Showing posts with label Preston Sturges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Preston Sturges. Show all posts
Jan 25, 2013
Dec 15, 2011
No. 9, The Lady Eve (Sturges)
Remember that this is my personal ballot and is not the final poll that will be released on February 29, 2012, which will comprise all the ballots sent in.
Now, I promise that my ballot contains the Ten Greatest Films of All-Time, not the Ten Greatest Films starring Barbara "Missy" Stanwyck! (I'll save that poll for some other time.)
David Mamet has discussed in his excellent book on film, Bambi vs. Godzilla, how perfect Sturges' script is for this film. And I can not say that I would disagree with Mr Mamet, at all. It is a perfect movie script, in three acts, with no exposition or characterization, complete with very simple objectives for our hero, "Missy", in each act, that she is either thwarted or successful in each endeavor. There is not a single wasted scene or shot. Everything propels the action forward and makes the popcorn munching audience ask, "Gosh, what happens next, you think?"
Plus, it was directed by Sturges, as well, the absolute master of the urbane custard pie script and film. There has never been anyone quite like Preston Sturges in Hollywood. Sure, there are tons of writer/directors these days. But no one ever really could write and direct a script that so magically blended the upper class and the street so well in comedy, since, dare I say it, Shakespeare. (Yeah, I know Shakespeare did not direct movies, but he would have been great at it, and made a fortune, to boot!)
Sturges wrote and directed perfect old-time classical comedies, full of double marriages (i.e. The Palm Beach Story) and changeable identities. Even the film I am discussing uses the old Shakespeare trope of Missy assuming a completely different identity (the Lady Eve) without any disguise, at all. The whole frickin' film is hung on this Classical gambit and it works a treat.
(Off topic, but, gosh, I pine for the old classic plays. Shakespeare did not bother showing examples of ingenues in love, through silly character developing actions, he simply had a character, let's call her, Viola confess to someone that she is love with Orsino, whilst Orsino confides to Viola -- who he thinks is a man -- that he is in love with Olivia. It is that easy. And carrying on with the Twelfth Night Preston Sturges connections, The Palm Beach Story is his version of the Shakespeare classic, complete with twins and a double wedding.)
Anyhoo, here are the Top Nine moments/things I love about The Lady Eve:
1. (Sorry,) but Missy's beautiful pegs again in the early cabin scene.
2. The marvelous, hilarious, brilliant Eugene Pallette banging those chafing dishes together, demanding his breakfast. (Renee loooooves Eugene Pallette, in anything he is in.)
3. The amazing William Demerest, who, according to the aforementioned Mr Mamet, taught Henry Fonda how to do all those fantastic slapstick stunts.
4. The card scene when Missy outwits her Da (the superb, stately, yet shopworn Charles Coburn.)
5. The totally brill and appropriate (and actually about twenty years ahead of its time) animated snake titles sequence.
6. The look on Missy's face when Fonda lies to her about, "How he knew it all the time, and was stringing her along." (Paraphrasing there.)
7. The fact that Snowflake is not in this picture, at all.
8. Sturges' brilliant "acting company", if you will; Eugene Pallette, William Demarest, Eric Blore, Robert Greig, etc, ...
9. (And finally, and most crucially these days for me, personally:) The Beer/Ale monologue delivered by Henry Fonda -- cockeyed on her gams and perfume -- in Missy's cabin. For me, Michael here, this monologue about a distaste for beer is not only funny in context of the film but has become a rallying cry against Craft Brewers across this great nation of ours. (Yet, Daddy does admit that Pike's Pale, the Ale that won for Yale, is pretty fucking clever, and hilarious --though, perhaps Sturges was joking, too --.)
And here is that famous monologue I spoke of,
Michael Spitler's personal Honorable Mention, Barbara Stanwyck Division: Ball of Fire, Night Nurse, Baby Face, The Furies, Meet John Doe, Sorry Wrong Number, Lady of Burlesque, The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Stella Dallas, Clash By Night, and of course, the delicious -- nowadays -- camp treats: The Big Valley (TV) and The Thorn Birds (TV).
Michael Spitler's personal Honorable Mention, Preston Sturges Division: his work on the Shanghai Express script -- and you can tell what it is -- , Christmas in July, Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Hail the Conquering Hero, and Unfaithfully Yours.
I love you all!
mds
Now, I promise that my ballot contains the Ten Greatest Films of All-Time, not the Ten Greatest Films starring Barbara "Missy" Stanwyck! (I'll save that poll for some other time.)
David Mamet has discussed in his excellent book on film, Bambi vs. Godzilla, how perfect Sturges' script is for this film. And I can not say that I would disagree with Mr Mamet, at all. It is a perfect movie script, in three acts, with no exposition or characterization, complete with very simple objectives for our hero, "Missy", in each act, that she is either thwarted or successful in each endeavor. There is not a single wasted scene or shot. Everything propels the action forward and makes the popcorn munching audience ask, "Gosh, what happens next, you think?"
Plus, it was directed by Sturges, as well, the absolute master of the urbane custard pie script and film. There has never been anyone quite like Preston Sturges in Hollywood. Sure, there are tons of writer/directors these days. But no one ever really could write and direct a script that so magically blended the upper class and the street so well in comedy, since, dare I say it, Shakespeare. (Yeah, I know Shakespeare did not direct movies, but he would have been great at it, and made a fortune, to boot!)
Sturges wrote and directed perfect old-time classical comedies, full of double marriages (i.e. The Palm Beach Story) and changeable identities. Even the film I am discussing uses the old Shakespeare trope of Missy assuming a completely different identity (the Lady Eve) without any disguise, at all. The whole frickin' film is hung on this Classical gambit and it works a treat.
