The Favorite Screwball Comedy Tourney Top 4 Seeds

I am still working on the details of Screwball Cinema's favorite screwball comedy tourney, whittling down the list of films to 32 that will be competing. But I have figured out the top four films of each respective bracket and wanted to share that with everyone now. I will have four brackets with 8 films in each one and I named the brackets after a famous writer/director of screwball comedies. They are Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges, Frank Capra and Howard Hawks. Here are the four films that will be the top four seeds in the tourney:

BRINGING UP BABY (1938) - You can't think screwball comedies and not think of Baby. It's just not possible.

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) - The biggest Oscar winning screwball film of all time..nabbing 5 Oscars. So it brings some prestige to this event.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932) - One of the earliest of the screwball comedies and it deserves it's top ranking.

MY MAN GODREY (1936) - Kind of a template for all those society type screwball films that was all the rage during this time period.

The one thing I noticed that the films are separated by two years. Which I thought was kind of cool. I will post the total list of films by the end of the week and kick off the tourney on Sunday, December 2nd. It will be a fun way to spend the holidays with the best screwball comedies of all time.

Screwball Stars are just like us...

Here are some photos showing stars of screwball comedies doing regular folk stuff...just like us

WASHING DISHES

KNITTING

TRYING ON SHOES

EATING BREAKFAST

LISTENING TO RECORDS

TAKING PICTURES

READING MAPS

TRAVELING BY TRAIN

WALKING THE DOG

AND A LITTLE TARGET PRACTICE

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to everyone from me and some friends here at Screwball Cinema..

Cary and Priscilla

Cary, Kate and Baby

Nick, Nora and Asta

Carole and John

Claudette and Clark

Irene

Jean

Cary and Roz

Carole and Robert

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S DAY!

Photo Of The Day - Carole Lombard

So cute...

Classic Screwball Couples

Just some photos of some classic couples in screwball comedies. Enjoy.

Kate and Cary

Jimmy and Jean

William and Myrna..and Skippy

Clark and Claudette

Carole and Robert

Cary and Rosalind

Gary and Jean

Barbara and Henry

Carole and William



and of course my favorite pair..Cary and Irene

Screwball Quote Of The Day: TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942)

Maria Tura: It's becoming ridiculous the way you grab attention. Whenever I start to tell a story, you finish it. If I go on a diet, you lose the weight. If I have a cold, you cough. And if we should ever have a baby, I'm not so sure I'd be the mother. 
Joseph Tura: I'm satisfied to be the father.
- TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942)

My girl, CAROLE LOMBARD...The Queen of Screwball Cinema (no offense to Irene Dunne)

I  know that Irene Dunne won the Queen of Screwball Cinema on a poll I did here last year and she beat out Carole over on All Good Things for Favorite Classic Movie Actress but to me Carole is the queen. She is my favorite actress of all time and I just enjoy her movies, especially her screwball comedies, where she was at her best. But Irene is a close second. So here are just some random photos of Carole in her element on this beautiful Sunday morning. Enjoy!

Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray are perfect in the delightful HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE (1935)

Just rewatched this comedy classic this evening. One of my favorite screwball comedies, Hands Across The Table pairs my girl Carole Lombard with Fred MacMurray and the results are hilarious. Carole plays manicurist Regi Allen, who works at a swank hotel, and is determined to land a millionaire.One of her regular clients is Allen Macklyn, a rich man who was paralyzed in a plane crash. He's played by Ralph Bellamy. They get along great. Fred MacMurray enters the picture as poor playboy Theodore Drew, III, and the two are instantly attracted to each other. Wrongly believing Theodore to be wealthy, Regi invites him to live in her apartment -- until she discovers he's broke. Theodore wants to marry rich too, and so he gets engaged to an heiress he doesn't love. In classic screwball fashion, Regi and Theodore desperately try to ignore their growing passion for one another in favor of the promise of money -- and fail miserably. Carole and Fred make a great team and Hands Across the Table is a great looking and funny film. It does get a little serious towards the end, but never gets too serious. Carole is on the mark as usual and looks fabulous. Fred is pretty good as well. Great support by Bellamy and Ruth Donnelly as Regi's boss. One of the best screwball comedies ever.
B+

My Favorite Carole Lombard Screwball Comedies

I recently made a list of my favorite Carole Lombard films for my sister blog All Good Things honoring Carole as the classic movie goddess of the month. I thought I would break that list down even further and list my favorite screwball comedies of hers. So here we go:

MR. AND MRS. SMITH (1941) This delightful battle of the sexes that was surprisingly directed by master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. It cast Carole and Robert Montgomery as a bickering couple who learn they are not really married. So now thinking they have to do it all over again, they wonder if it's worth it. This is my favorite film of Carole that she did for no other reason than it's a simple and fun little comedy. Lombard and Montgomery mesh well too. Great directing job by Hitch.



MY MAN GODFREY (1936) Carole is perfect as the dizzy socialite Irene Bullock who hires a vagrant played by William Powell) to be her family's butler. One of the best screwball comedies ever made. Lombard showed that her and Powell still had a great chemistry, considering they had just divorced a few years earlier.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942) The last film Carole made before her tragic death is one of her best. She plays actress Maria Tura, who is part of acting troupe in Poland contending with Nazis. Jack Benny plays her husband and they make for an entertaining pair.




HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE (1935) Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray team up for this delightful comedy about a manicurist and a no gooder who team up to find each their golden goose. Trouble is, they end up falling for each other. Another great comedy from Carole.



NOTHING SACRED (1937) As doomed Hazel Flagg, who thinks she is dying from radium poisoning, Carole is excellent. Fredric March is on hand as the reporter covering her story who begins to like her. Who knew that the subject of death would make such a great comedy. Well it does.




TWENTIETH CENTURY (1934) WOW! Lombard and John Barrymore go at it as a Broadway producer and a Hollywood diva who get back together for a new play. Hilarious hi jinks ensue.




Also notable films include The Princess Comes Across and We're Not Dressing.