By the numbers...

In preparation of the upcoming screwball comedy tourney, I thought I would share some stats about some of the stars and directors competing.

Cary has the most films in competition by far...

Most films by an actor competing in tourney: Cary Grant (8) - Bringing Up Baby, Topper, The Philadelphia Story, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Awful Truth, My Favorite Wife, His Girl Friday and Holiday.

Stick with me Coop and I'll teach you everything about

screwball comedies....

Most films by an actress: Claudette Colbert (5) - It Happened One Night, The Gilded Lily, Midnight, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, and The Palm Beach Story.

Mr. Lubitsch with his customary cigar....

Most films by a director: Ernst Lubitsch (4) - Ninotchka, Trouble in Paradise, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, and To Be Or Not To Be.

Kate and Cary..what a pair

Most films by a pair: Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn (3) - Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, and Holiday.

Side note:

I could have easily expanded this tourney to 64 films but I knew I would not have sufficient time what with the holidays and work. So a lot of notable films did not make the cut: such as Nothing Sacred, Vivacious Lady, No Time For Comedy and Design For Living among others. Maybe for my next tourney, I will make it much more bigger to include a lot more films. Anyway, the fun begins in two more days.

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!

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

It Happened One Night (1934)

One of the first and best of the screwball comedies. Enjoy this clip on how to hitchike, the Claudette Colbert way.

Without Reservations (1946)

Without Reservations (1946). Comedy. Director: Mervyn LeRoy, and adapted by Andrew Solt from the novel "Thanks, God! I'll Take It From Here" by Jane Allen and Mae Livingston. Cast: Claudette Colbert and John Wyane.

The story begins when Kit an author travels by train to L.A. to work on the film adaptation of her book. On the way, she finds a Marine, who she believes would be perfect to play the film character. Kit lies about her who she really is when she hears Rusty and his friend, Lieutenant Dink Watson, putting down her book, Here Is Tomorrow. She quickly comes up with the name Kit Klotch and defends the book. While waiting for connecting train to Chicago, Kit receives a telegram from Baldwin, he orders her to keep track of Rusty and Dink. They both decide to leave the station in to buy some rationed whiskey, and Kit ends up missing her train while trying to keep up with them. To avoid revealing who she really is, Kit pretends that she has lost her ticket and has to travel in coach. When Consuela Callahan, a flirt whom Dink and Rusty call a "beetle," accuses Kit of stealing her orchid and Kit is thrown off the train the next morning. As they continue with their travels they come across many comedic and dramatic problems. When Rusty finds out Kit really is a famous writer, he thinks that she has been using him . Will she convince him otherwise?

I'm a huge fan of John Wayne and Claudette Colbert. This is such a cute, fun and romantic comedy. It reminds me of "It happened One Night" with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.

The Palm Beach Story (1942)

The Palm Beach Story (1942). Romantic/screwball comedy. Written and directed by Preston Sturges. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallée. Victor Young contributed the musical score, which included a variation of William Tell Overture for the opening scenes.

Tom and Gerry Jeffer's apartment manager shows their apartment to the future tenant an elderly man, known as the "Wienie King," who is so taken by Gerry that he gives her $700 to help pay the bills. Gerry is tired of being broke and believes that she has held her husband back that she leaves him. At Pennsylvania Station, Gerry uses her feminine charms to get a men's hunting club, to buy her a ticket on the train headed for Palm Beach, Florida. The club members become too rowdy and after the men shoot out the windows she runs into a sleeper car. In the morning, Gerry discovers that the conductors have disconnected the Club's car because of their unruliness and have left her without her suitcase. John, an eccentric and one of wealthiest men in the world, takes an interest in Gerry and joins her in Jacksonville, Florida. There the normally frugal multimillionaire buys Gerry an entire wardrobe of beautiful clothes and a ruby bracelet. (my favorite part of the movie). Gerry is thrilled to meet one of the richest men in the world, and joins him on his yacht to Palm Beach. When she sees her husband Tom waiting at the dock for her, Gerry introduces him as her brother, "Captain McGloo." John's sister, Princess Maud Centimillia, immediately makes advances toward Tom. Gerry, talks John into becoming a financial backer for Tom's airport project. Will Gerry and Tom reunite and what will happen to Toms airport project?

This movie is full of hilarious one-liners. From the moment Colbert gets aboard a train the fun starts heades toward a conclusion that is not even hinted to until the last scene of film. My favorite character is Rudy Vallee as a eccentric millionaire (and he sings). Mary Astor, as his sister, is hilariously over the top.

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.

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?

It Happened One Night (1934)

It Happened One Night (1934) screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra. Cast: Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.
Spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews, runs away from her millionaire father Alexander's yacht, when he takes her against her will after he learns she eloped with King Westley, a playboy pilot whom Andrews believes to be a gold digger. She jumps on the first bus headed for New York where she meets Peter Warne, a reporter who just lost his job. Ellie's suitcase is stolen and Peter, tries to catch the thief. Ellie misses the bus after getting off for a minute to freshen up, when she returns, she finds Peter standing there waiting to show her a newspaper article about her missing. To save money Peter and Ellie spend the night in a run down cabin where they pretend to be married . Peter blackmails her into giving him her story, and that if she does not cooperate, he will call her father. Peter strings a rope between their beds and hangs up a blanket, which he calls "The Walls of Jericho." The next morning, when the wake up they hear her father's detectives searching the other cabins. My favorite part of the movie is when they trick the detectives by putting on an hilarious act of a quarreling married couple. Soon Peter and Ellie are back on the bus. they soon learn, Andrews has offered a $10,000 reward for any information on his daughter. Oscar Shapeley, a shady looking passenger on the bus, also reads about the reward and recognizes Ellie. He then offers to split the reward with Peter, but changes his mind and threatens to go to Ellie's father himself. Peter comes up with a plan to convince Shapeley that he is a gangster who has kidnapped Ellie, which scares Oscar and he quickly runs off. Worried that Shapeley has gone to the police. Peter and Ellie leave the bus on a hilarious adventure back home....
Will Peter get his job back?
Will Ellie reunite with her new husband ?

FUN FACT:
Friz Freleng's said that this was one of his favorite films, and that it had at least three things which the "Bugs Bunny" character was based. The way Peter Warne (Clark Gable) was eating carrots and talking quickly. An imaginary character mentioned to frighten Oscar Shapely named "Bugs Dooley." Other mentions of "Looney Tunes" characters in the film Alexander Andrews (Walter Connolly) and King Westley (Jameson Thomas) being the inspirations for Yosemite Sam and Pepé LePew.

http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=20854&titleId=12648

Click to view movie trailer.