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 . . . )

I did it -- I made my list of the top five performances by actors and top five by actresses. And let me tell you, it was not easy. (Add usual disclaimers about how there are lots of great films I haven't seen, how I may change my mind tomorrow, etc.) I appreciated all the comments on my original post -- they were enjoyable to read and helped me think things through!

So let me give you the lists, and I'll explain a little about my reasoning after that. Going from last to first in each list . . .

( Below the cut )

Get ready for romance! And comedy, and heartbreak, and some of the best drunk scenes of all time.

( #6 & #5 )