Tag: a damsel in distress

2018: Year In Review + Top 11 Movies Watched

Update on 12/23/2019: I hadn’t planned on doing anymore editing of this one, but since I decided to make my 2019 list a Year In Review, I’ve decided to come back and do the same for 2018. In looking back, 2018 saw me deciding, just for the fun of it, to go through and “review” many of the movies I watch for my friends. With their support, I started out with a few then-recent purchases, posting those reviews as notes on my Facebook profile. After starting to see how quickly they were going to pile up, I then created my own FB fan page, where I moved those written reviews over to. On there, starting with my review of Going Hollywood, I started doing the reviews as videos. Then, after a while, I decided to start a blog, and this site was born! Now home to my written reviews, along with exclusive stuff, like my posts on screen teams, comparing films, film series, not to mention some of my lists (including my Top 40 Christmas Movies list), It’s been a work-in-progress as I try to refine how I am doing everything.

On the movie side of things, as I said, I started out doing a few then-recent purchases, before switching to the filmographies of various movie stars. I started out with plans to review movies from George Burns and Gracie Allen, along with Eleanor Powell, but, after previously reviewing King Of Jazz and throwing in a few of his other films, I decided to add in Bing Crosby, too. And while I had planned to take a break from those reviews to focus in on Christmas movies in December (or rather, for the days before Christmas day itself), I decided to break even earlier and focus on a few film noirs for the month of November (or, rather, “Noir-vember”). Of course, I also focused in on comments about screen teams like George Burns & Gracie Allen and Bing Crosby & Fred Astaire, plus comparing My Man Godfrey and Merrily We Live, as well as my thoughts on the two Bob Hope Paleface films and Bing Crosby’s turns as Father O’Malley in Going My Way and The Bells Of St. Mary’s.

Update on 8/26/2019: originally published on 11/22/2018, it was my plan to leave this post alone, and do it every year on Thanksgiving. Since then, I have decided to do my first edit of “Top Disc Releases Of The Year” posts on Thanksgiving, and do my “Top 10 Movies Watched In The Year” posts just after my final review of the year. Since I hadn’t included the remaining movies I reviewed in 2018 after publishing this post, I am including the one movie that would have made the list and, instead of dropping the last movie on the list, make this a one-time “Top 11 Movies Watched In The Year” list.

And here’s my list, for what I think are some of the best movies I watched in the year 2018 (and reviewed).  Admittedly, this list mainly includes titles I have watched and reviewed since I started doing this (otherwise, the list would be quite different).  These are all movies I enjoyed, and would recommend to anybody that is interested!  And if any of these appeal to you, be sure to click on the movie titles to go to Amazon!

