TV and Movies

[Oznell]

Powerful drama from Bette, and then giddy, non-stop humor from Cary--

1:30 p.m. Eastern Friday--  " Watch on the Rhine".   Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lucile Watson, Beulah Bondi, George Coulouris, Donald Woods, Henry Daniell

Bette returns with husband and family to the Washington, D.C. home of her spoiled, socialite mother (Lucile Watson), during World War II.  German spies are after her husband, (Paul Lukas), a self-sacrificing European freedom fighter, and even amid seeming safety and luxury, danger swirls...

8:00 p.m Eastern Friday--  "The Awful Truth".    Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Alexander D'Arcy, Cecil Cunningham, Molly Lamont, Esther Dale, Joyce Compton

Screwball comedy at its best, as Cary and Irene Dunne experience zany marital turmoil...

10:00 p.m. Eastern Friday--  "His Girl Friday".     Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack, Ernest Truex 

Trying to think if Cary has ever been funnier than in this breakneck, crazed newspaper romp?  Maybe in "Arsenic and Old Lace", or arguably "Bringing Up Baby",  but I think it's a draw.

In each film, you have the boisterous, but calibrated, physicality that underlay even his sophisticated marital farces.  His double takes alone are priceless....

Unscrupulous editor Cary hides his longing for ace reporter Roz under a flurry of bluster, gags and glances.  They fight picturesquely, and Ralph Bellamy is an earnest foil for their madness.

[mildoo]

Love, love, love Bette Davis.  In Of Human Bondage telling Leslie Howard that after he kissed her "I wiped my mouth!  Wiped my mouth!"  What an actress!  And in my opinion and I've said it many times, I don't think there has ever been a bettler looking man, ever, than Cary Grant.  Even in old age. 

[Oznell]

Perceptive @mildoo ,  spot on on both counts!!

[LTT1]

@Oznell @mildoo 

Clark Gable

Cary Grant

CG coincidence?

Watching "His Girl Friday"

Rosalind Russel's first name in the is "Hildy" fits her perfectly!

Love her fashion!

Things I'm noticing in this movie: they talk a lot...lots of dialogue sometimes sped up.

It seems as if the actors are performing a stage play...the industry had not perfected their acting yet to meet up with technology!

Examples: using the phone but missing their mouths! This is only one example!

[Oznell]

Both names have a punchy, dashing sound, don't they, @LTT1 .   

Yeah, "His Girl Friday" came from a famous play, and the legendary director Howard Hawks wanted to break all records for fastest dialog onscreen to date.  I think his decision to speed things up is a hoot, and really enhances those kinetic performances he got out of this cast.  

[LTT1]

@Oznell 

I'm thinking "Hildy" represented women ahead of their time!

Fastest dialogue ever! ITA! I wonder how in the world those actors spoke SO FAST!