(Off topic, but, gosh, I pine for the old classic plays. Shakespeare did not bother showing examples of ingenues in love, through silly character developing actions, he simply had a character, let's call her, Viola confess to someone that she is love with Orsino, whilst Orsino confides to Viola -- who he thinks is a man -- that he is in love with Olivia. It is that easy. And carrying on with the Twelfth Night Preston Sturges connections, The Palm Beach Story is his version of the Shakespeare classic, complete with twins and a double wedding.)
Anyhoo, here are the Top Nine moments/things I love about The Lady Eve:
1. (Sorry,) but Missy's beautiful pegs again in the early cabin scene.
2. The marvelous, hilarious, brilliant Eugene Pallette banging those chafing dishes together, demanding his breakfast. (Renee loooooves Eugene Pallette, in anything he is in.)
3. The amazing William Demerest, who, according to the aforementioned Mr Mamet, taught Henry Fonda how to do all those fantastic slapstick stunts.
4. The card scene when Missy outwits her Da (the superb, stately, yet shopworn Charles Coburn.)
5. The totally brill and appropriate (and actually about twenty years ahead of its time) animated snake titles sequence.
6. The look on Missy's face when Fonda lies to her about, "How he knew it all the time, and was stringing her along." (Paraphrasing there.)
7. The fact that Snowflake is not in this picture, at all.
8. Sturges' brilliant "acting company", if you will; Eugene Pallette, William Demarest, Eric Blore, Robert Greig, etc, ...
9. (And finally, and most crucially these days for me, personally:) The Beer/Ale monologue delivered by Henry Fonda -- cockeyed on her gams and perfume -- in Missy's cabin. For me, Michael here, this monologue about a distaste for beer is not only funny in context of the film but has become a rallying cry against Craft Brewers across this great nation of ours. (Yet, Daddy does admit that Pike's Pale, the Ale that won for Yale, is pretty fucking clever, and hilarious --though, perhaps Sturges was joking, too --.)
And here is that famous monologue I spoke of,
Michael Spitler's personal Honorable Mention, Barbara Stanwyck Division: Ball of Fire, Night Nurse, Baby Face, The Furies, Meet John Doe, Sorry Wrong Number, Lady of Burlesque, The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Stella Dallas, Clash By Night, and of course, the delicious -- nowadays -- camp treats: The Big Valley (TV) and The Thorn Birds (TV).
Michael Spitler's personal Honorable Mention, Preston Sturges Division: his work on the Shanghai Express script -- and you can tell what it is -- , Christmas in July, Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Hail the Conquering Hero, and Unfaithfully Yours.
I love you all!
mds
Jun 24, 2011
Had another one of those
 |
| I guess fur rugs were de rigueur in 1930s Hollywood, even outdoors. |
Twentieth Century is a rollicking, rolling screwball comedy set on (train) wheels, directed by American master Howard Hawks, starring Ms Lombard and John Barrymore with fantastic supporting work from Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, and Etienne Giradot (what a fantastic name!) who reprised his role from the Broadway play this film was based on. The absolute cracking script was written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, based on their Broadway play of the same name. And like a lot of great plays (and unlike most films) the script is not afraid to give a lot of the best gags to supporting players. (Apparently Preston Sturges was first to work on the film script but was not getting it done and was sacked. Still, it resembles a Sturges script in places, so, I am assuming some of his stuff was left in, and, anyhoo, the experience stayed with Sturges because Twentieth Century is an obvious influence for The Palm Beach Story.)
Barrymore, who I have never really liked in the past, is delicious here. Finally Barrymore is allowed to put his over-the-top, stagey acting style to excellent use; the Ham is splendid and spot-on. And Hawks fought hard for a reluctant studio to hire Lombard but still had to get Lombard mad to get the performance from her that the picture required.
The second film, Nothing Sacred, has an incredibly dopey premise that no one seems to sell very hard and, I am sorry, but Fredric March just does not do much for me in anything I have seen him in. I think the ending of the film is brilliant on paper but William Wellman, the director, and his players just do not seem to make it work. Nothing Sacred was the first comedy to use Technicolor's new Tri-Strip process but even that seems washed out, artificial, and lacking verve. It was only a year later that Technicolor really came in to its own with The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and, of course, Gone with the Wind in 1939. Oscar Levant did the score for the film, basically as a tribute to his recently deceased friend, George Gershwin.
(And, by the way, ... Erm, how should I put this? Twentieth Century was a pre-Code film, shot and released in 1934. In Ms Lombard's first scene on the train she is wearing a white sheer cashmere turtle-neck sweater and no brassiere. What is it they say on Seinfeld? They're real and they're spectacular.)
Barrymore, who I have never really liked in the past, is delicious here. Finally Barrymore is allowed to put his over-the-top, stagey acting style to excellent use; the Ham is splendid and spot-on. And Hawks fought hard for a reluctant studio to hire Lombard but still had to get Lombard mad to get the performance from her that the picture required.
The second film, Nothing Sacred, has an incredibly dopey premise that no one seems to sell very hard and, I am sorry, but Fredric March just does not do much for me in anything I have seen him in. I think the ending of the film is brilliant on paper but William Wellman, the director, and his players just do not seem to make it work. Nothing Sacred was the first comedy to use Technicolor's new Tri-Strip process but even that seems washed out, artificial, and lacking verve. It was only a year later that Technicolor really came in to its own with The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and, of course, Gone with the Wind in 1939. Oscar Levant did the score for the film, basically as a tribute to his recently deceased friend, George Gershwin.
(And, by the way, ... Erm, how should I put this? Twentieth Century was a pre-Code film, shot and released in 1934. In Ms Lombard's first scene on the train she is wearing a white sheer cashmere turtle-neck sweater and no brassiere. What is it they say on Seinfeld? They're real and they're spectacular.)
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