all hail The Miracle of Morgan's Creek DVDI Don't Think He'd Have Given It To Me If I Had Hair Like EXCELSIOR Or Little Legs Like An Alligator
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 March 2009 20:25 (fifteen years ago) link
Went for The Lady Eve, even if the second half doens't quite measure up to the first.
― Number None, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 20:38 (fifteen years ago) link
I'll also join the chorus of Bracken dissenters
― Number None, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 20:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, Bracken annoyed me too. But I'm here to praise Sturges, so ignore the negativity.
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 21:22 (fifteen years ago) link
you guys are a bunch of Ratzkywatzkys
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 21:28 (fifteen years ago) link
Kockenlocker!
I've only seen the first seven plus "Unfaithfully Yours" (which woulda been better if it had Bill Demarest in the Lionel Stander role the way Sturges intended) but yeah, whatta half-decade. This'll require some thought...
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 21:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Sullivan's for The Win!
― Capitaine Jay Vee, Wednesday, 4 March 2009 03:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Have to vote for 'Lady Eve', but if the ones I haven't seen that you fellas are raving about are even better than I've got me some treats awaiting.
― James Morrison, Wednesday, 4 March 2009 22:19 (fifteen years ago) link
THEN not than
― James Morrison, Wednesday, 4 March 2009 22:20 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Saturday, 14 March 2009 00:01 (fifteen years ago) link
How should I vote? Ack! How could I vote?
(tears his hair out and runs from room to room)
― Aimless, Saturday, 14 March 2009 02:57 (fifteen years ago) link
I'll take over from here, Ambrose.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 14 March 2009 03:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Sunday, 15 March 2009 00:01 (fifteen years ago) link
having seen only sullivans travels, i shall watch the rest of his movies in the order the poll above suggests (i didnae vote)
― that sounds so sad but am 18 so suck ma b*ws (stevie), Sunday, 15 March 2009 13:02 (fifteen years ago) link
I watched the Palm Beach Story again last night. Fun, but I am well content with my vote for Sullivan's Travels.
― Aimless, Sunday, 15 March 2009 19:39 (fifteen years ago) link
Saw Christmas in July today, laffed like moron about every other minute. When he was explaining his convoluted slogan all I could think of was, uh, ILM.
― if I don't see more dissent, I'm going to have to check myself in (Matos W.K.), Saturday, 26 December 2009 06:19 (fourteen years ago) link
it isn't the coffee...
― cockslap twins (donna rouge), Saturday, 26 December 2009 06:22 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm not sure, but my favorite scene of these might be in "Unfaithfully Yours" when the wife is being given a death sentence and Rex Harrison is in the back of the courtroom laughing his head off.
― Cunga, Saturday, 26 December 2009 06:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Holy Smokes, The Palm Beach Story! Just...WOW.
The Ale & Quail Society=The NRA in my eyes.
― Vol. 3: The Life & Times of E. "Boom" Carter (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 6 March 2013 03:32 (eleven years ago) link
morgan's creek the funniest, voted sullivan's travels cuz lake is so smashable
― s1ocki kong country (cankles), Tuesday, March 3, 2009 10:11 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
^^^^^
― darf ich bitte mit Poppage spielen?!? (Eisbaer), Wednesday, 6 March 2013 04:32 (eleven years ago) link
WEENIE KING
― Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, 6 March 2013 18:42 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, c'mon, the Weenie King! Palm Beach Story is the best.
― Panaïs Pnin (The Yellow Kid), Wednesday, 6 March 2013 19:11 (eleven years ago) link
I got a Sturges box for Christmas, and re-watched "Palm Beach Story" recently. I love how unsentimental Colbert is in the break-up scenes, and Vallee is pitch-perfect as John D. Hackensacker. Just about perfect.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 6 March 2013 19:47 (eleven years ago) link
Jim Knipfel praises The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (I really liked it the one time I saw it):
http://chiseler.org/post/48926315855/harold-lloyds-last
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 27 April 2013 01:46 (eleven years ago) link
haven't watched any of these in a long time but the one that affected me most was 'christmas in july.' the final speech mentioned upthread still makes me choke up a bit.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 27 April 2013 04:03 (eleven years ago) link
From Unfaithfully Yours:"Is there any insanity in his family?""I don't know but there's plenty in mine."
