Screwball Tourney Day 1 Update

My first ever screwball film tourney got off to a fantastic start on Sunday with about 20 fans voting on the first round matches on average. Three of the four top seeds are rolling early, and there are some back and forth matches taking place as well. Here are the breakdowns on yesterday's exciting start.

My Favorite Wife has a leg up over Trouble in Paradise

after day one

Three of the four top seeds are besting their opponents quite easily. Overall top seed Bringing Up Baby leads Bombshell 15-1 (I wonder who is the lone person so far to cast their vote for the Jean Harlow vehicle). The second top seed It Happened One Night is up big over The More The Merrier by the count of 18-3. The third top seed My Man Godfrey is having no trouble at all with Easy Living and leads 17-4. The last top seed, Trouble in Paradise is having trouble with upstart My Favorite Wife. It is getting hammered 14-3. The pairing of Irene Dunne and Cary Grant evidently is too much.

If I'm reading this right, then we're winning...

In other matches that are also blow-outs include: To Be Or Not To Be ahead of The Devil and Miss Jones 13-2; His Girl Friday up big on The Major and The Minor 17-4; and The Philadelphia Story double over Twentieth Century 14-7.

It's gonna be close between us and Sullivan..

Now the nail-biters currently going on include: Arsenic and Old Lace with a slight 11-9 edge over The Awful Truth; The Palm Beach Story with a one point edge over Libeled Lady 9-8; The Lady Eve over Ninotchka 10-7; and  Sullivan's Travels tied with Ball of Fire at 10-10. 

My oh my, how exciting is this. The matches continue on through Friday and I will keep everyone updated with posts through-out the week. Below are the complete scores on all the matches:

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT 18
THE MORE THE MERRIER 3

MERRILY WE LIVE 11
THE GILDED LILY 5

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY 14
TWENTIETH CENTURY 7

HIS GIRL FRIDAY 17
THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR 4

We are definitely in trouble...

MY MAN GODFREY 17
EASY LIVING 4

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE 11
THE AWFUL TRUTH 9

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU 12
BLUEBEARD'S EIGHTH WIFE 8

BALL OF FIRE 10
SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS 10

MY FAVORITE WIFE 14
TROUBLE IN PARADISE 3

THE LADY EVE 10
NINOTCHKA 7

THE PALM BEACH STORY 9
LIBELED LADY 8

No worries sugar...

THE THIN MAN 10
HOLIDAY 5

BRINGING UP BABY 15
BOMBSHELL 1

MIDNIGHT 11
THE GOOD FAIRY 5

TO BE OR NOT TO BE 13
THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES 2

THEODORA GOES WILD 10
TOPPER 5

My love of classic films is beyond measure

Monty

My Favorite Jean Arthur Films - Part One (Comedies)

So I usually list the essential films of the classic movie goddess for each and every month. The problem I ran into with Jean is that she did so many wonderful films and I didn't know what to include. So instead of the essential films you have to see, I decided to post my favorite Jean films. And like I said there are so many of them, I had to break the list down into parts. Let's begin with comedies, where she was one of the best screwball queens of the 30's..in my opinion. Patti, we will get to dramas and westerns in the next part ok. So here are my fave comedy films starring Jean in no particular order. Please note there are tons of films Jean did during the silent era that I have yet to see. A good 30 or so films. Yeah, Jean was quite busy.

EASY LIVING (1937) Writer Preston Sturges and director Mitchell Leisen team up for this hilarious farce about Mary Smith (Jean), a editor for a boy's magazine, who winds up with a mink coat by accident and thru confusion and mistaken identity, she is thought to be the mistress of Wall Street tycoon J.B. Ball (played by the great Edward Arnold). Enter Ball's son (Ray Milland) who becomes attracted to Mary. One of the premiere screwball comedies of all time. 
A-

THE EX-MRS. BRADFORD (1936) Some people kind of view this one as a lightweight version of The Thin Man, since it co-stars William Powell. The only difference is him and Jean are exes but still have a penchant for solving mysteries. I think this film is very underrated and more than holds its own as a splendid comedy/mystery that would make The Thin Man proud.
B

MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936) Jean's first film with Frank Capra and her first pairing with Gary Cooper, if I'm not mistaken. And the pair definitely have some chemistry as Longfellow Deeds (Cooper), a simple man from Vermont who inherits a fortune. Jean is cast as reporter Babe Bennett, who aims to get the story on Deeds one way or another. A wonderful film.
B+

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938) For her second outing with Frank Capra, but this time Jean's co-star is Jimmy Stewart. Different actor, same result in another great comedy which I believe features Jean's finest performance. As the lovely Alice Sycamore, she falls for her boss Tony Kirby (Stewart) and is swept off her feet when he proposes. The catch...Tony has to meet her wild and crazy family. I love Jean in this film. She is most definitely has her "A" game for this one.
A-

MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) Another comedy/drama that teamed Frank Capra with Jean for the third time. And marked Jean's second pairing with Jimmy Stewart. An iconic film from that great golden year of 1939.
B+

TOO MANY HUSBANDS (1940) This was one of the first movies I recall seeing Jean in and it is a delight.  Maybe not as well known and regarded as her other comedies but I'll take this over a lot of the comedies Hollywood cranks out now. Maybe I like it so much because it bears a similar plot to My Favorite Wife with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, also released the same year. In Husbands, Bill Cardew (played by Fred MacMurray) is declared dead after missing for a long period of time. His widow, Vicky (played by Jean) re-marries Bill's longtime friend Henry (Melvyn Douglas). When Bill shows up alive, the fun begins. 
B 

THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES (1941) Classic comedy with department store owner J.P. Merrick (the wonderful Charles Coburn) going undercover at his store to find out which employees are organizing a union. Unbeknownst to him, the two employees he are meet, Mary (Jean Arthur) and Joe (Robert Cummings) are said organizers. Dare I say, one of the best comedies ever made. Yeah I dare say.
B+

THE TALK OF THE TOWN (1942) Loaded with star power in Jean, Cary Grant and Ronald Colman, this film mixes screwball comedy with stirring drama expertly. Joe, an escaped prisoner (Grant) hides out at the home of his childhood sweetheart Nora Shelley (Jean), who just by chance has rented a room to law professor Michael Lightcap (Colman). How this film manages to be comedic one moment, then deadly serious the next is truly amazing. The trio of stars all give terrific performances.
B

THE MORE THE MERRIER (1943) During the WW2 housing shortage, resilient Connie Milligan (Arthur) shares an apartment with two men through some confusion and false pretenses. Mainly by the antics of flustery old  Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn re-teaming with Jean) who lies under the pretense of not stating his sex. He then finagles young engineer Joe Carter (hey it's Joel McCrea) to join in and tries to play cupid for Connie and Joe. Fun galore!
B+

A FOREIGN AFFAIR (1948) And lastly comes this terrific and wicked cynical comedy by Billy Wilder which casts a seasoned Jean as Congresswoman Phoebe Frost, who visits Berlin to investigate GI morals. Co-starring the legendary Marlene Dietrich, this is one gem of a movie.
B


Up next will be my second part of favorite Jean films, focusing on dramas and westerns.

My love of classic movies is beyond measure

Monty

The Morning Movie:PRIMROSE PATH (1940)

 Henry Travers, Ginger and Joel...

Caught some of Primrose Path this morning on TCM before leaving for work. As part of Joel McCrea month, the movie is about a girl (Ginger Rogers) who comes from a long line of prostitutes in her family falls for a working man (McCrea) and tries to put her past behind her. Pretty good stuff. Well the hour I saw. Now I need to see the whole film now.

Joel McCrea night on TCM

Just a reminder that TCM is showing several of star of the month Joel McCrea's films tonight beginning at 8pm EST. Starting with the triple treat of his outings for director Preston Sturges. Up first is Sullivan's Travels, co-starring Veronica Lake. Next at 9:45 is The Palm Beach Story with Claudette Colbert. Followed at 11:30 by The More The Merrier with the irrepressible Jean Arthur. Then TCM shows a pair of films he made with Miriam Hopkins, The Richest Girl In The World and Woman Chases Man. Another classic McCrea film called Bed of Roses airs at 4:15 am and then they wrap up McCrea's first night with one of his earliest films, Kep Husbands (1931). So it will be quite the night and I for one can't wait.

Joel McCrea defeats Robert Taylor 25-17 in match play

Robert Taylor made a valiant comeback after being down early in his match with Joel McCrea, but still came up short. McCrea defeated Taylor 25-17 to improve his match play record to 2-1, while Taylor drops to 0-2. There will be no match play this week as we get ready for the Favorite Classic Movie Actress tourney, which begins next week.

Joel is feeling pretty good after his recent victory

Classic Stars Match Play #19 - Joel McCrea vs Robert Taylor

I know the favorite actress tournament will be kicking off in about 2 weeks but I still wanted to have at least one more match play. This time with the gents. Joel McCrea vs Robert Taylor. These guys both competed in last years actors tourney and the one thing they had in common: getting trounced by eventual champion Cary Grant. But Cary beat everyone so that's not a surprise. Anyway this match begins today and runs through Sunday 1 PM EST. Good luck to both men.

