It’s been a while, hasn’t it? With one thing or another (most importantly, of course, I’ve become the godmother of my adorable little nephew Elias) this year has flown by – and today Christmas season has officially started, wow!
Somehow fitting the season, these last couple of weeks I’ve gone on a Classic Hollywood kick, mainlining black-and-white movies, mostly screwball and romantic comedies and Astaire-Rogers musicals. I’ve also devoured the delightful “Scandals of Classic Hollywood” by Anne Helen Petersen, both the original blog series and the book, and have lined up some biographies to read next. It’s just such a fascinating era, and a lot of the movies are simply first class!
Long-time favourites:
The Philadelphia Story with Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant & James Stewart
Ain’t No Other Man by Sof – set to Christina Aguilera, this is a brilliant tribute to what is one of my all-time favourite movies! (I cringe at the dressing down from her dad, but other than that, Tracy Lord RULES & both C.K. Dexter Haven and Macauly Connor know it. *g*)
Swing Time with Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers
A Love That Won’t Sit Still by icepixie – a general tribute to those two and the way they light up the screen. I’ll pretty much watch them in anything – seriously, even “weaker” movies like Follow the Fleet and Shall We Dance make me happy.
New discoveries:
Holiday with Katherine Hepburn & Cary Grant
You Belong With Me, by Hepburned – another great use of a modern song. From reviews I expected to prefer the other Grant/Hepburn collaboration, Bringing Up Baby, but that was just too frantic & over-the-top for my taste, and I enjoyed this movie much more – again, Hepburn plays a delightful character & Grant is pitch-perfect.
The Awful Truth with Cary Grant & Irene Dunn
Worth seeing for the end scene (here set to music by Edward Boensnes) alone. I preferred it to both My Favorite Wife (another Grant/Dunn collaboration), which drew out the jokes much too long imho, and to His Girl Friday (Grant with Rosalind Russell). The latter was pretty great, though, especially the first scene is brilliant – I just never quite bought that Russell should get back together with Grant’s character, since all he does is cheat and scheme to get her back, not addressing at all why their marriage fell apart the first time.
And I’ve only just started, there’s so many more to discover! After all, I’ve stuck to Astaire/Rogers and Cary Grant movies so far… Next up: It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, I think. 🙂