tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post1394774895378725961..comments2024-03-15T04:08:16.172-04:00Comments on Only the Cinema: The Lady EveEd Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-60486323257059973382011-01-28T08:47:25.067-05:002011-01-28T08:47:25.067-05:00Thanks for the info, IA, I'll have to take a l...Thanks for the info, IA, I'll have to take a look at those in the course of my Sturges viewing.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-81005128033954323382011-01-27T18:47:17.714-05:002011-01-27T18:47:17.714-05:00Late comment, but hopefully useful, since you said...Late comment, but hopefully useful, since you said you'll be viewing more Sturges:<br />some of the very best writing on Sturges, both as a director and writer, is in the (lengthy) introductions to the two collections of Sturges' scripts (Five Screenplays by Preston Sturges and Four More Screenplays by Preston Sturges), by Brian Henderson (who even makes a convincing case for why SullivanIAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-56794968010044420082010-12-15T00:31:13.822-05:002010-12-15T00:31:13.822-05:00I'll just add to the praise for Sturges. I sl...I'll just add to the praise for Sturges. I slightly prefer SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS as well, but both films are great examples of the golden age of Hollywood comedy. Even if the imagery of Eve/The Snake is quite basic, Sturges is so efficient in his use of it, never hammering it home with exposition, yet always making it clear.<br /><br />Stanwyck is amazing here, oozing sexuality while Troy Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14843741571724231174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-7173112334772953932010-12-13T14:26:03.491-05:002010-12-13T14:26:03.491-05:00Monica, thanks for reading and commenting - especi...Monica, thanks for reading and commenting - especially to so eloquently state what makes this film special. I too appreciate that delicate balance of a lack of both sentimentality and cynicism. It's something I often see in my perennial favorite Hawks, too. It comes down to an acceptance that things are the way they are, and one might as well just enjoy it.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-41224382211821409132010-12-13T14:20:05.347-05:002010-12-13T14:20:05.347-05:00New commenter, and late to the show. Nevertheless-...New commenter, and late to the show. Nevertheless--<br /><br />The Lady Eve has always impressed me with its near rejection of sentimentality, which is rare in American comedy, even within the screwball genre. Nothing Sacred--another film about a long con--is another example; but if I remember rightly, it doesn't achieve Eve's weightless effervescence. <br /><br />What impresses me even Monicahttp://in-a-stranger-land.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-11818022978596624432010-12-07T15:03:34.990-05:002010-12-07T15:03:34.990-05:00Hail the Conquering Hero is fun, and slips an unco...<i>Hail the Conquering Hero</i> is fun, and slips an unconventional notion of heroism into the comedy.<br /><br />I'm actually just using this as an excuse to point out that I've finally seen a movie Ed hasn't!Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01450775188328918558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-72063798306479829622010-12-07T12:50:39.228-05:002010-12-07T12:50:39.228-05:00I'm certainly looking forward to checking out ...I'm certainly looking forward to checking out more Sturges. I must say, Sam, I found this one much more immediately satisfying and fun than <i>Sullivan's Travels</i>, the only other one I've seen so far, but it's only a matter of degree. Both are fine comic films and he's obviously a master of the form.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-84348363313126640742010-12-07T12:45:11.486-05:002010-12-07T12:45:11.486-05:00"Sturges' sense of comic timing, his visu..."Sturges' sense of comic timing, his visual and verbal wit, is impeccable throughout, and the script is teeming with sharp lines and quick turns of phrase."<br /><br />Indeed Ed, and I guess this can be aptly posed for several others in his incomparable and unique output. Over the years I have grown to favor SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS over this one, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, MORGAN'S Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-70603844664913063702010-12-06T16:05:38.700-05:002010-12-06T16:05:38.700-05:00It's all taste, of course, but Sullivan is a r...It's all taste, of course, but Sullivan is a role that requires both pretty direct comedy and a convincing earnestness regarding social matters, and McCrae delivers both of them straight and (to me) remains a puppet of witty but often forced plot and dialog that sometimes sounds like fresh out of the typewriter. To my inner stopwatch the timing is behind the beat (even though the tempo is Lutz Eitelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18265424358386584255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-50416519405436964182010-12-06T10:54:33.439-05:002010-12-06T10:54:33.439-05:00Can't imagine why you'd be bored by Sturge...Can't imagine why you'd be bored by Sturges. Even at low ebb in <i>The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend</i> he has something. At his best in <i>The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story</i>, and <i>Sullivan's Travels</i> -- ALL MADE IN 1941!!!! -- he's sheer heaven.<br /><br />I really can't be "objective" about his genius. After all mary Astor in <i>The Palm Beach Story<DavidEhrensteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11016905507543736049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-75371909538926010522010-12-06T09:50:53.468-05:002010-12-06T09:50:53.468-05:00I haven't seen a lot of Sturges yet, Lutz, may...I haven't seen a lot of Sturges yet, Lutz, maybe I'll feel that way about others, but I really love this one and enjoyed, somewhat less, <i>Sullivan's Travels</i> as well.<br /><br />Craig, that's exactly what I was thinking of when I made the comparison. Bugs in a dress seducing his opponents with absurd banter. Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree that this is a classic and a good Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-7530096835135528452010-12-06T08:59:36.185-05:002010-12-06T08:59:36.185-05:00Well, I dunno, haven't you ever seen Bugs in a...Well, I dunno, haven't you ever seen Bugs in a dress?<br /><br />But, ah, yes: This is one of the greatest of screwball comedies, and the one I like to use to illustrate the difference between comedies then and now. Were <i>The Lady Eve</i> remade today, there'd be lots of tedious exposition and sharing of feelings and self-inflicted guilt about her way of life (preferably in a montage toCraighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01450775188328918558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-56127236324619134602010-12-06T07:20:59.440-05:002010-12-06T07:20:59.440-05:00Ah yes! Somehow almost everything by Sturges I'...Ah yes! Somehow almost everything by Sturges I've seen bores me to tears, but I love this one and Unfaithfully Yours. It's probably a very narrow margin of mood that makes his stuff click, and actors that visibly enjoy themselves and can deliver lines a little too polished with a knowing wink without breaking that mood.Lutz Eitelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18265424358386584255noreply@blogger.com