Classic Film Review: The Lady Eve

The Lady Eve (1941)
Directed by: Preston Sturges
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda

We all know the story about Eve and the forbidden fruit -- and right from the opening credits, which includes an animated snake, The Lady Eve puts a comedic spin on the biblical tale.

Jean and "Colonel" Harrington, a father-daughter card shark team (Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Coburn), set their sights on Charles Pike (Henry Fonda) the socially awkward millionaire of a brewery fortune who recently returned from a year-long snake hunting trip in the Amazon (there's that snake imagery again). Jean and the Colonel crave wealth and fame. As the Colonel says to his daughter: "Let us be crooked, but never common." Yet when Jean seduces Charles, she's shocked to discover that she's quickly falling head-over-heels in love. The temptress in her wants to continue her little game and come out on top -- with thousands in her bank account -- but her romantic side has other plans in store as she struggles to persuade her father to abandon their con.

Prior to his 1942 hit, The Palm Beach Story, director Preston Sturges co-wrote this battle-of-the-sexes romp featuring two of the biggest stars of the era. Brimming with witty dialogue and more than a few pratfalls for good measure -- as well as sexually frank innuendo that somehow slipped passed Hollywood censors -- The Lady Eve is a clever and engaging addition to the screwball genre.

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck

As the slippery dame surprised by the genuine love she feels for her target, Barbara Stanwyck gives arguably one of her finest performances. Generally known for her dramatic roles (see: Double Indemnity), she's an absolute pleasure to watch here as she engages in a battle with her own conscience. Stanwyck manages to portray her character's complexities in such believable fashion you may catch yourself wondering which side of herself she'll give in to: The card shark or the hopeless romantic? She's both effortlessly graceful and charmingly flustered.

Henry Fonda, on the other hand, conveys a vulnerability that's almost painful to watch. Barely cracking a smile -- but generating plenty of genuine laughs with his charismatic performance -- his quest for Jean's hand in marriage is his ultimate goal. Anything less and he would collapse in a ball of misery. Only Fonda could make such an awkward chap such a comedic delight.

The Lady Eve holds up remarkably well, thanks in large part to two exceptional lead performances and the assured direction from a comedy master. Its ingenious script, brisk pace, deceptive characters and sexy banter catapult The Lady Eve into the realm of the classics. It's the quintessential screwball comedy.

FINAL GRADE: A-

Classic Film Review: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
Written by: Norman Krasna
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery

It's not often that you hear the words "Hitchcock" and "screwball comedy" being uttered in the same sentence. Yet, back in 1941, Alfred Hitchcock made a brief foray into comedic territory. Hitchcock always had a sense of humour and a knack for comedic timing; it's just that those moments of levity often occurred in his most suspenseful thrillers -- not full-out comedies.

In Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Hitchcock concocts a breezy comedy centred around a marriage between a hot-headed couple. After three years of marriage Ann and David Smith (Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery) discover that, due to some outlandish legal error, their marriage was never validated. While Ann panics, wondering what her mother will think of the fact that she's technically been living in unwedded bliss with a man, David relishes the thought of his freedom. After a particularly aggressive fight and subsequent make-up session, Ann innocently asks: "If you had to do it all over again, would you marry me?" David's nonchalant response: "No." And so he must embark on a series of mishaps and misadventures to win back the affection of his wounded wife who has since taken up with his childhood friend, Jefferson (Gene Raymond).

Working from a script by Norman Krasna, Hitchcock hits the mark as often as he misses the target. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is not funny enough to distract audiences from the fact that we know exactly where this is headed. Although the whole idea of a happy ending, achieved only after multiple mix-ups, is a familiar trope of the screwball genre, the premise is stretched thin with a nearly two hour running time. Unlike Gregory La Cava's 1936 screwball masterpiece My Man Godfrey -- which provided sharp commentary on the class system during the Depression -- Mr. and Mrs. Smith has shockingly little to say about anything deeper than surface level, especially on the subject of marriage. It simply coasts on the charm of its female lead, yet even Lombard alone can't keep it afloat.

Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery

That being said, Lombard turns in yet another of her effortlessly hilarious performances. There's no denying her talent and ability to convey a woman on the verge of an emotional collapse, while still making us laugh. You believe, wholeheartedly, every word and gesture. To this day she remains ones of film's great comedienne's for her spot-on comedic timing.

Montgomery has his fair share of standout scenes (look for the moments where he stares down a cat at a restaurant or when, to get out of an awkward moment, he casually tries to induce a nosebleed to get out of the situation). As the egotistical David, it's a pleasure watching him struggle to understand what he did that was so wrong. As Ann drifts further and further away from him and ultimately starts taking up with an old friend of his, it's only then that he realizes how much he misses his wife.

In the end, Mr. and Mrs. Smith proves to be a fun diversion, albeit one that will make you laugh without being particularly memorable.

Some critics have shrugged off this effort as one of Hitchcock's biggest cinematic misfires, and while there is no arguing that it is one of his weakest efforts, Mr. and Mrs. Smith is by no means a misfire. It has some shining moments led by its two likeable leads -- but it's just not on par with other screwball greats of the era.

FINAL GRADE: B

Classic Film Review: The Palm Beach Story

The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Written & Directed by: Preston Sturges
Starring: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Rudy Vallee and Mary Astor

"You have no idea what a long-legged woman can do without doing anything."

Critics continue to hail The Palm Beach Story as a classic of the screwball comedy genre, one of its crowning achievements. The film is indeed an enjoyable diversion, albeit one that occasionally suffers from one too many scenes that distracts from the four main characters at the centre of the plot.

