In 1934, director Frank Capra released the seminal classic It Happened One Night, a picture that helped define the relatively new genre of screwball comedy. On the heels of that film’s monumental success, Capra followed up with another comedy, Broadway Bill. But while Night became a perennial favorite, Bill virtually disappeared for decades after its release; according to the TCMdb entry on…
The Americanization of Emily (1964) is a wonderfully satirical, dark comedy about a “dog robber” in the US Navy serving during WWII. Starring James Garner as Charlie, a self-proclaimed coward, the film tells the story of this unscrupulous officer who prefers to avoid heroism in lieu of self-preservation. Although deemed unpatriotic by some critics, The…
Director Raoul Walsh was not particularly known for producing lighter cinematic fare. Though his five decade-long filmography ranges from comedies to dramas to Westerns, Walsh is primarily remembered as the director of a string of successful, heavily male-driven flicks in the 1940s, beginning with a trio of Humphrey Bogart-led movies including The Roaring Twenties (1939), They Drive by Night (1940),…
The 1942 production Her Cardboard Lover may be a minor comedy by definition, but it remains an important artifact for one simple reason: it is star Norma Shearer’s last film. At the age of 42, Shearer decided to end her nearly two-decade long career after the mediocre public reception of this film. Audiences were more interested in dramatic,…
Peter Morgan (James Stewart) has been sent to New York City to retrieve his womanizing cousin, Keith (James Ellison), and bring him back to their small college town of Old Sharon. He finds Keith in a nightclub, but is unable to convince his love-struck cousin to come with him. However, when Peter meets the object…
Connie Fuller (Ann Sheridan) has a fondness for antiques that her husband, Bill (Jack Benny), begrudgingly accepts (albeit with an air of exasperation). Connie longs to get out of the city and away from apartment living, so without telling Bill—a dedicated New Yorker if there ever was one—she purchases a dilapidated old farmhouse in the…
Once upon a time, two young men, John Reeves and Tom Hartland, worked together at a shoe factory and became friends, forming a partnership to make their own shoes. But when a woman came into the picture, their partnership dissolved; Hartland won the girl, and the two men established their own respective shoe companies. Years…
There’s a brilliant bit of dialogue in the middle of Howard Hawks’ 1940 screwball masterpiece His Girl Friday that succinctly sums up the film’s derisive views on the profession of journalism. [At this point, I should probably go ahead and warn you that this post will be chock-full of spoilers.] A group of reporters have gathered…
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