Easy Living

Ray Milland became a rather more sinister figure in later movies than he played here. Easy Living, written by the brilliant Preston Sturges, featured one of his more adorable performances. Incidentally, this film scored a shocking 100% on the tomatometer.

These old, light comedies didn't exactly call for any deep acting, but the way Edward Arnold and Ray Milland exchanged some of the fastest lines since His Girl Friday (three years later, ironically) floored me. Mr. Sturges's lines could only have been pulled off by accomplished comics. These two did just fine.

Unfortunately, Jean Arthur landed the blondest of blonde roles. Not only does her character refuse to see the simplest reason in an argument of mathematics with a banker, but she actually makes a very basic social mistake in accepting an $58,000 sable coat (during the Great Depression) from a married man, and then compounds the mistake by accepting a matching hat. Perhaps movies were becoming more liberal, but even now that kind of gift carries a very disreputable connotation.

Because of the format of these earlier movies, I had no difficulty seeing where the movie was headed, but since it was always going somewhere amusing, that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this film. I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a problem with B&W flicks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lost in Austen

Image
My co-worker warned me about Lost in Austen . She said it was cheesy, and from the few clips forced on me by a very fanatically-inclined little sister, I would have completely agreed. In context, though, I think it all sort of fit, although it's not exactly Emmy material. I really liked what they did to this story, but my reasoning is a bit complex. I have read Pride and Prejudice perhaps seven times. The only books I have read more often are Heart of Darkness (8) and The Book of Mormon (?). That doesn't mean that I like the work, just that my professors did. I admit, I liked the book very well the first three times. The romance was classic and endearing, and the language was fluid and fun. Then came Austenmania, and I jumped ship. Jane Austen wrote some enjoyable stories, but I wouldn't rank her any higher than Georgette Heyer (this coming from the same person who ranks Shakespeare with Steven Spielberg). And at this point, having seen every version of P&P ever fil
Read more

The Fountain

Image
This film should only be watched once. As a second-time viewer, I knew approximately how it ended, and how the three epic stories tied together, but it wasn't pleasant to watch. It wasn't pleasant the first time, but at least the images were striking, and felt like some kind of voyage of discovery. Watching this again was a bit like watching The Sixth Sense for the fourth time. The impact had disappeared. For most of the film, the camera moved toward those truly frustrating close-up, poser shots that so irritated me about Master and Commander . I understand that these are pretty people, and they earn the money, and so they get close-ups, but when it doesn't enhance the plot or the artistic composition as a whole - when it doesn't create unity, then it has no place. Actors should understand that, and have a serious heart-to-heart with their directors about it. I usually enjoy watching Rachel Weisz, but in this film she seemed flat, passive, and enervated. To be fa
Read more

Salt

Image
This film had all the elements of a classic cold-war spy thriller in much the same way State of Play reprised journalism drama. Both Liev Schreiber and Angelina Jolie played very well, especially off each-other, and although this film must essentially showcase stunts and physical effects, the plot and ending work quite well too, without becoming too belabored or falling into too many cliche traps. Salt is ultimately exciting and fun, but don't try to wrangle a classic out of it.
Read more