Movie Review #5 - Arsenic and Old Lace

                      Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Director: Frank Capra

Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Josephine Hull, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Jean Adair, John Alexander, Edward Everett Horton

Running Time: 118 minutes

Production Co.: Warner Bros.
Academy Award Nominations: none

 

A dark comedy, Cary Grant stars as Mortimer Brewster, a newlywed dramatic critic. His two aunts seem normal but they have a secret. They kill lonely old gentlemen. Then there is his brother, Jonathan (Massey)who looks like Boris Karloff and his brownnosing assistant Dr. Einstein (Lorre). There's his happy go lucky wife, Elaine, who frankly, talks way too much. Breezily directed by the master Frank Capra (of It's A Wonderful Life fame). Not for very young children but older children, teens, and adults will enjoy this movie. Full of laughs and contortions, this is sort of a dark slapstick comedy. Highly recommended.

Top 6 - Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman is one of the best actresses ever to grace the silver screen. Her name is synonimous with grace, beauty, and great acting ability. One of my favorite actresses, i think Bergman is up on the platform with Davis and Hepburn. As with all the stars it is hard to pick 6 movies. Here is what i have:

Casablanca
Notorious
Gaslight
Spellbound
Autumn Sonata
The Bells of St. Mary's
Honorable mention:
Murder on The Orient Express

Halloween plans

On Halloween night, i will be watching two movies "Psycho" and "Arsenic and Old Lace". Oh i'm excited. Every Halloween i have a tradition of watching either a scary movie (not too scary) or a Halloween themed movie. And i will be giving out candy. Twix and Milky Ways n' 3 Musketeers. Man i really want to gobble them down but i won't....

Movie Review #4 - East of Eden

                    East of Eden (1955)

Director: Elia Kazan

Cast: James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Richard Davalos, Jo Van Fleet

Running Time: Warner Bros.

Production Co.: 115 minutes
Academy Award Nominations:

Best Supporting Actress-Jo Van Fleet

Best Actor-James Dean
Best Directing-Elia Kazan
Best Writing (Adapted Screnplay)-Paul Osborn

Based on John Steinbeck's book with the same title, East of Eden is a story of Cain and Abel. Young Cal Trask (Dean) seeks his fathers (Massey) love. Meanwhile he envies his brother (Davalos) because his father loves him and not Cal. There is a lot in this movie which i will not spoil so go see it for yourself.

This is my personal favorite of James Dean. Rebel Without A Cause is his most famous, one that is good but not great. Giant is very interesting but as i said good but not great. East of Eden is something different. Dean is very raw as an emotionally hurting boy. I think his performance was very convincing and richly deserved an Oscar nomination. I've never been that great a fan of Dean because he always seemed to try to be Brando. This movie was the only one released while James Dean was alive. Raymond Massey is good, as usual, as the strict, religious father. The cast is good and does a good job of acting.

A note to Hollywood

Hollywood shame on you! How far you've fallen...from Gone With The Wind and Casablanca, such great stars like Gable, Grant, Hepburn, Davis, and directors Hitchcock, Capra and Wilder TO...well what have we now? Fake, druggies who can't act their way out of a paper bag (their are exceptions!). Why i could probably act better than they can. All the stars are made out of the same cookie cutter. There is no variety! That's what made classic Hollywood so great! I can't think of many contemparary directors who are good. The movies have little or no plot, are packed with CGI, sex, nudity, and other obscene stuff! That is why i scoff at so called "stars" like Megan Fox. As for looks, old Hollywood was glamorous and real. Not fake body parts. The men were handsome and could act (for the most part). The woman could be sexy, tough, or mysterious. Hedy Lamarr or Grace Kelly, or Audrey Hepburn could knock their fake faces off. Give me Clark Gable, Cooper, Valentino, or Cary Grant over the Brad Pitt's of Hollywood.

Oh and stop with the remakes!

Star of the Week: Deborah Kerr

Last week's star was Peter Lorre. This week the new Star of the Week is Deborah Kerr.

