The Thin Man (1934)

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.

Flixster - Share Movies

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.

 

Pics from Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)

Mr. And Mrs. Smith (1941)

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.

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

The Egg and I (1947).

The Egg and I (1947) film directed by Chester Erskine, who co-wrote screenplay with Fred F. Finklehoffe, based on the novel by Betty MacDonald. Cast: Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.

One morning, Bob wakes up and tells his new wife Betty, that he has quit his boring job in the city, for the life of raising chickens, in the country. Driving an old truck filled with livestock, the newlyweds are off to the mountains to live in their new home, a rundown old shack. When they arrive, Bob shares his dreams about their wonderful new life. The next day, they are visited by their neighbor, Pa Kettle, who borrows the supplies that Bob has just purchased to build his chicken coop. Betty scared of the chickens decides help by leading Cleopatra the pig into her pen. Just as Betty falls into the mud, Harriet Putnam, a beautiful neighbor from Bella Vista Farm, arrives and has no problem getting the pig back into the pen. Tom Kettle, Pa's son, who has come to help out at the farm, talks to Betty about going to college, Betty decides to visit Tom's mother to see what they can do to get him there. At the Kettles', Betty is greeted by a wild bunch of children. When Betty talks to Ma Kettle over some homemade cookies she says that they are dependent upon him and Tom going to collage is out of the question..Bob and Betty visit Bella Vista Farm, where Betty becomes jealous when Harriet begins to flirt with her husband.

Betty and Ma become fast friends, Betty makes her a new dress for the big dance, Ma gives her a quilt she has just finished sewing. At the dance Betty is asked to dance by every colorful partner in the county, while Harriet dances with Bob. The dance comes to end when the sheriff announces that the Kettles barn has caught fire and the flames are spreading throughout the valley. Bob and Betty lose their outbuildings and crops in the fire. The next morning, their neighbors rally together to help them rebuild the farm.

What will happen to their marriage and their dream of the chicken farm?

FUN FACTS:

It was the basis for "Green Acres".

First of eight films in which Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride played Ma and Pa Kettle.

Kansas City Princess funny clip

Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell...fast and furious

The Man Who Came To Dinner is welcomed in my home anytime.....

Manic classic comedy with a lots of star power. When the world famous writer and lecturer Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Woolley) breaks his leg while visiting the home of a prominent Ohio family, he must stay there to recuperate. The family at first is ecstatic to have him stay until they realize what an over-bearing and pompous windbag he really his. Joining him is his personal assistant Maggie Cutler (a subdued Bette Davis). In between frustrating the head of the family, Sheridan, or Sherry as most everyone calls him, must also contend with a newspaper man who is trying to get an interview. The man and Maggie promptly fall in love and Maggie tells Sherry she is leaving him. That won't do so Sherry calls his favorite actress Lorraine Sheldon (a fabulous Ann Sheridan) to come there and break up the happy couple. There are laughs galore in this film and its at a pretty good clip too. Monty Woolley is outstanding in his role as Sherry. He may be hard to deal with it but in the end he will eventually start warming up to others. It's unusual seeing Ms. Davis in a role like this. I mean she has done comedy before and well, but here she is very low key. There are times she kinda fades into the background and is over powered by Ann Sheridan's character. Davis is still good here but I wish during her confrontation scene with Sheridan she was allowed to let loose. In the meantime Ann Sheridan has an absolute great time as Lorraine, trading wisecracks with Sherry and slinging insults to everyone else. Jimmy Durante pops by for a cameo towards the end and he gets a few laughs. The very funny Billie Burke is also on hand as the mother of the put upon family. The Man Who Came To Dinner is a solid comedy which I thoroughly enjoyed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheridan Whiteside: [opening a box of candy] Ah, pecan butternut fudge!
Nurse Preen: Oh, my, you mustn't eat candy, Mr. Whiteside, it's very bad for you.
Sheridan Whiteside: My great aunt Jennifer ate a whole box of candy every day of her life. She lived to be 102 and when she'd been dead three days she looked better than you do *now!*

The Underrated Gail Patrick

I need to post my Top 20 actresses ASAP but until I finish tweaking it, I wanted to write a post about one of the most underrated actresses of all time...the lovely and very talented Gail Patrick. Born in 1911 as Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick in Alabama, She received a B.A. and was a dean of women at her alma mater, Howard College, for a time. She was studying pre-law at the University of Alabama at the time she, by happenstance, became a finalist in a nationwide contest for a Paramount film role (which she did not get). This led her to going to Hollywood and, despite her loss, the studio wound up offering her a studio contract at $50 a week.

Gail appeared in a lot films early in her career including Death Takes A Holiday (1934), Mississippi (1935), and Early To Bed (1936). Just making her way along until she finally secured a notable role in a great film. It was My Man Godfrey (1936) with Carole Lombard and William Powell, with Gail cast as Carole's spoiled sister. Gail held her own in this marvelous screwball classic and she would add two more certifiable screwball classics: 1937's Stage Door, trading wisecracks with Ginger Rogers and 1940's My Favorite Wife as Cary Grant's second wife who had to deal with the unexpected return of Cary's presumed dead first wife, Irene Dunne. So if Gail didn't do anything else in her film career, she could say she starred in these three all time comedy classics.

Gail would wind up making over 60 films before retiring in 1947 and after a stint designing clothes, she was an executive producer on one of the most successful TV shows ever made, Perry Mason. How's that for post film career success. Gail would marry four times and was also a diabetic.

She is one of my favorite actresses of all time and she ranks pretty high on my top actress list, which you will see once I finally post it. But I'm sure most classic movie lovers have seen her before..definitely in one of those three classics mentioned above. She was very talented and beautiful and could handle the on screen antics of screwball comedies very well. I dedicate this blog to Gail who was a class act.

THREE CORNERED MOON (1933)

Three Cornered Moon(1933) is one of the first of the genuine "screwball comedies."Cast: Claudette Colbert, Mary Boland, Hardie Albright, and Richard Arlen. Three-Cornered Moon was written by Gertrude Tonkonogy.

I just saw this film for the first time a couple of weeks ago..I thought it was cute/funny. It begins.. Nellie Rimplegar is supporting her spoiled grown children on stock investments made in the Three-Cornered Moon mine. They were living as they were before their father passed away. Unfortunately, the money runs out, they are forced to find jobs. Daughter Elizabeth takes over managing the finances and takes a job at a shoe factory. Her brothers all find jobs. Ed works as a lifeguard, Douglas lands an acting job, and Kenneth continues his work as a law clerk, in hopes that he will pass the bar exam. Elizabeth's boyfriend Ronald, a writer, moves in with them, but contributes nothing to the household. Dr. Alan Stevens, in love with Elizabeth, moves in and helps pay the rent.
Alan finds a job with a publisher for Ronald, which he refuses to take.

Will Kenneth ever pass the bar exam?

Will Elizabeth ever see Ronald for who he really is?