After five years in a seemingly happy and stable marriage, Gerry (Claudette Colbert) up and leaves her penniless husband, Tom (Joel McCrea), a struggling architect who just can't seem to make ends meet. Gerry flees to Florida for a quickie divorce, whereupon she meets the charmingly gullible John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee) and his sister, Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor). When Gerry discovers that the siblings are multi-millionaires she immediately concocts a plan that will help funnel some of their wealth into her soon-to-be-ex-husband's bank account, saving them both from a life of poverty. When a disgruntled Tom shows up looking for his wife, Gerry convinces him to play along as her brother so she can get closer to John and carry out the plan.

Writer and director Preston Sturges crafted an easy, breezy farce with cleverly witty and engaging dialogue that centres about the pursuit of wealth -- and the consequences that come with it. However, Palm Beach Story often gets a little lost in its own zaniness. The film starts off on a rocky note with an unnecessarily drawn-out set-up for Gerry and the millionaire John to meet on a train ride to Florida. Their engaging banter is too often broken up a gun club aboard the train who insist on shooting the place up after having one too many drinks. At this point the film nearly topples under the strain of its own wackiness.

However, once Gerry and John exit the train, the narrative settles into itself -- and it's a combination of Sturges' rapid-fire dialogue and his exceptional casting choices that help steer The Palm Beach Story on course.

Joel McCrae, Rudy Vallee and Claudette Colbert

As Gerry, Claudette Colbert reminds audiences of why they were so charmed by her in the earlier screwball classic, It Happened One Night (1934). The beautiful, doe-eyed actress had a knack for finding hilarity in even the smallest of gestures and its because of her talent that Gerry is such an immensely entertaining character. 

While Joel McCrea plays straight-man Tom perhaps a little too straight (never quite loosening up), Rudy Vallee nearly runs away with the film as the charismatic and socially awkward millionaire John D. Hackensacker III. Under the assumption that Colbert's Gerry is leaving her big, strong husband because of abuse, Vallee perfectly delivers one of Sturges' best lines of dialogue: "That's one of the tragedies of this life, that the men who are most in need of a beating up are always enormous." He underplays the role to perfection, his John creating a perfect balance between himself and the wild antics of the frenzied Gerry.

For the most part, The Palm Beach Story holds up well, delivering charming performances and genuine laughs. Despite a couple of missteps in the first half of the film, it's an amusing romp led by the vastly different, yet equally entertaining, performances of Colbert and Vallee.

FINAL GRADE: B+

Classic Film Review: My Man Godfrey

My Man Godfrey (1936)
Directed by: Gregory La Cava
Starring: William Powell and Carole Lombard

With the emergence of the "screwball comedy" in the 1930s, Hollywood discovered a sure-fire way to lift the spirits of an American populace struggling to survive the Depression. Audiences sought a reprieve from their daily hardships in the form of beautiful celebrities who had an effortless ability to make them laugh and transport them to another time and place.

It has been more than 75 years since My Man Godfrey was first released, yet it's the sign of a story well told when it manages to hold up for generations of new fans.

Working from a script based on the novel by Eric Hatch, director Gregory La Cava crafted a comedic masterpiece that manages to be both a sharp social commentary on the class system of the 1930s and a laugh-out-loud farcical romp.

When spoiled socialite Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard) crosses paths with Godfrey (William Powell), a "forgotten man" living in a city dump, she convinces him to accompany her a party teeming with the creme de la creme of New York society. Her reason? To win a scavenger hunt in which one of the items listed is to return with a homeless person. Irene is instantly infatuated with the mysterious Godfrey and convinces her parents (Eugene Pallette and Alice Brady) to take him in as the new family butler -- much to her elder sister Cornelia's (Gail Patrick) distaste. Irene takes Godfrey under her wing, referring to him as her "protege", much in the same way that her own mother addresses Carlo (Mischa Auer), a young Italian man she keeps around the house for her amusement. Godfrey is forced to endure the inane antics of the Bullock family -- the most alarming issue being the shocking advances made by Irene, who seeks to woo the butler into marriage.

My Man Godfrey is like a fine wine -- it's aged remarkably well for a film so firmly ingrained in 1930s society. You laugh along with its implausible situations and clever wordplay while considering its thoughtful commentary on social order. Even its remarkable cinematography has transferred well, with Ted Tetzlaff's rich visuals jumping off the screen.

Carole Lombard and William Powell

However, it's savvy dialogue and physical comedy could have easily fallen flat in less capable hands. Luckily for audiences, La Cava's ingenious decision to cast screwball genre stalwart Carole Lombard and the charismatic William Powell paid off in spades. The fact that the two actors were once briefly married in real life prior to filming made the dynamic all the more electric.

Powell's razor-sharp delivery and straight-man comedic chops provides perfect fodder for Lombard's whimsical, slightly neurotic performance. Watching them engage in witty repartee and innuendos is the reason behind My Man Godfrey's designation as one of the greatest screwball comedies of all time. Lombard, in particular, shines in her role. In the hands of a lesser actress, the role of Irene would have come off as nothing more than a simpering brat unworthy of audience sympathy. Instead, you find yourself rooting for her happiness, despite her flaws and regardless of her obliviousness to the world around her. 

The supporting cast fares just as well as the leads, specifically the maniacal frenzy of Alice Brady as Mrs. Bullock and the amusingly over-dramatic antics of Mischa Auer in the scene-stealing role of Carlo. 

My Man Godfrey is pure unadulterated fun -- witty escapism at its finest. If only all films were this good.

FINAL GRADE: A+