The sexiest romantic comedy ever, and also the funniest, The Lady Eve, brilliantly written and directed by Preston Sturges from a story by Monckton Hoffe, revolves around boy and girl. Charles (“Hopsy”) prefers snakes to women and is heir to the Pike’s Ale fortune, while self-assured con-artist Jean is out to fleece him. But the […]
Tag Archives: Barbara Stanwyck
Frank Capra directed partner Barbara Stanwyck in religious roles twice: as The Miracle Woman (1931), a crowd-manipulating evangelist based on Aimee Semple McPherson, and as a quiet missionary who believes herself principled, in The Bitter Tea of General Yen. Once kidnapped in Shanghai amidst the chaos of civil war, and finding herself unexpectedly drawn to […]
Some films we watch just for fun. The Mad Miss Manton is very enjoyable through repeated viewings. The film is a hybrid, mixing genres: mystery, screwball comedy, social satire. It’s about the Manhattan rich, on the one hand, and working stiffs, on the other. It’s about a romantic accommodation between these two groups. It ends, […]
Sorry, Wrong Number, an immensely popular postwar thriller, opens wryly: “In the tangled networks of a great city, the telephone is the unseen link between a million lives. It is the servant of our common needs—the confidante of our inmost secrets. Life and happiness wait upon its ring . . . and horror . . […]
After years of separation, my recent reunion with The High and the Mighty (1954) proved a mighty big disappointment that left me feeling low. Despite his Oscar nomination for it, Wild Bill Wellman’s filmmaking never takes flight. But his So Big, based on the popular novel by Edna Ferber, is nearly as good as his […]
Dennis Grunes 