JOEL MCCREA

Name: Joel Albert McCrea
Birth Date: November 5, 1905 (South Pasadena, California)
Height: 6' 3"
Academy Awards: none
Monties: Two nominations (one for Best Supporting Actor - These Three: one for Best Actor
- Dead End)
My favorite McCrea film: These Three (1936)
Match play record: 1-1 (beat Bing Crosby in the 1940's era of the favorite classic actor
tournament before losing to Cary Grant)

CLASSIC STARS MATCH PLAY

ROBERT TAYLOR

Name: Spangler Arlington Brugh
Birth Date: August 5, 1911 (Filley, Nebraska)
Height: 5' 11 1/2"
Academy awards: none
Monties: 1 nomination (Best Actor - Waterloo Bridge)
My favorite Taylor film: Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Match play record: 0-1 (lost to Cary Grant 51-6 in first round of favorite classic actor
tournament 2010)

The Halliday Sisters (1936) features an amazing cast....yes I am at it again with another fantasy film

THE HALLIDAY SISTERS COME HOME (Columbia Pictures)

Carole Lombard as Kate...dreading coming home for the holidays

Annie knows how to make an entrance

The always playful Liz

Genre: Comedy/drama
Release Date: 1936
Running time: 119 minutes
Directed by Gregory LaCava
Written by Preston Sturges

Cast: 
Kate Halliday...........Carole Lombard
Annie Halliday..........Irene Dunne
Elizabeth Halliday......Myrna Loy
James Halliday.........Frank Morgan
Margaret Halliday.....Alice Brady
Aunt Helen..............Billie Burke
Pete Gordon...........Joel McCrea
Nick Stevens...........Brian Aherne
Lucky Mike...........William Powell
Teddy.....................Spencer Tracy
Bill.........................Clark Gable

Mr. Halliday trying to reason with his daughters

The ever patient Mrs. Halliday

Set in the small town of Beacon Falls, Connecticut comes this family who gathers for one Christmas Holiday that brings out the laughter and fun for everyone involved. James Halliday is the town's most successful businessman. He owns nearly half of the town's properties. His loving wife Margaret is a retired school teacher. They have three daughters named Kate, Annie, and Elizabeth. Kate and Annie both moved to the big city to have a life of their own while younger sister Liz stayed at home and is now a teacher herself at the same school Margaret taught at. Well this one Christmas, Kate and Annie both return home to celebrate the holidays. Sisters being sisters when these three get together, it's bound to be a little friction. Kate and Annie always competed with one another in everything..school, boys, etc. Liz was the little sister who always tried to tag along with be like both of them. 

Kate in a little tizzy

Kate's boyfriend Nick

Kate brings along her boyfriend Nick, a successful lawyer who Kate badly wants to impress the family with. You see Kate hasn't had much success with her life. She is a shop girl for Macy's and she doesn't want her family to know. Annie meanwhile has had some success as a gifted writer,who has traveled all over the world. But she has trouble and staying with men. Lo and behold her high school sweetheart Pete Gordon still lives in town with his own mechanic shop. He comes a calling once he hears Annie is visiting for the holidays. Of course Liz is a little peeved as her two sisters get to town and she is overshadowed all over again. To make matters worse, Aunt Helen shows up unexpectedly. Aunt Helen is the relative who always gets on everyone's nerves in no time at all.

Annie looking innocent

Annie's old high school ex-sweetheart Pete

The family dinner is the main focal point as Kate and Annie quickly trade wisecracks at one another. And Liz jumping in with her remarks as well. Things start to mellow between the sisters once they learn dad is sick. Arguing is replaced with memories of good times and soon the sisters are forgiving one another. By the end, dad makes a recovery and everyone has a joyous holiday. 

One of the running gags throughout the film is Liz's constant troubles with men. Her frequent dates include cameos by such stars as William Powell, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy.

Liz and date #1, Lucky Mike

Liz and date # 2, Teddy

This would mark the only film where Lombard, Dunne, and Loy would make together. Which is a shame. Below are some stats of the film.

Aunt Helen looks positively shocked by something

Scored 8 Academy Award nominations including Best Film, Director, Screenplay, and nods for all three actresses: Lombard and Dunne got nominated for Best Actress while Loy got nominated for Best Supporting Actress.


Was the 4th biggest film earner of 1936.


Cary Grant and William Powell was on hand for the premiere of the film in Los Angeles. Cary was quoted as saying "How come I wasn't asked to be in this wonderful film?"


Much to the dismay of newspapers and critics, the three actresses all got along great during filming. During breaks, they would hang out together eating lunch and just talking. Imagine the conversations these three women must have had.


A follow up film was green lit but the three women could never find time again to come together for the sequel.

Kate looking happy by the time the movie ends

Notable quotes from the film:


James Halliday: Just once, I wish my three daughters could behave like normal daughters.
Liz: Oh but daddy, where is the fun in that?


Kate: Now remember if they ask you, what do you think of my cooking, say you love it Nick.
Nick: Which would be saying something if you ever cooked.


Pete: As you can see Annie, I did alright for myself after you left town.
Annie: Yes, I see. You were always good with your hands. I still got the marks to show for it.


Liz: I shudder every time one of my students call me..Ms. Halliday.


Aunt Helen: My, my, my..you just amaze me Margaret. With this family life, three daughters, a husband. It's something I could never do.


Liz, Kate and Annie in unison: We know Aunt Helen...

Liz and date # 3 Bill...true love at last