This is one of my beloved genres in film and I want to share some of those I particularly enjoy and invite you to do the same - and your reasons:
1. "Talk of the Town" (Stevens):
The cast is so strong, the premise so silly but it has some hilarious scenes - particularly with Professor Lightcap (a play on 'night cap' since he's such a dried up old batchelor, played by Ronald Coleman) being pursued by dogs around the house, limping badly while trying to escape (when he's a lofty, important and serious individual about to be inducted into the American Supreme Court!). The incongruity of the characters is thrown into sharp relief under zany and improbable circumstances and the film is total class - TOTAL.
2. "Ninotchka" (Director: Lubitsch, Writers: Wilder et al)
This satire is one of the great films, and hilariously funny - particularly the scenes with the 3 Russian envoys and Garbo. Classic. Classy. Funny. Unforgettable.
Nothing Sacred Bringing Up Baby The Awful Truth all Preston Sturges films Arsenic and Old Lace My Man Godfrey the screwball scenes in Astaire/Rogers musicals Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Hitchcock of all people!)
Post - 1940s:
The Hudsucker Proxy Raising Arizona ....make that all Coen bros. comedies What's Up Doc It's a Mad....World
Of course, many films from the 1950's were heavily influenced by 'screwball' and the likes of Preston Sturges and I'm thinking, firstly, about Billy Wilder and "Some Like it Hot" and "Seven Year Itch". Screenplays by Wilder and Brackett and George Axelrod, respectively, were masterpieces of the genre.
Even Amy Heckerling's "Clueless" has the air-headed but well-intentioned Cher (played by Alicia Silverstein) and this character is right out of 'screwball'. I always felt Heckerling was 'tipping her hat' towards the screwball genre with this film.
And there are others, of course.
Mark R.Y. your "classic" list is spot on - I adore these films. The Coens? What can I say about "The Big Lebowski" except that it was a composite of screwball, anarchy and satire.
Nobody has mentioned "Ball of Fire" (Hawks). It was zany with the hard-boiled Barbara Stanwyck an excellent foil for the gawky and awkward linguistics professors, especially Gary Cooper.
"Philadelphia Story" - WOW; there's a masterpiece of direction, acting and writing (Donald Ogden Stewart). Great music too - very evocative of the world of the film.
I also thought of Judy Holliday in "Born Yesterday". That's a great film with a mixture of humour and tragedy (domestic violence).
Please tell us what you love about your favourite screwball comedies.
Nobody has mentioned "Ball of Fire" (Hawks). It was zany with the hard-boiled Barbara Stanwyck an excellent foil for the gawky and awkward linguistics professors, especially Gary Cooper.
I've always liked a couple of underdogs, Ralph Nelson's FATHER GOOSE (1964) with Cary Grant and Leslie Caron, and Howard Hawks' MAN'S FAVORITE SPORT? (1964) with Paula Prentiss and, unfortunately, Rock Hudson.
I never understood Rock's popularity. Yes he was a highly skilled and talented actor, but there's a vacuousness and ugliness in him that I find repugnant. He starred in several superb films but I always wished someone else were playing his part. Likewise, Paula Prentiss was always enchanting, blessed with real comic timing and dramatic chops, and I never understood why she did not become a BIG star with a long career.
I never understood Rock's popularity. Yes he was a highly skilled and talented actor, but there's a vacuousness and ugliness in him that I find repugnant. He starred in several superb films but I always wished someone else were playing his part. Likewise, Paula Prentiss was always enchanting, blessed with real comic timing and dramatic chops, and I never understood why she did not become a BIG star with a long career.
Could you point out specific scenes in his film or TV roles where Hudson displays "vacuousness" and "ugliness"? I'm not a huge fan of him myself but I thought he had a wry comic wit and subtlety that I could "understand" many, many people loving. It didn't hurt that the man was handsome as hell (John Wayne said something to the effect of "Do you know what kind of career I could have had if I looked like him?") I don't care much for his soapy 1950s films so much as I do his role on McMillan and Wife but really, ugliness? You've expressed some downright bizarre opinions on this forum lately and that's fine, but as they tell us in school, "qualify your generalizations."
go jim! great in Seconds. and well cast in Hornets nest and undefeated.
if it looks like i cant have mad mad mad mad world, - id like to suggest there is enough courtship comedy and male-female rapport in The Great race and magnificent men in flyin machines - if they count, i choose them!
1. Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch) -- I love the beauty of the direction and set design -- and the cool ironies of the screenplay. The performances seem effortless. 2. The Palm Beach Story (1942, Preston Sturges) -- I love Colbert and McCrea in this film. The Ale and Quail Hunting Club sequences always reduce me to a giggling mess.
Others:
His Girl Friday Blithe Spirit Hail the Conquering Hero The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Twentieth Century Bringing Up Baby -- perhaps the funniest film I've ever seen The Party A Shot in the Dark My Man Godfrey