Real Name: Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer

Born: September 30, 1921 in Helensburgh, Scotland

Died: October 16, 2007 (age 86)

Height: 5-7

Academy Award nominations: 6 nominations-

Edward My Son(1950)
From Here To Eternity(1953)
The King and I(1956)
Heaven Knows Mr. Allison(1957)
Separate Tables(1958)
The Sundowners(1960)
No Oscar wins!

Trademark: played classic English ladies

Deborah Kerr made an entrance into Hollywood, playing proper English woman. Her role in "From Here To Eternity" cast her as an adulterous woman. In 1956 she starred in what is arguably her most beloved work "The King and I" opposite Yul Brynner. The following year, she starred alongside Cary Grant in "An Affair To Remember" (which is one of my personal favorites). In 1968 she retired from movie making. In 1994, Deborah Kerr received an Honorary Oscar for her motion picture achievements.

Deborah Kerr is one of my favorite actresses. While not a Hepburn, Davis or even Bergman, Kerr was an extremely underrated actress who wasn't as appreciated as she should be. She was entirely believable as the prim-and-proper lady, though she would grow tired of this role. I have seen many of her movies and i have loved every one, especially The King and I and An Affair To Remember. Deborah Kerr holds the record for most nominations (6) without a win. Only Thelma Ritter has more nominations (8) without a win. 

Notable Films: From Here To Eternity, The King and I, An Affair To Remember, Black Narcissus

A TCM lovefest...

TCM. I'm sure you've at least heard of it. It stands for Turner Classic Movies. All they do is broadcast classic movies 24/7 with no commercial interruption (i hate commercials!) and promos of their own stuff. You will never see a McDonald's commercial on. All this is great. They show great old movies, the only problem is...i don't have them. I don't have cable or satellite. Just plain old boring TV, which i rarely watch. Oh i wish that i had TCM. So you know what i do? I find out their schedule and when a certain movie is on, i watch it at the same time, so it's like i'm watching TCM (i know it's dumb). Once i went to a friend's house and found out they had TCM. "I didn't even know i had that channel". I was thinking here are good people with that glorious network and they don't even know they have it while i dream of having that. So i joked "maybe we should switch houses".

Well i'm sure you get the picture, i love TCM (their film fest was absolutely amazing, mindblowing, aahh!). Oh maybe one day i'll get it and then i'll never do anything else.

Top 6 - Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy was probably one of the best actors, in that he never seemed to be acting. His performances were always true. Here are his top 6 performances in no order (it's hard to pick 6):

Inherit The Wind
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
Captain's Courageous
Boy's Town
Judgement At Nuremberg
Bad Day At Black Rock
Honorable mention: Adam's Rib

Classic movie DVD's are in danger

Well you heard it from me and i heard it from the LA Times. Unfortunately with DVD sales dropping, movie companies are looking for ways to save money. So they scrap certain movies. And those are classic movies. Classic movies will either take longer to reach DVD or Blu-Ray, or they will never be released. Since all the focus is on modern movies, classics are left in the dust, which is shameful. Which is why i am going on a DVD craze on Amazon. I've been to all the stores, from Best Buy and Borders to DVD Rental and they don't have many or any old movies. And the stores that do, say Borders, charge outrageous prices (24.99) for an old movie. So i go to Amazon where i buy them for used prices or new. Very affordable!. I've bought All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Now Voyager, Mildred Pierce, Gone With The Wind, and much more.

You know what i say to the movie studio, do not cut old movies from your repertoire of collections. And i also say to the average dummy of a movie viewer, expand your horizons. Don't watch that junk. As Dr. Jaquith in "Now Voyager" said "Not that way, this way". Come to watch classic movies and you will love them.

Movie Review #3: Harvey

                            Harvey (1950)
Director: Henry Koster
Cast: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake, Cecil Kellaway

Running Time: 104 minutes

Production Co.: Universal Pictures

Academy Award nominations: Best Actor-James Stewart

Academy Award wins: Best Supporting Actress-Josephine Hull

When you think of 1950 two movies usually come up All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard. But there is another quaint little movie that i simply adore: Harvey. It stars Jimmy Stewart (whom i love) as Elwood P. Dowd, a gentle man who has a 6 foot invisible rabbit friend. Obviously everyone thinks that he is crazy. His sister (Josephine Hull) decides to institutionalize him. But they think that his sister is the crazy one and lock her up. The doctor and nurse fall in love with Elwood P. Dowd and Harvey (not literally

Harvey is the underrated movie of 1950. Jimmy Stewart is lovable as Elwood. Josephine Hull won the Oscar in a very tough year, but yes she deserved it. Harvey is never seen but the audience knows he is there. The rest of the supporting cast is good as well.

