Wilder is amazing. I love screwball comedies for pretty much all the same reasons you do. I knew there had to be others out there, but I hadn't really come in contact with many of them. Astaire and Rogers I like in limited doses. I know they are classics but they aren't classics in the sense that I could watch them time and time again. What I like about a lot of them is that Fred Astaire's voice is overlooked because his dancing is good. The guy had a really good voice. If you enjoyed Some Like it Hot and Joe E. Brown's comedy in that movie, check out Shut My Big Mouth. He does some of the exact same stuff and it is even funnier. That movie came out about 10 years earlier, and isn't necessarily a classic. I hadn't heard of it until recently, and I follow old movies pretty avidly. Once I saw it, I was amazed that I hadn't heard of it before, and didn't understand why it didn't get more publicity or replays on the classic movie channels. I can't guarantee you'd like it, but it might be worth your while to check it out. Do you like Frank Capra's films?
Well not to say that Bring up Baby, and His Girl Friday aren't at the top of the list of quality screwball comedies. It's just that there are a lot of great ones that are about at the same level. Such as: It Happened One Night (the granddaddy of them all) My Man Godfrey The Awful Truth The Thin Man Ninotchka Libeled Lady (terribly underrated) The Philadelphia Story Ball of Fire Now it would be exceedingly difficult for me to rank these and put them in any kind of order. Let's just say that you can't go wrong if you stumble onto the beginning of any of these films while channel surfing. In fact the only screwball comedy that I would put above this entire group, and this is just my personel preference, is The Lady Eve which I mentioned earlier in the thread. In my mind, The Lady Eve is pretty much the pinnacle of the genre. There is no film, none whatsoever, that's a match for it's combination of Romance, Sexuality, and Humor. Yes, it's sexy. They had to be a bit more subtle those days, but it's definitely there.
Wow. Your mileage may vary, but I feel just the opposite. I can watch Fred and Ginger movies, even the lessor ones, any time, any place. In fact, they usually do a marathon of them every year of TCM, and I used to catch them every time (when I used to have cable). Oh well. Different strokes, I guess. Thanks. I'll check it out if I get the chance. My initial reaction is to look down on Capra because his films don't have the bite or wit of a Sturges or a Wilder. But looking at his filmography, you just can't knock the body of work: It Happened One Night You Can't Take It With You Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Arsenic and Old Lace It's a Wonderful Life Those are five stone cold stunners. As a Rome fan would say, "Scoreboard". While Capra's idealism and goody-goodiness annoyed me in some of his work, these films speak for themselves. And weirdly enough, Mr Smith (which might be his most idealized movie) is one of my all-time favorities. (Shrugs)
a few french movies... A bout de Souffle (Breathless) Hiroshima Mon Amour Quatre Cents Coups (400 Blows) Shoot the Piano Player
Although I'm very partial to His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby, I asked hoping you would list some that I haven't seen before so I can check them out. So, thanks because I have yet to see Ninotchka, Libeled Lady, or Ball of Fire.The others I have seen, and I agree with you that are all terrific.
Yeah, not everyone can be wrong all the time. I like some of the same music you do as well. So if anyone ever has to negotiate a peace treaty between us, they'll know what common ground to start with.
A Hard Day's Night Dr. Stangelove (already mentioned) All the Marx Brother's movies Nosferatu Night of the Living Dead
Good call on Night of the living Dead. That along with Dawn of the Dead (original) are Romero's best work. It was one of those films done in B&W for ambiance in the film (color technology had been around for a while.) Two other movies that came to mind are Eraserhead and Tetsuo the Iron Man. The latter was inspired by the former. The two most bizzare movies I've ever seen. Every friend I've recomended them to thinks I'm a weirdo for liking them. Eraserhead was David Lynch's first film and it has been deemed "culturally significant" by the US Library of congress. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eraserhead
Yes it is in color. But even then it hasn't quite held up as well as some other classics. I mean adjusted for inflation, this is by far the highest grossing film of all time. Most ticket sales, most money, etc. But you won't find a whole lot of people these days proclaiming it as the G.O.A.T. or even close to it. It's kind of like Titanic in that regard. The spectacle of it is unquestioned. But as a movie, there's a lot of films that surpass it.
