Film Stocking Fillers
A wild west Christmas tree from LES PETROLEUSES. I hate lists, generally — too much film writing is based on the list structure, and at this time of year, “best of” lists proliferate horribly. But if...
View ArticlePre-code Love
My scavenging through the archives to find films for my Forgotten Pre-Code season at The Daily Notebook naturally threw up some interesting entries that didn’t make the final cut — here are some...
View ArticleTopic “I”
Dan Sallitt is someone I know, so although it’s lovely to have him in Edinburgh with his new film, THE UNSPEAKABLE ACT, I was nervous about seeing his film in case I didn’t like it. But somebody had...
View ArticleThe Sunday Intertitle: Wodehouse Playhouse
No sooner had I finished turning one of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s literary intertitles into an actual graphic, than I stumble upon another story with an intertitle in it, this time PG Wodehouse’s...
View ArticleKismet
“Say, what’s the big idea?” “Kismet!” Another viewing of EASY LIVING confirms its supremacy. Seems we’ve all spent decades admiring Frank Capra comedies when we should’ve been admiring Mitchell Leisen...
View ArticleThe Deluxe Treatment
My favourite bit in EASY LIVING is probably the guided tour of the opulent suite at the Hotel Louis. A bewildered Jean Arthur is shown around by Louis Louis himself (Luis Alberni). The sequence seems...
View ArticlePlay
I finally decided to get myself a copy of Play-Making, a Manual of Craftsmanship by William Archer — the book Preston Sturges read when he was laid up with appendicitis and which turned him into a...
View ArticleTaking the Curse off It
“Taking the curse of it” is a writing/filmmaking term meaning to prevent something getting too sententious or ponderous by undercutting the serious with the comic. When misapplied, you get that ghastly...
View ArticleThings I Bought in Toronto
At the Hollywood Canteen movie bookstore, my guide to the fair city of Toronto, Milos Tolmin, strikes a dramatic pose. He also tweets as @HogtownSerb — I suggest you follow him. Hollywood Canteen is...
View ArticleNoag or Yoag?
Rewatching THE PALM BEACH STORY with Fiona (before leaving for foreign parts), which my memory told me was Fiona’s favourite Preston Sturges film. She wasn’t sure I was right, but by about halfway...
View ArticleAnts in Your Plants of 1941
Today I was supposed to be in New York but flight got pushed back. Something to do with a slight snowfall. Daniel Riccuito of The Chiseler reports that the sky is basically solid snowflakes, drifting...
View ArticleAnts in Your Plants of 1941
Today I was supposed to be in New York but flight got pushed back. Something to do with a slight snowfall. Daniel Riccuito of The Chiseler reports that the sky is basically solid snowflakes, drifting...
View ArticleA Cavernous Moo
I think I’m going to start quoting lines of text from Preston Sturges scripts. We can enjoy the dialogue by watching the films, but only by owning the pricey published scripts can we get the added...
View ArticleAnts in Your Plants of 1941
Today I was supposed to be in New York but flight got pushed back. Something to do with a slight snowfall. Daniel Riccuito of The Chiseler reports that the sky is basically solid snowflakes, drifting...
View ArticleA Cavernous Moo
I think I’m going to start quoting lines of text from Preston Sturges scripts. We can enjoy the dialogue by watching the films, but only by owning the pricey published scripts can we get the added...
View ArticlePond Life
This fortnight’s Forgotten — Chevalier! Colbert! Sturges! Hobart Henley! Hobart Henley? Here!Filed under: FILM Tagged: Claudette Colbert, Hobart Henley, Maurice Chevalier, Preston Sturges, The Big...
View ArticleCommingling
Already, after just one FULL day of viewing in Bologna, things are getting blurry. BATMAN: THE MOVIE was one of the last things I saw in Edinburgh, and here comes Cesar Romero, the Joker himself, as a...
View ArticleWilliam K. Howard
One of the treats at Bologna was Dave Kehr’s retrospective of a sampling of the works of William K. Howard, a seriously neglected figure. On this evidence, perhaps a minor figure, but one who deserves...
View ArticleHopalonging
“If you pandered to the public you’d still be living in the horse age.” “You think we’re not? Look at Hopalong Cassidy.” “YOU look at him.” You probably know this one, if I know you. SULLIVAN’S...
View ArticleLubitsch’s Final Touch
Ernst Lubitsch had a sensational end run, with TO BE OR NOT TO BE, HEAVEN CAN WAIT and the less celebrated but easily equal CLUNY BROWN. Before those three is the less stellar THAT UNCERTAIN FEELING,...
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