I highly recommend this movie. Harvey will cheer you up and make your troubles go away. Perfect on a rainy day...sit back and enjoy!

note!

The Movie Review will be moving from Thursday to Wednesday. Thank you!
Alas starting on Saturday a new program, Top 5, will be starting. This series reviews a stars/directors top 5 movies. Don't worry i won't spoil anything. Hope you enjoy!

So here is the schedule of the works:
Monday - Star of the Week series (here is a secret-the next star is Deborah Kerr)
Wednesday - Movie Review (another secret-the next movie is Harvey)
Saturday - Top 5 series (alas another secret-the first star is the actor who was famous alongside Katharine Hepburn)

Just to let you know there may be more series coming up in the following months!
I'm always trying to find innovating ways of making series-different ones so it doesn't get boring. I feel one coming in a month or so. Wait and see!!!

Star of the Week: Peter Lorre

Today's Star of the Week is the great character actor Peter Lorre.

Real Name: Laszlo Lowenstein

Born: June 26, 1904 in Rozsahegy, Hungary

Died: March 23, 1964 (age 59)

Height: 5-5
No Academy Award nominations!

Trademark: sinister foreigners, often in crime or mystery movies. Bulging eyes, round face, and a nasal voice that is instantly recognizable.

Lorre became a star in Fritz Lang's M, in which he plays a child murderer. At Warner Bros., Peter Lorre became a very famous character actor, often with Humphrey Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet. It was in John Huston's The Maltese Falcon that Lorre skyrocketed to fame, playing shady characters. He also appeared in Casablanca alongside Bogart and Greenstreet. He showed he had comedic flair in Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace, his portrayal of a murderer is quite funny (it doesn't hurt to star with Cary Grant, Raymond Massey and be directed by Frank Capra). In the 40s and 50s Lorre found it increasingly difficult to find good roles. In 1964 he died of a stroke. 

Peter Lorre is one of my favorite character actors, along with Rains, Brennan, Mitchell, and Sanders. It is a shame that character actors or actresses have disappeared from modern movies. Sure we have supporting characters, but they just aren't the same. In the old days, a character actor could just as popular as the leading star was. Well they were the good 'ole days! 

Vincent Price had once said of Lorre, "His voice . . . face . . . the way he moved . . . laughed - he was the most identifiable actor I have ever known."

Notable movies: M, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Arsenic and Old Lace

-no title-

today i felt like watching christmas movies so i watched "The Shop Around The Corner" and "The Bishops Wife" and they were so good. Especially "The Shop Around The Corner". It was so sweet and sad and i teared up at the end when...oh! i don't want to spoil it. If you haven't seen it...SEE IT and laugh and cry.
The Bishops Wife was really good as well. Two outstanding christmas movies although it's not even Halloween. oh well!

Rant: Why kids these days hate classic movies

Why are kids so ignorant about old movies? Is it that they don't care? Why do you think the internet is around? For playing around, email, and...oh looking up stuff you don't know. However i recently found out that most young people don't research stuff they don't know. They are either too lazy, don't care, or too busy. In one of my classes, the teacher showed an old movie, the whole class started groaning and complaining. "Do we have to watch this?" and "I hate black and white movies".

•    Of all my friends, i would say about 80% don't know classic movies. (Congrats to the other 20% who, thank god, know some stuff). When i talk to them about old movies, i get glazed looks or deer-in-the-headlights looks (and these are mostly college students). But if i start talking about Justin Bieber or Twilight, they get excited and all of a sudden...they know what i'm talking about!!!
•   I also condemn TV for not playing old movies. There was a time when old movies were shown a few times a week. Now nothing. If you don't have cable or TCM (i have neither TCM or cable), then you are screwed. Let's give a big round of applause to pop culture. THANKS FOR SCREWING UP OUR KIDS WITH YOUR TRASHY JUNK!!!

