Holiday
This is the problem with playing it safe when choosing films to see: It is increasingly tough for them to exceed your expectations if you already have very concrete expectations of the film. As for me, I think that screwball comedies are my favorite genre of all times, but then again – how many I have seen! For many reasons, I assume that nothing can dethrone “His Girl Friday” as my favorite, very closely followed by “The Shop around the Corner”. Even in terms of screwball love comedies with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, I’d say that “Bringing Up Baby” was better because it had so much more energy.
But what can I say, ultimately this is a very lovely screwball comedy after all. There are a few more I am particularly interested in but at this point I have probably seen the major ones. I wonder why there isn’t all that much more, but maybe it is not too easy to come up with a good story, good lines and good actors. Plus there are comedies, such as “The Women” which cannot technically be classified as screwball even though the humor comes very close.
Ultimately I suppose I don’t really buy this “man wants to marry woman but falls in love with her sister” kind of story, especially since (yet again?) Cary Grant’s role did not seem to have much of a choice than having to “settle” for the sister since the fiancée didn’t want to go with him. It is just ultimately not a story where the main couple displayed all that much chemistry, but some of the characters (the friends, the brother!) as well as many wonderful scenes (“It looks like me”) saved the day. I laughed out loud a few times, though perhaps Cary Grant’s clumsy face alone makes me want to burst into laughter.
But still, “Bringing Up Baby” had a much better, fierce Katherine Hepburn. This is an absolutely great film in itself, it just can’t compare to certain others of its genre.
i love Holiday. i think it may be one of the warmest and sympathetic screwballs around (precisely because of such wonderfully nuanced side characters as the brother). I think the ultimate fierce KH may be featured in Cukor’s “Sylvia Scarlett”, in which she could basically pass as transsexual! watch it!
Oh yeah – thinking about most other screwball comedies, I do agree that this film has an extraordinary warmth (very much unlike “Bringing Up Baby”, in fact). I do think that “The Shop around the Corner” is very sweet and warm though, especially with the other employees in the store.
Hahahaha, oh God, I guess I have to see “Sylvia Scarlett” now indeed. Katharine Hepburn is about the only woman in all of film history who can pull off these fierce characters well.