Film Festival: Weddings, Hollywood Style The Philadelphia Story (1940) starts off with a bang. C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) is angrily packing his car to leave his house. His wife, Tracy Samantha Lord Haven (Katherine Hepburn) brings out his pipe stand and golf clubs, then trashes them on the porch. Dexter almost decks her, thinks…
Lisa's Home Bijou
Swing Time wedding and gambling: Lisa’s Home Bijou
Film Festival: Weddings, Hollywood Style Swing Time (1936) opens with John “Lucky” Garnett (Fred Astaire) dancing on stage with all male dance troupe. His manager Pop Cardetti (Victor Moore) is backstage playing card tricks for money. Lucky is leaving show business to get married, to the dismay of his troupe. Lucky dresses beautifully in a…
Palm Beach Story screwball fun: Lisa’s Home Bijou
Film Festival: Weddings, Hollywood Style Palm Beach Story (1942) gets off to a madcap start during the opening credits! A maid faints. A pastor paces and looks at his watch. A groom and best man hurry into a taxi. A beautiful woman is tied up in a closet. A bride hails a taxi. The wedding…
Lisa’s Home Bijou: San Francisco
Film Festival: The City by the Bay THE GREAT 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire is one of the defining events in 20th century American history. The 1936 film San Francisco connects faces with some of the stories of the earthquake, from the wealthy owners of mansions up on the hills, to the politicians who…
Lisa’s Home Bijou: It Came From Outer Space sci-fi
Film Festival: Science Fiction in the 1950s It Came From Outer Space (1953) is a classic sci-fi film based on a Ray Bradbury story. It is important to the genre because the outer space aliens that crash on Earth have no interest in invading or harming humans. John Putnam is an amateur astronomer who makes…