Screwball Comedies

His Girl Friday is my favorite film of all time. It has been since the first time I saw it, when I was 12. Cary Grant is never better as newspaper editor Walter Burns, who is about to lose his ace reporter and ex-wife Hildy Johnson (a superb performance by Rosalind Russell) to marriage to an insurance man (Ralph Bellamy). Just so happens a major news story breaks as convicted murderer Earl Williams, who is about to be put to death, escapes from custody. Walter convinces Hildy to take this last job assignment and he will sign a nice big check for an insurance policy for the soon to be wed couple. During her investigation, Hildy manages to track down Williams and tries to keep him safe from the police and the mayor. A wonderful mix of comedy and some drama make this my all time favorite film. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell make a terrific dream team. The one liners fly fast and furious, expertly handled by the entire cast. Great direction by the legendary Howard Hawks. Highly recommended.
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Wilson, reporter: Any dope on how he escaped?
McCue, reporter: Maybe the sheriff let him out so Williams could vote for him.
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Walter Burns: Sorta wish you hadn't done that, Hildy.
Hildy Johnson: Done what?
Walter Burns: Divorced me. Makes a fella lose all faith in himself. Gives him a... almost gives him a feeling he wasn't wanted.
Hildy Johnson: Oh, now look, junior... that's what divorces are FOR!

A gem of a movie. Kate and Cary team up for this classic screwball comedy that couldn't be any better. The story involves a zany heiress (Kate), a paleontologist (Cary), a leopard named Baby, a dog named George, a million dollar research grant, and a missing bone to a brontosaurus skeleton. And it all climaxes with the cast being arrested. Hilarious and very entertaining. One of the best comedies ever made. And one of my personal favorites.

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Susan: "Now, don't lose your temper".
David: "My dear young lady, I'm not losing my temper. I'm merely trying to play some golf!"
Susan:" You choose the funniest places; this is a parking lot".

Pure comedy gold. Grant and Dunne team up again for this hilarious comedy about a man who remarries after his wife is reported missing at sea. Everything is fine until the first wife is found by the coast guard and turns her husband's life into a wreck. Cary is in usual good form, but it's Irene Dunne who makes the picture. She is delightful as the former wife who comes back. Great comedy.

Nick: "The moment I saw you I knew.."
Eve: "I bet you say that to all your wives".

The first in the long running series of films about Nick and Nora Charles, a husband and wife detective team ably played by William Powell and Myrna Loy. The story kicks off when our duo is picked to investigate the disappearance of a scientist. Well, Nick is asked, Nora decides to tag along. It's all fun and games until Nick runs into some questionable relatives and colleagues who didn't get along with the missing man. Powell and Loy make the perfect team and the wisecracks fly pretty fast. Five more thin man films would follow this one and they all are very entertaining. But I think this one is the best one. Well the followup, After The Thin Man is pretty good too. Enjoy.

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Lieutenant John Guild: You got a pistol permit?
Nick Charles: No.
Lieutenant John Guild: Ever heard of the Sullivan Act?
Nora Charles: Oh, that's all right, we're married.

Very funny classic comedy with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery as a husband and wife who after three years discover they aren't really married. So when it comes time to actually make it legal, the husband has second thoughts. Screwball hi-jinks ensue with Lombard and Montgomery making a great team. And what's surprising about this film is the fact that it is directed by the master of suspense-Alfred Hitchcock. I recommend this film to any film lover of classic screwball comedies. It's one of the best.

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Ann: If you had it all to do over again, would you still have married me?
David: Honestly, no.

The definition of a dark comedy. When you mix humor with murderers and corpses, then throw in Cary Grant with two old bitties (his aunts) who happen to like killing single old men- then count me in. A truly different type comedy that has to be seen. Cary is of course in perfect form. Josephine Hull and Jean Adair as his aunts are quite funny. And lets not forget the long lost brother Raymond Massey who just escaped from prison and decides to come home. Plus Prisciilla Lane is fetching as Cary's girlfriend-soon to be wife.

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Aunt Martha: "For a gallon of elderberry wine, I take one teaspoon full of arsenic, then add half a teaspoon of strychnine, and then just a pinch of cyanide."
Mortimer: "Hmm. Should have quite a kick".

Another classic comedy with Cary Grant as playboy artist Richard Nugent who through a court order has to date a love struck teenage named Susan (wonderfully played by Shirley Temple) who sneaks into his apartment one night. Her sister, Judge Margaret Turner (Myrna Loy) is convinced that for Susan to get over Nugent is for her to date him and then she will eventually come to her senses. Of course Nugent goes out of his way to make sure that happens all the more quickly. This is a classic comedy that has everyone involved at their peak acting abilities, especially the three leads in Grant, Loy, and Temple. One of the best comedies from yesteryear.
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Matt Beemish: I'm the court psychiatrist.
Richard Nugent: Come back in an hour. I'll be crazy by then.

Classic comedy with a dream team of Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Katherine Hepburn. Kate is Tracy, a wealthy woman who is about to remarry. Grant is her ex-husband who pops by the weekend of the wedding. And Jimmy is a reporter trying to get an exclusive for the wedding event of the year. They all converge at Tracy's huge estate and the fireworks soon begin. This is classic golden age comedy right here. Kate is simply amazing. Jimmy Stewart is really funny. And Mr. Grant is kinda laid back in this one, but he is still very good. This is one for the ages.

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Macaulay Connor: I would sell my grandmother for a drink - and you know how I love my grandmother.

The Marx Brothers in top form as they take on high society trying to get two opera singers into the biz. The wisecracks and antics of the boys are offset by the occasional song and dance, but the film still flows pretty good. Groucho rips off one liners faster than you can blink your eyes. One of their last really good films.
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Otis B. Driftwood: "You're willing to pay him a thousand dollars a night just for singing? Why, you can get a phonograph record of Minnie the Moocher for 75 cents. And for a buck and a quarter, you can get Minnie".