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lindydiva
I get my mail here.
Number of posts: 875
Location: Not New York
Registration date: 2008-01-02
 |  Subject: Screwball Comedy  Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:30 pm | |
| A favorite of mine. Here are some good ones: Midnight Holiday My Man Godfrey The Joy of Living Theodora Goes Wild Favorite actors & actresses: Don Ameche; Katharine Hepburn; Francis Lederer; Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; Irene Dunne; William Powell; James Cagney; Joan Blondell. I also like: The Bride Came C.O.D. Blonde Crazy ...and many, many more!
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"To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven, without going to all the bother and expense of dying."
~P.G. Wodehouse
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the_librarian
I Really should be Working
Number of posts: 278
Location: Ohio
Title: the_librarian
Registration date: 2008-01-07
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:15 pm | |
| Dare I say it, The Stooges? Especially I like the interaction between the boys original trio vs. the later ones with Shemp and the other guy....what's his name? |
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lindydiva
I get my mail here.
Number of posts: 875
Location: Not New York
Registration date: 2008-01-02
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:24 pm | |
| Oh, but that's slapstick, not screwball. (Slapstick has its place, don't get me wrong.) Screwball is crazy-with-elegance.
_________________
"To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven, without going to all the bother and expense of dying."
~P.G. Wodehouse
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the_librarian
I Really should be Working
Number of posts: 278
Location: Ohio
Title: the_librarian
Registration date: 2008-01-07
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:38 pm | |
| Hiya LD, So this is like the Doris Day-Audry Hepburn type films? What was that film with Spencer Tracy in it where Hepburn was a librarian? (You'd think I would think of something besides libraries sometimes....I can't help it!  ) |
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lindydiva
I get my mail here.
Number of posts: 875
Location: Not New York
Registration date: 2008-01-02
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:55 pm | |
| No, older. Those are 60s films, though Desk Set does have real elements of screwball in it. (I LOVE the Christmas party scene.) The heyday of screwball comedy is the 1930s. Think Katharine Hepburn. Cary Grant. Claudette Colbert. William Powell. Carole Lombard. Here are some you might have seen: Bringing Up Baby; His Girl Friday; You Can't Take It With You. Yes, whole books have been written on the subject! 
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"To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven, without going to all the bother and expense of dying."
~P.G. Wodehouse
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the_librarian
I Really should be Working
Number of posts: 278
Location: Ohio
Title: the_librarian
Registration date: 2008-01-07
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:10 pm | |
| Gotcha..... Do you have any web links? I wonder if wikipedia would have anything? Would this be listed under any other subject...maybe if I put in the actors or actresses names? thanks for the help! |
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lindydiva
I get my mail here.
Number of posts: 875
Location: Not New York
Registration date: 2008-01-02
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lindydiva
I get my mail here.
Number of posts: 875
Location: Not New York
Registration date: 2008-01-02
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:38 am | |
| Have you had a chance to check any of the links out, Tony? What do you think?
_________________
"To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven, without going to all the bother and expense of dying."
~P.G. Wodehouse
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the_librarian
I Really should be Working
Number of posts: 278
Location: Ohio
Title: the_librarian
Registration date: 2008-01-07
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:57 am | |
|  I've been waiting in line. Eaten all my popcorn....sheesh, I can't believe there's such a line here.  ----------------- Actually, those links were perfect, especially this one: http://moderntimes.com/screwball/--------------------------- So now I remember a film, little later than the ones mentioned that has Streisand in it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_Up%2C_Doc%3F_%28film%29Great film, especially some San Francisco scenes from the late 60's. ---------------------- Don't laugh, but do you think the Love Bug with Herbie would qualify? I mean yeah, there's physical comedy, but there's also the love interest, but probably not, because the focus of the film is on the auto, right? |
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lindydiva
I get my mail here.
Number of posts: 875
Location: Not New York
Registration date: 2008-01-02
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:59 am | |
| I think it's a descendant, but... Screwball comedy purports to be pure escapism...but the thing that makes it succeed is its edge. The really great films have a sly commentary at the back of it all, and the 30s were a good time for that kind of thing, coming out of the Roaring 20s....a lot of people who were "respectable" didn't feel respectable, but they had to appear to be, just the same! Screwball comedy let them do whatever they wanted, if only vicariously, for a little while. And everyone needed that, in the Depression. The 70s had a very different feel to them, the whole let-it-all-hang-out vibe. Just my .02; I am not a film historian!
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"To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven, without going to all the bother and expense of dying."
~P.G. Wodehouse
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lindydiva
I get my mail here.
Number of posts: 875
Location: Not New York
Registration date: 2008-01-02
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:50 pm | |
| So back to being frivolous about it all... I just found The Young in Heart on DVD! Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Janet Gaynor, and Roland Young and Billie Burke. I've been waiting to see it for 20 years, and it is charming! Some good shipboard scenes, and lots of n'er-do-well charm from them all.
_________________
"To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven, without going to all the bother and expense of dying."
~P.G. Wodehouse
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deadpandiva
Dipping a Toe in the Water
Number of posts: 96
Location: Minneapolis
Registration date: 2008-01-02
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:52 pm | |
| I love Brining Up Baby and most of the Preston Sturges films I have seen. Rosalind Russell is one of my favorites. She had a real gift for comedy. |
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Marlowe
Dipping a Toe in the Water
Number of posts: 45
Age: 38
Location: The Cahuenga Building
Registration date: 2008-01-08
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:51 am | |
| Lindydiva, I know that MIDNIGHT is one of your favorite movies of all time, so you'll be pleased to learn that it's due on DVD April 22... |
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RetroKitten
Dipping a Toe in the Water
Number of posts: 46
Age: 37
Location: Westerly, RI
Registration date: 2008-02-21
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:57 am | |
| I adore screwball comedies. Definitely different from slapstick. Here are a few of my faves... Topper Arsenic and Old Lace It Happened One Night My Favorite Wife My Man Godfrey and many many others... Cary Grant is always wonderful in the screwball comedy. (and everything else too  ) |
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lindydiva
I get my mail here.
Number of posts: 875
Location: Not New York
Registration date: 2008-01-02
| | Subject: Re: Screwball Comedy Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:26 am | |
| | Marlowe wrote: | | Lindydiva, I know that MIDNIGHT is one of your favorite movies of all time, so you'll be pleased to learn that it's due on DVD April 22... |
Yes, I saw that!
_________________
"To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven, without going to all the bother and expense of dying."
~P.G. Wodehouse
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