  1. Blue Skies (1946) (Universal Studios, DVD, My Rating: 10/10)
    • Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire team up for a second to prove that they are “A Couple of Song and Dance Men,” and Fred proves shows us what it would be like to see him dancing with a chorus of dancers as good as he is (because they are all him!) in this musical, with the wonderful music of Irving Berlin to support them!  Full review here.
  2. Carefree (1938) (Warner Archive Collection, DVD, My Rating: 10/10)
    • The eighth of ten movies to co-star Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, this screwball comedy mainly features Ginger Rogers, and shows just how well she can handle comedy!  And of course, what would an Astaire-Rogers movie be without some dancing as well, with music provided by composer Irving Berlin!  Full review here.
  3. Follow the Fleet (1936) (Warner Home Video, DVD, My Rating: 10/10)
    • The fifth Astaire-Rogers movie features Fred Astaire in the navy.  He is joined by Randolph Scott, and Ginger Rogers and Harriet Hilliard (Nelson) are their love interests.  Features music from Irving Berlin, including the haunting “Let’s Face The Music and Dance.”  Full review here.
  4. The Sky’s The Limit (1943) (Warner Archive Collection, DVD, My Rating: 10/10)
    • A wartime musical featuring Fred Astaire as a flying ace trying to go incognito to enjoy his ten-day leave.  He meets a photographer played by Joan Leslie, who wants to be do more for the war effort than just fluff pieces on local celebrities.  Features one of Fred’s best tap solos set to the song “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).”  Full review here.
  5. Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) (Warner Archive Collection, Blu-ray, My Rating: 10/10)
    • The classic tale of Adam Pontipee (Howard Keel) coming to town looking for a bride, and finding Milly (Jane Powell).  Upon meeting his rough-housing six brothers, she helps refine them to help their prospects.  And of course, who can ever forget the barn-raising dance, one of the best dances ever put to film!  Full review here.
  6. A Damsel In Distress (1937) (Warner Archive Collection, DVD, My Rating: 10/10)
    • In his first movie alone since being partnered with Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire is joined by comedy (and dance!) team George Burns and Gracie Allen in a musical supported by the music of George and Ira Gerswhin.  Full review here.
  7. White Christmas (1954) (Paramount, Blu-ray, My Rating: 10/10)
    • The classic Christmas musical featuring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as a show business team, both onstage and behind the scenes.  When they, along with their new girlfriends played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, run into their former general, now running a failing inn, they decide to help save his inn.  A wonderful movie to watch around Christmastime, but just as fun the rest of the year, too!  Full review here.
  8. Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) Warner Archive Collection, DVD, My Rating: 10/10)
    • The king of rhythm (Fred Astaire) and the queen of tap (Eleanor Powell) team up in this movie about a pair of Broadway hopefuls, one of whom gets a big part due to a case of mistaken identity.  Full review here.
  9. Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) (DVD not currently available but available as digital copy/streaming on Amazon, My Rating: 10/10)
    • Fun movie starring Eleanor Powell as a hopeful dancer wanting to make good on Broadway, supported by several wonderful tunes from the song-writing team of Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed.  Full review here.
  10. Honolulu (1939) (Warner Archive Collection, DVD, My Rating: 10/10)
    • Robert Young stars in a “Prince and the Pauper”-type role, as two different men with an uncanny resemblance, while Eleanor Powell does the Hawaiian hula her way, with support from George Burns and Gracie Allen!  Full review here.
  11. Little Nellie Kelly (1940) (Warner Archive Collection, DVD, My Rating: 10/10)
    • Judy Garland pulls double duty as a mother and daughter from Ireland, does “Singin’ in the Rain” her way and more in this classic based on the George M. Cohan show.  Full review here.

Honorable mentions: The Jazz Singer (1927) (Warner Home Video, Blu-ray and DVD), Merrily We Live (1938) (Classicflix, Blu-ray and DVD), My Man Godfrey (1936) (Criterion Collection, Blu-ray and DVD)

Screen Team Edition: George Burns and Gracie Allen

“When I saw George walk out on the stage, I said, ‘There’s the man I’m going to marry.’ Boom! Something hit me!”- Gracie

“Really?” – Mamie Kelly (Sarah Selby)

“Yes, it was my mother!”- Gracie (The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show)

I want to discuss some of the movies starring George Burns and Gracie Allen. I only have a handful to work with, and I know they made more together (although I’m not sure how many others have been made available on disc). Going into things, it’s definitely better to have an understanding of who they are and their style of humor, since they usually play the same type of character (and usually go by their own first names, too). To best understand them, I would suggest trying to find their radio show (The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show), which should be available as a podcast.

As to their history, George went into vaudeville, usually with a partner, sometimes doing dance, sometimes comedy, but he never really clicked until he met Gracie in 1923. At first, Gracie was the “straight man” and he delivered the punchlines, but that didn’t work, with the audience laughing more at Gracie than him. So they switched roles, and became a success, with it even becoming a running joke that Gracie was George’s “talent.” They made it big, first on stage, then got into the movies for the thirties. Not long after starting in the movies, they had a radio program that became a hit, and changed a little over the years. They then switched their radio show to TV, which also became a hit, lasting until Gracie finally decided to quit the show, partially due to health reasons.

