lang’s first American film after fleeing Hitler’s Germany, Fury (1936) is a terrifying look at how good people can go bad when swayed by the darker instincts of a crowd. The incredible scenes where the mob tries to lynch an innocent man recall the workers frantically fleeing the city in Metropolis and the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cable and DVD by DavidE
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Classic Comedy Dialogue
Marx Brothers fans usually fall into two camps: those who think Duck Soup (1933) is their best film, and those who think A Night at the Opera (1935) is their best film. The strongest argument in favor of A Night at the Opera is the stateroom scene. It’s the funniest sequence the Marx Brothers [...]