― Pastel City Slang (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 16 June 2013 17:20 (ten years ago) link
Glad I've finally made the mental genre adjustment and warmed up to that one.
― Orpheus in Hull (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 11:30 (ten years ago) link
crick! CRICK!
― playwright Greg Marlowe, secretly in love with Mary (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 17 July 2013 11:33 (ten years ago) link
Sullivan's Travels never quite got to the level of the first scene again, although Lake killed it.
Lost its way quite a bit, and not only on one occasion.
Have Morgan Creek and Palm Beach Story ready to once I get a college break.
― recommend me a new bagman (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:16 (ten years ago) link
Sullivan's Travels doesn't stay in standard Romantic Comedy mode the whole way through, it is somewhat similar to Unfaithfully Yours in that regard, but this doesn't necessarily mean it is lesser than the other films.
― Kid Creole Meets Señor Coconut at a fIREHOSE Show (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:42 (ten years ago) link
I agree with darraghmac though -- it's my least favorite of the classics.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:45 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, mine too, truth be told, but I've watched the others so many times feel like it was time to give some love to that one. Also, I didn't fully get Unfaithfully Yours until last year.
― Kid Creole Meets Señor Coconut at a fIREHOSE Show (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:53 (ten years ago) link
yeah, i don't think that it was a failure to hold to a given genre that pulled me out of it though, and i wouldnt hold such a failure as a negative if the script kept a thread moving throughout the events. for all its snappy lines and good character turns (you'd not expect less anyway) it tacked on a beginning and an ending to a bit of a muddled middle imo.
― recommend me a new bagman (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:54 (ten years ago) link
tbh a lot of Depression and post-Depression films garble their politics. Check out My Man Godfrey or Easy Living.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:56 (ten years ago) link
you hafta appeal to eberbody!
also fuck you guys
― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:59 (ten years ago) link
I need to watch it again. Trying to remember, is Al Bridge the heavy when Sullivan is on the chain gang? If so, a departure from his usual grumpy but ultimately amiable self in the other films.
― Kid Creole Meets Señor Coconut at a fIREHOSE Show (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:00 (ten years ago) link
But not from his prior roles as in Hopalong Cassidy films apparently. He's like another splinter member of The Wild Bunch.
― Kid Creole Meets Señor Coconut at a fIREHOSE Show (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:03 (ten years ago) link
In the forties, Bridge was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in ten of the eleven American films that Sturges wrote and directed.[7] He is perhaps best remembered for his role as "The Mister", the chain-gang boss over Joel McCrea in Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels.[8][9]
― recommend me a new bagman (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:04 (ten years ago) link
The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend isn't that bad. Kind of Tashlin-like, if I remember correctly, at least in its brightness and zip and silliness, if not in its style of editing and use of blackout gags.
― bamcquern, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:06 (ten years ago) link
Thanks, darraghmac, but I already reconstructed that gone missing neurological pathway between posts, same way I recently had to remind myself of Julius Tannen's "talking picture" bit in Singin' in the Rain
― Kid Creole Meets Señor Coconut at a fIREHOSE Show (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:13 (ten years ago) link
Palm Beach the last night. Lovely.
― james lipton and his francs (darraghmac), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 04:26 (ten years ago) link
miracle last night. patchy greatness, didn't really ever get behind the two leads as the two leads (obv dad and sister are great great great).
― james lipton and his francs (darraghmac), Tuesday, 6 May 2014 23:24 (nine years ago) link
^heresy
They are obviously cartoonish, funhouse versions of the boy & girl next door, and Bracken freely admitted they were trying to upstage each other the entire film.
― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 03:49 (nine years ago) link
TRUDY KOCKENLOCKER
― Damnit Janet Weiss & The Riot Grrriel (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 03:54 (nine years ago) link
^^^^^^^
― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 04:02 (nine years ago) link
great McGinty
maybe the one that holds together best?