College Humor’s plot mainly follows two characters: Barney Shirrel (Jack Oakie) as he goes through college, playing football for the college team, and Professor Danvers (Bing Crosby), who is in a love triangle with Barney’s sister Barbara (Mary Carlisle) and Barney’s football teammate Mondrake (Richard Arlen). To give a quick opinion on this movie, I wouldn’t recommend it. I enjoy it well enough, but I would sooner say this is a movie for “completists,” those who feel the need to see all the movies ever made for any of its stars. Considering this discussion is about George and Gracie, their appearance in this movie is more like two cameos, maybe amounting to about five minutes screentime, give or take a few. The movie is available on DVD, and is about one hour, twenty minutes in length.

The 1934 movie We’re Not Dressing mainly concerns a socialite and her friends who end up shipwrecked on an island. By now, you should have seen my individual review for the movie (if you haven’t yet, go do so!), so we’ll stick to George and Gracie. Their presence here is definitely greater than it was in College Humor, but they are for the most part separated from everything else happening in the movie. Their bits are still hilarious, though, and still worth seeing the movie for (I think).

In A Damsel in Distress, we mainly are concerned with the romance between Lady Alyce Marshmorton (Joan Fontaine) and Jerry Halliday (Fred Astaire). Again, this I have reviewed this one previously, I’ll stick to George and Gracie. George is Jerry’s press agent, and Gracie is their secretary (and not necessarily a good one either, but her father had invested in Jerry’s first show, as we are reminded multiple times). Of the (currently) 5 movies I have seen them in together, this one is the most fun, giving them a chance to dance with Fred Astaire (and doing a pretty good job of keeping up with him, I think).

College Swing basically goes with the premise of Gracie being in charge of the college. Gracie is given the lion’s share of screen time here, as it seems like they were trying to give her a solo career. George has his moments, too, both with Gracie and without, although this is one movie where they don’t end up together as a couple in the end.

Honolulu brings them both back, one last time. With a Prince and the Pauper type of story, Gracie accompanies Eleanor Powell to Honolulu, while George acts as the press agent for Robert Young’s Brooks Mason. George and Gracie don’t really have any screen time together, until the end of the movie. Gracie is given one chance to dance with Eleanor Powell, to the title tune, although it is quite obvious that dancing together almost seemed to hold Eleanor back a little, as her style was quite different than Fred Astaire’s, so Gracie didn’t end up doing the whole routine with her. I still think this movie is fun, although not as highly recommended if you are watching it for them as a team.

As a whole, George and Gracie are a wonderful comedy team. While I can only comment on a few of their films together, due to lack of availability of most of them, they are worth looking into. After Honolulu, Gracie had a couple of solo outings in the movies, while George didn’t return to the big screen until his Oscar winning role in the 1975 The Sunshine Boys, nearly a decade after Gracie’s death. But together, whether onscreen in the movies, on tv, or just on radio, they are always worth a good laugh when together, and I recommend trying to find any of their work if you can!

Ratings (note: Since they are generally not the main focus of these movies, I am also including a third rating, a “George and Gracie” rating, if you will, to reflect on how much I think the movies may be worth viewing for them alone).

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College Humor

Film Length: 1 hour, 21 minutes

My Rating: 5/10

“George and Gracie” Rating: 2/10

We’re Not Dressing

Film Length: 1 hour, 20 minutes

My Rating: 8/10

“George and Gracie” Rating: 6/10

A Damsel In Distress

Film Length: 1 hour, 40 minutes

My Rating: 10/10

“George and Gracie” Rating: 10/10

College Swing

Film Length: 1 hour, 26 minutes

My Rating: 8/10

“George and Gracie” Rating: 9/10

Honolulu

Film Length: 1 hour, 20 minutes

My Rating: 10/10

“George and Gracie” Rating: 8/10

Thoughts From The Music(al) Man (2018) on… A Damsel In Distress (1937)

Here we are again, with another Fred Astaire-centric movie, the 1937 musical A Damsel In Distress, also starring George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Joan Fontaine!

