4/18/24 (Thurs)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1947 fantasy was based on a female-authored book released two years earlier. I knew the title from the short-lived TV series back in the 1960s, but that played the situation for laughs. The film takes a more romantic approach.
10/5/23 (Thurs)
Unfunnily Yours is more like it. Preston Sturges’ 1948 film was apparently his last critical success after a string of flops, though it was a commercial failure at the time. That was partly due to the untimely suicide of Rex Harrison’s real-life suffering mistress, which creepily paralleled one of the plot points, and the studio didn’t help things by shifting strategy and advertising the black comedy as a thriller. It’s been reevaluated since and appears on many lists of best-ever comedies; it’s one of Tarantino’s 11 favorite films. Not on mine.
sekenbanashi 