Category: Directed by George Cukor
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Very smart comedy about married lawyers Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. She’s the crusading progressive, he’s the assistant D.A. Usually they’re just adorable together but then Hepburn defends a wife on an attempted murder rap–the wife (a phenomenal Judy Holliday) shot her cheating husband. And of course D.A. Tracy’s the prospector; martial courtroom warfare ensues.…
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At the end of Gaslight, when all has seemingly been revealed, there’s only one question left. If Scotland Yard inspector Joseph Cotten isn’t an American in London, why doesn’t anyone notice his lack of accent. It’s a wise choice not to give Cotten an accent–presumably he couldn’t do one–but it also means there’s always something…
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Two-Faced Woman is the story of a successful New York magazine editor, played by Melvyn Douglas, who marries his ski instructor (Greta Garbo) while on vacation. It’s a whirlwind courtship, with one condition of the marriage (for Garbo) being Douglas is giving up New York. Turns out he’s not and off he goes to New…
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I wonder how Something’s Got to Give plays if you haven’t seen My Favorite Wife (Give was a remake). This thirty-seven minute edit of footage of Marilyn Monroe’s last–unfinished–film is a disjointed suggestion of what might have been. Monroe’s good in her part, though she doesn’t have a lot to do in the footage. There’s…
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Just okay class comedy gets by on Cary Grant’s considerable charm as he tries to win ex-wife Katharine Hepburn back before she gets married again. Thin characters and stagy adaptation limit Hepburn most (Jimmy Stewart’s manifestly miscast). The rushed finish doesn’t help things either. Some nice direction from Cukor, though never in the pacing. DVD,…
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Good performances can’t save tedious, stagy play adaptation about various blue bloods preparing to attend a dinner party. It starts okay then doesn’t go anywhere. Barrymores John and Lionel, Wallace Beery, Billie Burke (as the hostess), and Jean Harlow are standouts DVD, Blu-ray, Streaming.Continue reading →
The Stop Button 