Few actors (at least in my mind) have ever been able to match the comedic physical prowess of the former Archibald Leach. When the athletic young Brit rechristened himself as the smooth, charming Cary Grant, he balanced his new romantic persona with a seemingly endless streak of youthful exuberance that shone through even the…
I recently received a copy of Saul Austerlitz’s Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy, which was released last month. It is, in a word, engrossing. But a pithy, single-word review won’t do, will it? Nor is that single word sufficient, really, to explain to you how wonderful this compendium of film comedy…
We love comedy here at True Classics–the silent shenanigans of Chaplin and Keaton; the romantic sparring of Hepburn and Tracy; the subtle zingers of a good Wilder or Lubitsch script; even the absurdist spoofs of Mel Brooks and Monty Python–in their own unique, hilarious ways, we love them all. But perhaps most of all, we…
Here at True Classics, we love a good laugh. Seriously, who doesn’t? You can’t spend all of your time watching gritty crime drama and noir. Man doesn’t live on overwrought romance alone. And musicals can only lift your spirits so far before you find yourself wanting to shoot the happy, chirping singers on screen. Sometimes,…
Brandie’s choice: Bringing Up Baby (1938) Airing at 12:00AM EST There are a handful of movies I would personally label the funniest films of all time, and Bringing Up Baby would be near the top of that list. In fact, when I endeavor to introduce someone to the world of classic film, this is one…
Between mystery illnesses and miscellaneous bothers, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks, but hopefully we can get back into the swing of things this week. Another 31 Days of Oscar celebration has come and gone, and my resolution to post a recommendation a day kind of fell apart there in the middle, didn’t it?…
The incomparable Barbara Stanwyck meets her match in a group of nerdy professors in 1941’s hysterical Ball of Fire, a film generally recognized as one of the last screwball comedies to come out of the so-called “Golden Age” of the genre. A burlesque performer with the … unique name of Sugarpuss O’Shea (Stanwyck) is approached…
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) Airing 6:00PM EST Some of the first classic films I ever saw were the old Shirley Temple flicks from the 1930s, when the curly-headed moppet conquered Hollywood and the hearts of millions to become one of the first true cinematic superstars. I loved the innocent, precocious youngsters Temple excelled…
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