JarrodMcDonald

Filed Under: *'DAY' & 'NIGHT'* Today's Picks: *A DAY AT THE RACES (1937)* & *A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)* The Marx Brothers had already made several big screen movies for Paramount by the mid-1930s, when they signed with Irving Thalberg and went to work for MGM. They really hit their stride in the next few movies they did. A particular favorite among fans is A Day at the Races. It is the seventh film starring the three Marx Brothers?Groucho, Harpo & Chico. They are joined by Margaret Dumont, Allan Jones, and Maureen O'Sullivan. Another great movie the Marx Brothers made for MGM was A Night at the Opera. This film also featured Margaret Dumont and Allan Jones, with Kitty Carlisle in a supporting role. It was a major hit. This time, the guys turn an operatic performance into chaos.

In addition to STROMBOLI and EUROPA 51, she also made these with Rossellini: SIAMO DONNE (Italian dialogue) GIOVANNA D'ARCO AL ROGO (Italian dialogue) VIAGGIO IN ITALIA (English dialogue) LA PAURA (German and Italian versions)

Okay, here's the deal: I bought a copy of this film several years ago and it sits in the original wrapping. I have decided that I am going to tear this film apart...I mean it figuratively and literally. I am going to watch it, very slowly...I will spend four to five hours on it, pausing it along the way and writing down notes. I am going to be very methodical about it. I am going to be brutal. If this film is as good as everyone says, it will be able to withstand my extreme scrutiny of it. If it's that good, then I will fall in love with it and reverse my opinion. But in the event I do not reverse my opinion, the brutality will stand. We have to understand, There can be NO: Well, it was made in 1942 excuses (it has to hold up to today's standards, or else it's time as a true classic is finite and it has a shelf life that it has exceeded). There can be NO: Well, anyone could find something wrong with it excuses. There can be NO: Well, that is not what Curtiz meant. (I will be reporting the facts of what appears on screen.) There can be NO: Exemption from politics. I am a registered Republican. If I feel the film is entirely too liberal and that it interferes with its entertainment value, I will definitely cite examples. There can be NO: Repeat viewings. I will only watch this film once and then I will put it under one of the tires and drive over it. I will crush it. If I happen to like the film, I will ask Santa to bring me a new copy later this year. Expect my findings in the next day or so.

Kinokima, I think I bought it at Target for about $15. They had LIFEBOAT for $10 on the day I bought CASABLANCA, and I wish to Hades I had bought LIFEBOAT instead. One of my former professors does the audio commentary on LIFEBOAT. So that was a mistake...especially, since I love Tallu.

That's a great post...you have cited specific examples, often using dialogue to convey your knowledge and perspective about this film. Bravo!

ValentineXavier, I think you may be 'faking us out.' I sincerely disbelieve that you have seen any of Ingrid's Italian films lately. It is too easy, way too-too easy to just mention the ones Rossellini is more commonly known for, without going into specifics about STROMBOLI and EUROPA 51. You need to cite specific examples as to what you found 'plodding' about them, or else one may logically assume you have not seen these films recently or else not entirely. Edited by: JarrodMcDonald on Mar 21, 2010 9:12 PM

I have become so turned off to CASABLANCA in this thread that I think I will either a) burn my copy of it without watching it; donate it to the Salvation Army; or c) accidentally on purpose drop it in a pot of scalding water. I am going to go with Ingrid's assessment that she made more important films, and I will make sure I find and watch those. CASABLANCA is now out for me. LOL

Ingrid's E X A C T quote about CASABLANCA: *"I made so many films which were more important, but the only one people ever want to talk about is that one."* Of course, there will be 'spin' and re-interpretation of it, but Ingrid and I both know what she meant...

Favorite film indicates a personal, emotional, sentimental attachment. Best film may not be a sentimental favorite. It could just be a technically good film that even people who dislike it have to concede is an effective piece of cinema. 2001 is definitely not one of my favorite films. But for the era in which it was made, it was probably the best film made that year and for quite a few years afterward. It took cinema in bold new directions.

Leave it to Billy Wilder to make some smart-aleck comment that makes absolutely no sense. He needed to stay quiet, to stay out of it.

