FredCDobbs Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 This is a great fun movie, with a perfect cast. Very funny and enjoyable to watch again and again. It received 6 Academy Award nominations, quite a lot for a light comedy. Charles Coburn received an Academy Award for his performance in this film. Edited by: FredCDobbs on Sep 11, 2013 7:33 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gagman66 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 It is one of my favorite films and Jean Arthur is delightful in anything Charles Coburn likewise is always a hoot. Might be the first time I have seen any guest programmer select this picture. Very good choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EugeniaH Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 This is also one of my favorite Jean Arthur movies. I laughed at the portrayal of her very upright, uptight character, keeping poor middle-aged Coburn hopping and racing around on her ultra-specific schedule. Then McCrea comes along and upsets the whole applecart... I liked the scene where she and Coburn and McCrea are sitting around the breakfast table and she's talking about her fiance... the (attitude) difference between her and the men really obvious and really comic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavenderblue19 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 It's also one of my favorites. Love this film. Perfect casting all around. Just a pleasure to watch this film. I thought all of Madeline Stowe's choices were great tonight and think she's articulate and lovely. She'd be a great one for the Essentials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EugeniaH Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 It's kind of symbolic that, not long into McCrea's entrance into the film, he's seen yelling and making weird noises like Tarzan while he's taking a shower... kind of telegraphing to the audience that he's spirited and going to "cause a ruckus" for straightlaced Arthur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavenderblue19 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 A very astute observation Eugenia. We can always count on you for that I'm always so taken with the sweetness of the 3 characters together. It's similiar to the Devil and Miss Jones in that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EugeniaH Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Poor Arthur... she suffered so much in her anxieties around performing, but when push came to shove she just came alive on the screen. She had to be "pushed" and coaxed into scenes, but when she 'clicked' she was wonderful. And despite her problems she made film after film, lucky for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 >I thought all of Madeline Stowe's choices were great tonight and think she's articulate and lovely. She'd be a great one for the Essentials. You can say THAT again, Lavender! And I'll add that she's GORGEOUS and her voice is like the most heavenly of music. (...as you can probably now tell, I'm falling fast for her here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavenderblue19 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Absolutely another favorite of mine is *Talk of The Town* again, another great combo This time Jean and Grant and Colman. She was perfect in these types of roles, the sweet intelligent woman and the sweet, intelligent males at her side. Teriffic actress and yes aren't we lucky that she pushed thru her demons and always gave that great performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredbaetz Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 This is one { of many } of my favorite Jean Arthur films. She was one of my first star crushes. I don't know if it was written for her by Garson Kanin, but she was cast in the lead of the original production of "Born Yesterday", but because of her bouts with nerves and insecurity she left the show before it got to Broadway. Enter Judy Holliday and as they say "the rest is....." But she did hit the Great White Way a few years later. In 1950 she wowed audiences in "Peter Pan" at age 50.. But later she again left shows like "Joan of Arc" and "The First Monday in October" which was written especially for her, because of her nerves. While teaching at Vassar College, she watched on of her students preform and stated "it was like watching a movie star" The student was a young Meryl Streep..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I watched the first part again last night, and the interaction between Coburn and McCrea seemed very witless. This was not my reaction on previous viewings. Perhaps the film does not hold up to repeat viewings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EugeniaH Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I don't think those two were as good alone together as each of them were with Jean. Jean was the "spark", not only because of the male/female difference but the personality combinations, too. The rooftop scene was kind of funny, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I wished I had seen this movie from the beginning. I tuned in a little ways into it and was immediately captivated by Jean Arthur. Her performance in that film would fit in a movie made today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Good point. I didn't cringe at the interchanges between either of the two males and Jean Arthur. Thinking back, I think that the chemistry between Coburn and Arthur was particularly good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I think the movie is very entertainingly done because of the "ever so coy" dialogue and how all the actors deliver it. The only problem I've ever had with the movie is that fake crying jag that Jean goes into a couple of times near the end of it. (...it didn't ring true to her character, in my view) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Jean Arthur is one of my favorite actresses. I found it interesting that Stowe mentioned Lombard, Arthur and Dunne. It is always a coin flip who I love more, Lombard or Arthur. Each time I see one of their movies I have to toss the coin again! But overall I think Arthur has a stronger legacy of first rate movies. The movies she was in are a great blend of comedy and drama about an interesting subject. (but never too much drama to weigh them down). Mr Deeds, Mr Smith, Only Angels Have Wings, Talk of The Town, The Devil and Miss Jones all fit into this category. Of course she was also in some less serious comedies like Easy Living and countless others. Then she ends her career with Shane, one of the greatest westerns of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosebette Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 This is a wonderful, sexy little movie. It was on a couple of weeks ago, and I saw only parts of it because it was too late, but this time I caught the parts I missed. The chemistry between Jean Arthur and Joel Mcrea is fantastic: the scene where he's showing her the travel case and their faces are so close together, the necking scene on the steps, and then the conversation when they're in bed in their separate rooms, and the ending... Don't know how they got this one past the censors. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 Dunne was the most versatile of the three. She was equally at home in comic and serious roles, and also had a fine singing voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EugeniaH Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 "You've been shushing me for 22 months now. You've shushed your last shush!" (lol...) (from the movie) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I agree there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I agree that Dunne was the most versatile, but I still feel Arthur was in more first rate movies than Dunne. But yea like our Bogart, Cagney, E.G. Robinson discussion, Arthur, Lombard and Dunne were all great in their own way. (but I believe you're not a big fan of Lombard). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoldenIsHere Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 "You've been shushing me for 22 months now. You've shushed your last shush!" Eugenia, I loved that line and the way Jean Arthur said it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dothery Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 It's always been my favorite movie, and just today I looked up the beautiful song sung in harmony by the men bedded down in the lobby of the apartment house. It's from World War I, and the name of it is "Don't Try to Steal the Sweetheart of a Soldier." When I located it in YouTube, I was delighted to see the WWI posters that were shown while they played the old 78 RPM records. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EugeniaH Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I can hear the line in my head, in that unusual voice, LOL. I've read here that some people think her voice is annoying, but I think it's cute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 No, I'm not. I didn't like her in TWENTIETH CENTURY, MY MAN GODFREY, or NOTHING SACRED. Too much over-the-top mugging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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