Well now lets get to me. I found out about classic movies in the 12th grade. It was in psychology and our teacher showed 'Sunset Boulevard'. I must say i was in awe. I had never seen such a movie before. Before this i had watched a few old movies but i wasn't like the other kids. I hardly went to the movies (i still don't) and i took no interest in the movies that Hollywood was churning out. Throughout the whole day, i had a biting question in my head, "Who was that man in the movie?". So when i got home i looked him up. It was William Holden. On his page on Wikipedia there was a link that read, "AFI Legends of Hollywood". Well i was intrigued. So i clicked on it and out popped this list of people i had never heard of. The rest of the day i spent researching each one of those people. So i started talking to my dad about them (he knows a lot about classic movies. He recommended that i try the local library. I still remember the first two classic movies i checked out were "The Maltese Falcon" and "They Died With Their Boots On". Well i loved them both. So i started checking out 3-4 movies a week. My dad would recommend the movies until i could pick them myself. I LOVED EVERY SINGLE MOVIE! Now i still go to the library, but i've checked out almost all of their classic movies. I'm glad i'm not like other people, too lazy to look stuff up. I found the greatest thing because of my inquisitiveness. I'm SO glad i did.

Decade in Review - 1960s

Of the previous decades that i reviewed, the 60s are my least favorite decade. I mean there were great movies in the decade like Lawrence of Arabia, Pyscho, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, The Lion In Winter, My Fair Lady, The Apartment, Cool Hand Luke, etc.

• The 60s were the ending of many of the greatest directors, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Hitchcock. While they may have made movies into the 70s, their last great movies were made during the 60s.
• The 60s were a time of civil unrest so the movies reflect that. In The Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, Lilies of the Field, A Patch of Blue are all movies that are race related.
• During the 60s many stars passed away. Gary Cooper in '61, Clark Gable in '60, Marilyn Monroe dies in 1963. Stars like Bogart, Flynn, Power died in the late 50s.

• Some other titles include 2001 A Space Odyssey, Dr. Strangelove, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, To Kill A Mockingbird, Dr. Zhivago, Breakfast At Tiffany's, The Magnificent Seven, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Vavlance.

Movie Review #2: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

     The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Director: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett

Running Time: 126 minutes

Production Co.: Warner Bros. Pictures

Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture

Academy Award Wins: Best Supporting Actor-Walter Huston, Best Director-John Huston, Writing Adapted Screenplay

Based on a book, the story is about three fortune hunters searching for gold in Mexico. Fred C. Dobbs (Bogart) and Curtin (Holt) meet a prospector (Huston) and they team up to find gold. But as they find gold, each one's greed could destroy the entire mission. This movie deals with the subject of greed-how powerful and corruptive it is.   

The acting amazes. Bogart was so good as the greedy bastard Fred Dobbs, that i wanted to hit him but was in awe at Bogie's acting prowess. The fact that Bogart didn't even get nominated amazes me. I think this was his best performance that he ever did (YES-even better than Casablanca!). Walter Huston is great. He definantly deserved his oscar. Walter Huston and John Huston became the first father-son team to win oscars, and in the same movie.

I highly recommend this movie. I know it's cliched but, "they don't make them like this anymore" and it is so true.

Decade in Review: 1950s

The 1950s are my favorite decade of movies. During the 50s, TV became competition for movies. Movie viewership began to decline. I Love Lucy, my fav TV show, ran to great success. Movie stars like John Wayne, Marlon Brando, James Dean, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Marilyn Monroe were popular. This was Hitchcock's best era of movies.

• The 1950s started off with two of my favorite movies: All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard, which were released in the same year, 1950. They are about similar subjects, the darker sides of Hollywood.
• This was Hitchcock's golden decade, with Strangers on a Train (1951), Rear Window (1954), To Catch A Thief (1955), Vertigo (1958), and North By Northwest (1959).
• The 1950s were the height of musicals such as Singin In The Rain (1952), A Star Is Born (1954), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and The King and I (1956).
• The 1950s were also the height of westerns. High Noon (1952), The Searchers (1956), Rio Bravo (1959), Shane (1953), and much more...