The plot of this movie mainly concerns Lady Alyce Marshmorton (Joan Fontaine), who is now old enough to marry.  The staff at her castle are all betting on who she will marry, with the two frontrunners being Reggie, Alyce’s aunt’s stepson and “Mr. X,” an American Alyce had fallen in love with.  Now Alyce escapes to London to meet him, but, followed by her butler, she gets into a cab with Jerry Halliday, an American dancer (Fred Astaire).  One of the other members of the staff sees this, and believes Jerry to be Mr. X, and thus decides to help encourage the romance so that he can win the bet.  Now Jerry likes Alyce, and, unaware of the real Mr. X, tries to romance her.  At first, she believes him to be a friend, until he kisses her in the tunnel of love at a carnival, and she promptly slaps him.  After a while, she ends up falling for him, too.

The fun of this movie is the music by George and Ira Gerswhin.  Now, this is one of George’s final projects, as he died before the movie was released.  The movie includes (but is not limited to), songs such as “I Can’t Be Bothered Now,” “Put Me To The Test,” “Stiff Upper Lip,” “Things Are Looking Up,” “A Foggy Day” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”

“I Can’t Be Bothered Now” is a nice, short solo dance for Fred.  He ends up doing a dance on a street for a busker, as he tries to evade the policeman in London, after getting into a fight with the butler.  Of course, this all happens near the beginning of the movie.

“Put Me To The Test” is an instrumental piece of music that gives Fred, George and Gracie a chance to dance together.  Apparently, the dance came about as a result of George and Gracie’s audition for the movie.  They put together a dance involving whisk brooms, and when Fred saw it, he liked it enough that he wanted to join in on the fun!

The song “Stiff Upper Lip” is otherwise known as the “funhouse dance” with this movie.  Fred, George and Gracie all dance their way through a carnival, with various mirrors and other assorted things.  It was this dance that resulted in this movie winning the Oscar for “Best Dance Direction.”  Another tidbit is that one section of the routine, that mainly features Fred and Gracie, borrowed dance steps from some of what Fred had done on stage with his sister, Adele.

The song “Things Are Looking Up” is the main romantic routine, pairing Fred and Joan Fontaine.  The music is what I enjoy with this song, although the dancing is only so-so, mainly because actress Joan Fontaine was decidedly NOT a dancer.  It is nice to see her try (as opposed to the more modern way of using doubles), and I enjoy the old-fashioned way of trying to hide her ability (or lack thereof) through the camera coming behind trees or focusing on Fred.

“Nice Work If You Can Get It” is a fun song.  What is most enjoyable is when Fred reprises the song at the end of the movie.  He proves that he can dance AND play the drums at the same time (and quite well, at that)!

I very, very highly recommend this movie.  For me, watching Fred dance is ALWAYS fun, and being joined by both George and Gracie makes it better.  Of all the movies I have seen for George and Gracie, I feel like they are at their best in this movie (and I certainly remember some of their jokes with fondness).  The plot may be a little silly, but that is part of the fun with some of these older musicals, and I do enjoy this one.

The movie is available on DVD from Warner Archive Collection.

Film Length: 1 hour, 40 minutes

My Rating: 10/10

*ranked #6 in Top 11 Movies Watched in 2018

List Of Actor/Actress Filmographies/Collections

Swing Time (1936) – Fred Astaire – Carefree (1938)

We’re Not Dressing (1934) – George Burns/Gracie Allen (screen team) – College Swing (1938)

Joan Fontaine – The Emperor Waltz (1948)

Stand-In (1937) – Jack Carson – Vivacious Lady (1938)

As an Amazon Affiliate, this site gets a small percentage for every purchase made upon using one of the Amazon links, even if it’s not the movie I linked to (and it’s at no extra cost to you). If you like what I’m doing with the blog, please consider using them so that I can continue to do more!