I think Judy was scheduled for BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY, but when she went haywire, MGM prevailed upon Ginger to step in at the last minute and save the production.

Lucky you...I recorded the four that were broadcast last summer on TCM. Percy Kilbride is not in the last two...his character is absent in the penultimate one where they visit the Ozarks (an Uncle character steps in); then Pa is recast with Parker Fennelly in the final installment.

Percy Kilbride has a role as the town store owner in Renoir's THE SOUTHERNER. He's very good in it...it's about two years before THE EGG AND I. It's fun to see him in a different role.

I think there's a bias in favor of Ingrid's Hollywood efforts, and she was really an international film star in the true sense of the word, since she had made films in several countries and languages. It is definitely ignorant of Americans to say CASABLANCA or SPELLBOUND is her best when they have not seen STROMBOLI or the slew of films she made with Rossellini. Just as it is ignorant for Italians who have only seen those films to say STROMBOLI is her best without having seen CASABLANCA and comparing it or examining her technique in each one. (We also need to look at her films from the 30s in Sweden.) I really have a feeling I will never watch CASABLANCA. I can keep finding other films to fill that 102 minutes of my life.

His dancing is great, but his chemistry with Judy is not at all romantic...and I think it should be for this film.

Part of the reason I haven't watched it is because while reading up on Ingrid Bergman, I learned that she despised it. She was very upset that the film received so much attention over her other efforts in the cinema. She felt she had done much better work and wanted to be remembered for other films, not CASABLANCA. So partly out of respect to her, I don't watch it. I don't want to get caught up in the tide of people who think it's so great that it undermines the other accomplishments of its cast and crew. That's another reason I don't watch too many of Billy Wilder's films. I feel like there's all this hype that surrounds them and it comes at the expense of lesser known, but infinitely greater works. I am sure CASABLANCA is highly entertaining and I wouldn't regret the time spent watching it...but I really have to push myself to see STROMBOLI and AUTUMN SONATA first.

Yup, they showed the first four. But they did not show THE EGG & I. That didn't hit the schedule till January.

Brando was busy directing it. LOL

I think Astaire lacks chemistry with Lucille Bremer in YOLANDA & THE THIEF, and that's part of the reason that film failed. But I love the story, and I think the 'Coffee Time' number is slurp-tastic. I am also a fan of Minnelli's visual tour-de-force in that one...it's a sumptuous film. BLUE SKIES completely wasted Astaire's talents. I do believe Astaire is miscast in EASTER PARADE, and I wish the studio had waited till Gene Kelly recuperated to film it with him instead. My favorite musical of Astaire's from the 50s is THE BAND WAGON, because the numbers are so infectious and Nanette is wonderful in it. And I love all the jabs at Jose Ferrer and Orson Welles. James Mitchell is more attractive than Freddy boy in that one. One of the problems with Astaire's physicality is that he doesn't eat...he doesn't tone his muscles either. There is no musculature to him, as there is with Kelly. It makes him look physically weak, or scrawny, on camera. His charm carries him, and in THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY, Ginger basically carries the film and does him a favor by appearing in it, since Judy was unable. Another problem I have with Astaire is that I don't think he is dancing with his partners like Kelly is...instead, he dances at them, or to them, to show off his skill. He seems like an isolated primadonna sometimes on film. He is at his best when he's dancing alone, like in the number where he climbs the walls and, to use Lionel Richie's phrase, dances on the ceiling, in ROYAL WEDDING.

Possibility...I don't know if I'm ready for it yet. LOL

He appears in two episodes of TAGS. In the first one, OPIE FINDS A BABY (Season 7, Episode 10), he's the father of an abandoned infant that Opie has brought home. It was produced in 1966 (post-Don Knotts). The second episode is called AUNT BEE, THE JUROR (Season 8, Episode 7) and it was produced in 1967.

This morning TCM ran MA & PA KETTLE. The film has such charm. I just love watching this series. I can't quite decide who I think is more effective...Marjorie Main as Ma? Or Percy Kilbride as Pa?

Such a beautiful classic...

Okay, then I will watch it on my 100th, 101st and 102nd birthdays. Will that do?