• Some more 1950s movies include Touch of Evil (1958), Ben Hur (1959), 12 Angry Men (1957), An Affair To Remember (1957), Roman Holiday (1953), The African Queen (1951), On The Waterfront (1954), The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), Harvey (1950), Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Bridge on The River Kwai (1957).

My favorite movies from the 1950s: All About Eve, Sunset Boulevard, Rear Window, North By Northest, Some Like It Hot, Singin In The Rain, An Affair To Remember, Roman Holiday, The African Queen, Touch of Evil, and Rio Bravo.   

Star of the Week: Gene Tierney

Every Monday there will be a different star of the week. Heads up: it won't always be just stars.

Today's Star of the Week will be Gene Tierney.

Real Name: Gene Eliza Tierney

Born: November 19, 1920

        in Brooklyn, New York. 

Died: November 6, 1991  (aged 70)

Height: 5-7
Oscar nominations: 1 - Leaven Her To Heaven (1945)
No Oscar wins!
Trademark: Prominent cheekbones and an overbite. Portrayed woman with a coolness or mystery.

Gene Tierney was a successful actress who acted from the 40s to the 60s but her best decade was the 1940s in which she starred in the film noir Laura, Leave Her To Heaven (she got an oscar nomination) and her best, The Ghost and Mrs Muir. Unfortunately she suffered from bipolar disorder. Due to all her years of smoking, she died of emphysema.

 

Notable Films: Laura (1944), Leave Her To Heaven (1945), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

Decade in Review - 1940s

Kate Hepburn

                                    

                                   My favorite actor: Cary Freaking Grant

In this next segment i will review the 1940s which is second favorite era (favorite is the 50s). The 1940s was the height of The Golden Age of Hollywood, and it was. With the onset of WWII, movies had a darker, wartime feeling. Little Technicolor was used. Stars like Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart were at their best.

• A new genre, called Film Noir, was formed. Noticebly darker, the people in them were often ambiguous. This is one of my favorite genres. Some movies include Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, Laura, The Third Man, The Big Sleep, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, etc. 
• Probably the two most famous movies of the 40s are Casablanca and Citizen Kane, Casablanca is on my top 10 of all time. Some other great war time movies were The Best Years of Our Lives, Mrs. Miniver, I was a Male War Bride and The Grapes of Wrath.
• A new British director came to America. His name was Alfred Hitchcock. The 40s were the start of some of his greatest pictures. Rebecca, Notorious, Spellbound, Lifeboat, and Shadow of A Doubt the pictures he made in the 1940s.  

• My favorite movies from the 40s are: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, The Treasure of The Sierra Madre, Notorious, Rebecca, Mildred Pierce, His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, Now Voyager, It's A Wonderful Life, Arsenic and Old Lace, and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

I will be reviewing the 1950s, not tomorrow, but the day after. 

                                             

Decade in review - 1930s

For the next four days i will be reviewing each decade (from 30s-60s). So lets start with the :

                        1930s

Because of the depression, people wanted movies that made them forget of their troubles. Comedies were prevalent. Stars like Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Clark Gable are at their peak.

• The 1930s started with some classics like All Quiet on the Western Front, King Kong, Scarface, M, Frankenstein, and City Lights.

• A new genre called Screwball Comedies was created. The 1930s has some of the best comedies in the history of cinema such as Bringing Up Baby, The Awful Truth, It Happened One Night, The Women, Modern Times, My Man Godfrey, Duck Soup, The Thin Man, The Music Box, Libeled Lady, and MUCH more...
• Many adventure films like The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Mutiny on The Bounty, Captains Courageous, and Gunga Din.
• 1939. Only the greatest year in movies. with such titles as Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Stagecoach, Dark Victory, Wuthering Heights, Gunga Din, The Women...Any other year and most of these movies would have swept the Oscars.

My favorite 1930s movies are: Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Bringing Up Baby, The Awful Truth, The Women, It Happened One Night, The Adventures of Robin Hood, A Night At The Opera, Duck Soup, and The Lady Vanishes.