― the only thing worse than being tweeted about (darraghmac), Monday, 26 May 2014 18:20 (nine years ago) link
The Lady Eve.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 26 May 2014 18:33 (nine years ago) link
The Lady Eve seconded.
― it definitely wasn't designed to be a pants pocket player (stevie), Monday, 26 May 2014 22:27 (nine years ago) link
Positively the same opinion!
― Pentatonic's Rendezvous Band (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 26 May 2014 22:33 (nine years ago) link
Lemme aks you a hyperthermical question.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 26 May 2014 22:37 (nine years ago) link
No one played patrician exasperation better than hardcore conservative Pallette.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2023 13:58 (one year ago) link
you can see the steam coming out of his ears
― a (waterface), Monday, 6 February 2023 13:59 (one year ago) link
"Standard for its time" sure but I do think Sturges is amongst the auteurs least shy about having these comedy black characters; don't see as many of them in Hawks and Wilder. Which doesn't necc mean he was worse - erasure is as insulting as caricature, at least he got some black actors paid - but yeah, more uncomfortable moments for sure.
Xposts
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 6 February 2023 13:59 (one year ago) link
Should I buy Stuart Klawans’s book, I wonder.
― Huey “Piano” Smithers-Jones (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 03:06 (one year ago) link
Spending money stimulates the economy and creates JOBS!
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 03:07 (one year ago) link
What Would the Weenie King Do?
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 03:08 (one year ago) link
I’m generally not a fan of screwball comedy, but I tried The Palm Beach Story since it’s leaving Criterion, and enjoyed most of it. But man, that scene with simultaneous firearms, piano pounding and dogs barking is everything I dislike about the genre, confusing loud and frantic for funny.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 04:18 (one year ago) link
Finally watched EASY LIVING for the first time a few weeks ago, hadn’t even realized it was leaving until yesterday. Maybe y’all saw me live blogging it up thread. Both Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder and no doubt Andrew Sarris as well badmouthed Mitchell Leisen so much I used to steer clear of him but he has several classics under his belt, minor or otherwise.
― Wile E. Galore (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 07:31 (one year ago) link
Hmm. Sarris filed him under Likely Likeable and was a pretty big fan of EASY LIVING.
― Wile E. Galore (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 07:34 (one year ago) link
https://bampfa.org/event/easy-living-6
As Andrew Sarris notes: “Curiously, Easy Living is the only film with which Sturges the writer was associated in the thirties that may be reasonably preferred to any of his own forties films. Not only is Easy Living funny and gracious and generous in the best Sturges tradition: it is velvety smooth and comfortably movieish in a way no Sturges-directed film ever was.”
― Wile E. Galore (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 07:35 (one year ago) link
Don’t know if this has been linked yet.https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2022/cteq/some-enchanted-evening-mitchell-lesien-and-preston-sturges-remember-the-night-1940/
― Wile E. Galore (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 07:41 (one year ago) link
You're up late!
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 10:40 (one year ago) link
Saw Sullivan's Travels again last week. I forgot how broad the slapstick is! The smart in Sturges is really smart, but the stupid is really stupid. As a director he doesn't seem to have much of an idea how to shoot pratfalls, even though there are a LOT of them.
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 11:41 (one year ago) link
I think a lot of the directors Sarris lowballed in the '60s he ultimately came around on when the '90s rolled around
― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 13:59 (one year ago) link
That's probably true, but I get the feeling that many people weren't paying close attention by that time and still live by the sacred text that is The American Cinema.
― Wile E. Galore (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 14:06 (one year ago) link
Just saw The Lady Eve for the first time (actually caught the last 3/4 then watched the entire thing with my wife.
"I need him like the ax needs the turkey."
What a great movie! One thing that was incredible watching it the second time was how so much happens in the last 20 minutes (the whole second relationship).
― This machine bores fascism (PBKR), Wednesday, 29 March 2023 02:48 (one year ago) link
I just rewatched a few weeks ago for the umpteenth time and was also amazed when I noted how short that section is time-wise.
― It’s Only Her Factory, Girl! (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 29 March 2023 03:10 (one year ago) link