Quantcast
Channel: Comedy – Silver Screenings
Browsing index pages (175 articles)
↧

Gloria Swanson: There’s No Free Lunch

One of our favourite actresses is Gloria Swanson, one of the biggest stars in 1920s Hollywood. She was a wisp of a gal at 4’11” and 110 lbs, but her talent and charisma fill the screen. Even today, her...

View Article


Monday at the Theatre: Curtain Up (1952)

Have you ever acted in community or professional theatre? We (yours truly) have never done so due to a lack of talent. Plus, we can’t be bothered memorizing lines. Our time is better spent in other...

View Article


A Movie that Grows on You: April in Paris (1952)

Have you attended a theatre or cabaret show in Paris? We, sadly, have not. That was something we missed on a trip to Paris many years ago, even though there was much else to enjoy. We were reminiscing...

View Article

Joyful Anarchy: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Sometimes we need a film where society’s rules are cheerfully trampled upon. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) is the perfect example of joyful anarchy. The titular character, Ferris Bueller, is a high...

View Article

How to Take Revenge on Your Fiancé

The best thing about 1930s screwball comedies is the practical solutions they offer for everyday problems. Look at A Bride for Henry (1937). Not only is it an excellent guide for choosing a marriage...

View Article


Film, Release, Repeat: Blondie & Dagwood Movies

We loved newspaper comic strips as a kid. We felt there was something Grown Up about reading a newspaper, even if it was just the funny pages. Lots of adults read the funny pages, too, we told...

View Article

Bob Hope’s Double-Crossing Christmas Scam

The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) is a movie about con men, lemon drops, and substantial debts at Christmas. It’s not an obvious holiday theme, but someone did have the Bright Idea to mix a Damon Runyon* short...

View Article

Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Alfred Hitchcock’s Romantic Comedy

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) is a perfectly lovely romantic comedy about a married couple who briefly separate, then reunite when they realize how much they love each other. This is a popular trope for...

View Article


If You Could Only Cook (1935): A Delicious Screwball Comedy

We love studying the meals people eat in old movies. Classic filmmakers’ food choices are interesting to us. What did previous generations think was an upscale meal? What were fashionable desserts? Why...

View Article


Alec Guinness vs. the British Textile Industry

Confession: We (yours truly) love browsing through clothing shops, both new and vintage. We find it truly intriguing to see What’s New in the fashion world. You’d think, after centuries of clothing...

View Article

Ingrid Bergman & Gal Pals in German Romantic Comedy

In the 1930s, a young Ingrid Bergman went to Nazi Germany to make a romantic comedy. The Four Companions (1938) is the tale of four female graphic design graduates who pool their resources to open...

View Article

Colleen Moore, Wholesome Gold Digger

We’ve just become a huge fan of silent film actress Colleen Moore. If you haven’t heard of Moore – we hadn’t until recently – she was a hugely popular movie star in the 1920s. When she was at the Top...

View Article

America Declares a Cold War on Canada in “Canadian Bacon” (1995)

Well, we never thought relations between Canada and the United States would ever be as testy as they are during the current trade disputes. This bickering is new in our lifetime. There have been...

View Article


Political Enemies as Friends: A Hollywood Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, Hollywood produced a movie about Russians accidentally invading America. The movie, The Russians are Coming the Russians are Coming (1966), is a political satire made during the Cold...

View Article

The Drudgery of Spending a Million Bucks

What would you do if you unexpectedly inherited a million dollars? Would you put it towards your children’s education? Donate it to charity? Or would you spend the whole thing frivolously, because Why...

View Article


American Soldiers vs. an Aristocratic Ghost

In 1944, before the D-Day landing and while WWII was still grinding on, MGM made a heartwarming movie about American soldiers successfully diffusing a notorious British ghost. The Canterville Ghost...

View Article

Love & Finance in “The Rage of Paris” (1938)

Here’s a line you don’t often hear in a classic movie. A man greets a friend with, “How’s everything in Winnipeg?” You heard that right: Winnipeg. And why not? There was a time when Winnipeg was touted...

View Article


American Mobsters vs. German Nazis

All Through the Night (1942) is a comedy-gangster flick about a turf war in New York City. The war is between fast-talking mobsters, who are used to getting their way in New York, and German Nazis, who...

View Article

Shakespeare for the 1950s

What is your opinion of the Shakespearean play, The Taming of the Shrew? Do you see it as satire, poking fun at the roles of men and women? Or do you think it’s barely-disguised misogyny? We ask...

View Article

Bob Hope: Accidental Genius

Have you ever had an accidental stroke of genius? This normally doesn’t happen to us (yours truly), because “genius” is not our defining quality, although we’ve had moments of extraordinary good...

View Article
Browsing index pages (175 articles)


Latest Images