Tomorrow i will review the 1940s.

   Greatest Actress EVER: Bette Davis              The stud himself: Clark Gable!

AFI top 25 stars

you probably know that AFI released a list of the Legends of Hollywood which is the top 25 actors and actresses pre 1960 (so no Newman or Clift). While i agree with their picks i don't agree with the order. Here is my list in no order:
                    Actors                           Actresses
                 Cary Grant                  Katharine Hepburn                
            Humphrey Bogart                  Bette Davis
              James Stewart                  Ingrid Bergman
                Clark Gable                  Audrey Hepburn
               Gary Cooper                   Joan Crawford
               Gregory Peck                   Vivien Leigh
              Marlon Brando              Olivia de Havilland
              Spencer Tracy               Barbara Stanwyck 
               Henry Fonda                  Elizabeth Taylor
              James Cagney                   Judy Garland
               Fred Astaire                    Ginger Rogers
                Errol Flynn                      Greta Garbo
               John Wayne                    Deborah Kerr
            Robert Mitchum                  Grace Kelly
            William Holden                  Mary Pickford
             Sidney Poitier                  Marilyn Monroe    
             Orson Welles                 Claudette Colbert
            Charlie Chaplin                  Lauren Bacall
            William Powell                 Marlene Dietrich    
              Gene Kelly                         Myrna Loy 
           Laurence Olivier               Carole Lombard
            Burt Lancaster                   Rita Hayworth
             Kirk Douglas                   Shirley Temple
         The Marx Brothers               Sophia Loren 
             Claude Rains                       Doris Day

Thank goodness for Amazon

Whenever i buy classic movies, i always get them from Amazon.com. Sometimes they have bargains on DVD's and when it'a bargain it really is. They also sell used movies for 5-6 bucks.

When i bought the Cary Grant 5 Disc Collection (Holiday/His Girl Friday/The Awful Truth/Only Angels Have Wings/The Talk of The Town) it half off the regular price, from $49.99 to $24.99. That's about $5 a movie. Plus when you buy over $25 you get free shipping and no tax!

I also bought the James Stewart: Hollywood Legend Collection (Rear Window/Vertigo/Harvey/Winchester 73/Destry Rides Again) for $31.99 which was originally $59.99, though Amazon usually sells it lower than the regular price. As of today, it was $53.99. So i got a bargain!! Plus i love this collection because it has great movies and Jimmy Stewart.

The one that got away from me was the Gone With The Wind 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collection Edition. It was selling for $30.99 from 64.99. That's more than half off. What i didn't realize was that it was a one day sale so i told myself that i'd get it in a week or so. Then i came back and it was back to $64.99. Well i was bummed.

Anyway i've filled my movie cabinet with classics for very cheap. Here's some movies i got used (and very good condition) for 6 dollars:
Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, Mildred Pierce, It's A Wonderful Life, Notorious, My Fair Lady, Auntie Mame, Arsenic and Old Lace, Lawrence of Arabia, and The Lion In Winter.
I got my I Love Lucy collections from Amazon for $15-20 dollars.

Movie Review #1: Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot (1959)        

Director: Billy Wilder                                                                              

Cast: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe

Joe E. Brown, George Raft, Pat O'Brien 

Running Time: 120 minutes

Production Co.: The Mirisch Company

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Director, Best Actor-Jack Lemmon, Cinematography, Best Writing

Screenplay, Art Decoration

Academy Award Wins:

Best Costume Design

AFI 100 Comedies: #1

                     Two musicians witness a murder so they dress up in drag as Josephine (Tony Curtis) and  Daphne (Jack Lemmon) in an all girl orchestra. But Josephine falls in love with Sugar (Marilyn Monroe). A millionaire falls in love with Daphne and everything gets complicated.

        This is a great comedy by one of the greatest directors in the history of Hollywood, Billy Wilder. All the cast is at its peak but Jack Lemmon steals the show. He is amazing and SO funny! Tony Curtis does a great Cary Grant impersonation. A funny note: Tony Curtis could actually pass for a woman while Jack Lemmon looks like a very strange man. A must see and one of my favorites!!!