litlover12

This post is for the ". . . And Scene!" blogathon at Sister Celluloid's blog.



Try an experiment some time. Bring up the drunk scene from The Philadelphia Story (1940) to a group of classic movie fans (like the folks at #TCMParty on Twitter, for instance) and I can almost guarantee you they'll start trading lines:

"Oh, C. K. Dexter-HAAAVENN!"

And "Champagne is a great leveleleler."

And "C. K. Dexter-Haven, you have unsuspected depth!"

And . . . but I don't want to spoil the whole scene for you. Suffice it to say, this is a well-known, well-loved scene. I would even say it's one of the best comic scenes ever put on film, performed by two great actors at the top of their game and helmed by a director, George Cukor, who excelled at bringing out the best in a cast. And who also, fortunately, encouraged ad libbing.

( Which we'll get to in a moment . . . )

Remember that top 20 movies list I made once? Remember how I said I might revise it someday? The day has come! There's one movie that's new and that just had to be added, and one old one that, after a couple more viewings, I realized had earned a spot. And so, from last to first . . .

20. An Affair to Remember (1957)
19. The Court Jester (1955)
18. The Sword in the Stone (1963)
17. The Princess Bride (1987)
16. Charade (1963)
15. Les Misérables (2012)
14. The Odd Couple (1968)
13. All about Eve (1950)
12. The Lion in Winter (1968)
11. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
10. The King's Speech (2010)
9. 1776 (1972)
8. Rear Window (1954)
7. The Sound of Music (1965)
6. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
5. Casablanca (1942)
4. Notorious (1946)
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
2. My Fair Lady (1964)
1. Singin' in the Rain (1952)

(I still love Shadowlands and The Thin Man, though!)

"E! is developing a new a 'modern-day "Mr. Smith",' by which we presume they mean 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' as a scripted drama series. . . . Gerken’s modern-day 'Mr. Smith,' E! said Monday, is about 'a self-made billionaire with a penchant for hooking up with lobbyists in the nation’s capital.'"

E! Network, you get your grubby little paws off my classics RIGHT NOW. I mean it.

Notice a pattern here? Yesterday our featured actors included Grant, Stewart, Bergman, and Rains; today our featured actors include Grant, Stewart, Bergman, and Rains.

But today Grant and Stewart are in different movies, each with Rains as supporting actor. Which is a nice arrangement, because when you're not swooning over either Cary or Jimmy, you can be swooning over Claude. (Ohhh, Claude . . . )

( #4 & #3 )