{I've named this post "Part 1" because I might see more screwball comedies and want to add to my list. Plus, there are way too many to list all in one go :-D}
{My Badge :-D}
I have recently grown to like to screwball comedies. I don't like all of them, but some of them are really funny. The thing that strikes me is, that the main component of a screwball comedy is the characters. Put them in any situation you want, but the characters need to be really intriguing or interesting for the story to work. Therefore, the actors playing them need to be able to pull their weight. Believe me. Put a bad actor in even a good screwball comedy and everyone in the audience will squirm in their seats. It makes the whole thing awkward. I've written about some of these as couples, because I love them both and they are both awesome together. I need to do one about favourite screwball comedy animals soon... Asta anyone? But I've given it some thought and here are my favourite characters as they were performed by the actor, in the screwball comedies I've seen - in no particular order.
Susan Vance and Doctor David Huxley played by Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant respectively in Bringing Up Baby 1938
{Scanned by me}
Susan Vance is the sweet, troublemaking, ditzy heiress-female lead of Howard Hawks's comedy about a girl who gets a leopard in the post and drags her new paleontologist acquaintance into taking it to her farm in Connecticut on the day he is meant to be getting married. Add to this a pre-historic dinosaur bone and a playful dog and you have a fantastic screwball comedy! I just adore Susan. Whenever I trip over a coffe table, or spill something or lose something important I just think to myself, that was so Susan Vance. Katharine Hepburn plays her wonderfully as well and she more than holds her own against Cary Grant. Oh yeah, and she deals pretty well with the leopard.
Cary Grant on the other hand...
Well, lets just say, he and the cat weren't the best of friends. He was so scared of the leopard that - according to legend - the cast and crew threw a stuffed leopard through the air-shaft of his dressing room and he ran out as fast as lightening :-D. I love Doctor David Huxley. Geek specs and all. Cary Grant is absolutely crazy in this role, and you just have to love him for it, because in the end you know the result will be fantastic. I shall remain a Cary Grant fan 'till the end. He is my favouritest and my best of everything... Ever. If only all paleontologists were as amazing as Doctor Huxely.
*Weeps silently to self over the insanely awesome fantasticness of Cary Grant in geek gear*.
Peter Warne played by Clark Gable in It Happened One Night 1934
I love Clark Gable. I mean, who doesn't really? And he is so funny in this film, the classic Frank Capra directed rom-com. Peter Warne is a journalist who finds the runaway heiress everyone is looking out for (always an heiress involved) and offers to help her get back to her husband who her father disapproves of - if she'll give him a story. One of my all time favourite scenes in any comedy is Clark Gable's stupendous hitch-hiking scene which goes from teaching Claudette Colbert the rules of hitchhiking to running through all of his hitch-hiking techniques in a row to attract several hundred cars that all pass by at once. It's hilarious and his whole performance is great too
:-)
Alice Sycamore and Tony Kirby played by Jean Arthur and James Stewart respectively in You Can't Take It With You 1938
I had to pair these as a joint favourite because it has to be the "rat with hair on it" scene that swayed me.
You Can't Take It With You is a film about an eccentric family with a daughter who decides she wants to marry Tony Kirby, the only interesting member of a boring banking family. But what will happen when the two families meet? Jean Arthur and James Stewart work so well together. I adore them in this, and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. Jean Arthur is always so lively and James Stewart is playing one of his awesome characters of the Macaulay Connor variety where he gets to go absolutely bonkers. This time in a restaurant. It is seriously hilarious.
{Via}
Capt. Henri Rochard played by Cary Grant in I Was A Male War Bride 1949
I Was A Male War Bride is the story of the French army officer Henri Rochard who is always being teamed with Lt Catherine Gates, much to his dismay. They don't get along at first but then find that they love each other and want to get married. But Catherine realises that she has to be shipped back to the US, and the only way for Henri to come with her is for him to get a visa as a "War Bride". It's actually too funny for words. everyone says that their favourite scene from this movie is when Cary Grant dresses as a woman to get across to the US, but my favourite is when he gets stuck in Ann Sheridan's room after he has massaged her to sleep (sounds weird out of context but believe me it is hysterical). Cary Grant is so great at physical "clowning". There isn't a moment when you can't see that he is really thinking about his movements. Such a funny film.
Irene Bullock played by Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey 1936
Irene Bullock finds Godfrey living on a city dump in the great depression while she is on a scavenger hunt (upper class style... they have to find a "forgotten man"!). He likes Irene, but hates her sister Cornelia and pushes her into a pile of rubbish and lets Irene take him to the scavenger hunt head quarters so she will win. But Irene starts falling for Godfrey and hires him as their butler. I'd never seen any Carole Lombard films before (I know, shock horror), and I loved her in this film! She's hilarious with William Powell - who even on his own is pretty darn awesome - and I love this film. Afterwards I was a bit like, "Whoa. That was crazy." But then I realised that it was not only crazy, but REALY GOOD TOO! All I have to say is, "GODFREY LOVES ME! HE PUT ME IN THE SHOWER!"
So there is Part 1. There will be a Part 2 following sometime in the future. I hope you enjoyed this post!
By the by, I got braces on my teeth the other day and they hurt for the first day or two. Ouch! But it reminded me of this really sweet scene in My Favourite Wife (1940) with Irene Dunne, so I hit photoshop and made a graphic for it! Hope you like it :-)
{My graphic, love Irene Dunne!}
~Bette
0 comments:
Post a Comment