John Wayne and Montgomery Clift clash in Howard Hawks's "Red River"

Red River (1948) is an American western film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, and Joanne Dru. The movie is based on The Chisholm Trail, first published in The Saturday Evening Post by Borden Chase. Chase co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Schnee. The cinematography was by Russell Harlan (To Kill a Mockingbird) and the music was by Dimitri Tiomkin (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington).

Thomas Dunson (Wayne) wants to start his own cattle drive and establish a ranch in Texas. As he begins his journey, he learns that his girlfriend Fern (Colleen Gray) has been killed in an Indian attack. Dunson convinced Fern to remain with the wagon train to California instead of traveling with him which was her desire.

Dunson and Nadine Groot (Brennan) successfully fend off an Indian attack. Dunson finds his late mother’s bracelet on the writs of one of the Indians. The one he gave to Fern. The next day, they come across a boy named Matthew Garth (Mickey Kuhn) the only survivor of the wagon train, the same wagon that Fern was traveling with. Dunson adopts Matthew and the two work on the cattle drive together.

Time marches on and an older Matthew (Clift) and Dunson don’t always agree with each other and clash over their affection for Tess Millay (Dru).

Will the two men be able to come to terms with their differences and continue to work together raising cattle?

John Wayne and Montgomery Clift

Howard Hawks (1896 - 1977) was an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the great directors from the classic Hollywood era. Hawks excelled in directing films in all genres. His films were famous for featuring strong women characters. These tough-talking “Hawksian women” helped to define the director’s work. Some of Hawks’ popular films include Scarface (1932) Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Gary Cooper won a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in Sergeant York (1941) under Hawks’ direction.

John Wayne (1907 - 1979) was an American actor and filmmaker. Nicknamed Duke, Wayne was a pop culture icon and one of the most popular movie stars of all time. During the end of the silent era, Wayne worked on movie sets and played bit parts in movies. He got the chance to play the lead in director Raoul Walsh’s The Big Trail (1930). The Western was an early widescreen epic and a box office disaster, which relegated Wayne to roles in a string of B Westerns. It wasn’t until his role as the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach that he became a star of A films who was now paired with some of the top actresses of the day. Wayne played a variety of roles in the movies but he is most identified with the Western genre and the movies he made with director John Ford. Some of Wayne’s popular films include Red River (1948), The Quiet Man (1952), Rio Bravo (1959), The Searchers (1956), and The Longest Day (1962). Wayne won his one and only Best Actor Academy Award for his role in Tue Grit (1969).

Montgomery Clift (1920 – 1966) was an American actor. He was a four-time Academy Award nominee for Best Actor. Like Marlon Brando and James Dean, Clift was considered one of the original method actors. Clift got his start on the stage as a young man and starred opposite the likes of Tallulah Bankhead, Frederic March, and Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Clift’s first movie role was in Howard Hawks’s Red River (1949) starring opposite John Wayne. He went on to co-star with Olivia de Havilland in William Wyler’s The Heiress (1949). He reached superstar status in the role of George Eastman in the George Stevens production of A Place in the Sun (1951) staring opposite Elizabeth Taylor. Clift would later star in Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess (1953), and Fred Zinnemann’s From Here to Eternity (1953). Other films followed including Raintree County (1956), The Young Lions (1958), Lonelyhearts (1958), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), and Wild River (1960).

Walter Brennan (1894 – 1974) was an American character actor and three-time Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor. Brennan is the only actor male or female to win three awards in the supporting actor category. He got his start as an extra in silent films and eventually made the transition to talking pictures. By the late-1930s, Brennan was one of Hollywood's most sought-after and highest-paid character actors. Some of Brennan’s movies include Three Godfathers (1936), Kentucky (1938), The Westerner (1940), Meet John Doe (1941), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), My Darling Clementine (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and How the West Was Won (1962).

Joanne Dru (1922 – 1996) was an American film and television actress. She was a popular leading actress in the late-1940s and early 1950s in films like Red River (1949), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), All the King’s Men, and Wagon Master (1950). Other films include The Pride of St. Louis (1952) and Thunder Bay (1953) opposite James Stewart.

Red River trivia

• This was Montgomery Clift’s first film role although The Search (1948) was released first. Red River’s release was held up for two years.
• Upon seeing John Wayne’s performance in this film, director John Ford supposedly said, “I never knew the big son of a bitch could act.” Ford went on to cast Wayne in more complex roles in films like The Searchers (1956).
• Red River was Howard Hawks’s first western film.

Burt Lancaster was offered the Clift role but had to turn it down because he was committed to star in The Killers (1946).

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on May 1, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an email with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. This is considered one of the best western ever made. Would you agree? Did you enjoy this western?
2. What did you think of the performance of John Wayne? Did you think his performance was better than his performance in Stagecoach (1939)?
3. Did you think that Wayne and Clift worked well together? 
4. Was there an overall theme to this film? If so, what was it?
5. What did you think of Joanne Dru’s character? Was she the typical Hawksian heroine?

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in “Bringing Up Baby”

Bringing Up Baby (1938) is an American screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. The screenplay was written by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde, cinematography by Russell Metty, with music by Roy Webb.

When Dr. David Huxley, an awkward paleontologist (Grant) meets a Susan Vance, daffy heiress (Hepburn), both of their lives will never be the same. David is engaged to be married to Alice Swallow (Virginia Walker), but that doesn’t keep Susan from being smitten with David. She actively pursues him, much to his chagrin and anyone else who gets caught in her wake.

Today considered one of the funniest screwball comedies of all time, Bringing Up Baby was a critical and commercial flop when first released.

Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn

Howard Hawks (1896 - 1977) was an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the great directors from the classic Hollywood era. Hawks excelled in directing films in all genres. His films were famous for featuring strong women characters. These tough-talking “Hawksian women” helped to define the director’s work. Some of Hawks’ popular films include Scarface (1932) Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Gary Cooper won a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in Sergeant York (1941) under Hawks’ direction.

Katharine Hepburn (1907 - 2002) was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She is the Oscar champ, winning four competitive Best Actress Awards. She received her first in 1933 for Morning Glory and her fourth for On Golden Pond (1981). Other Hepburn films include Little Women (1933), Alice Adams (1935), Stage Door (1937), Holiday (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Woman of the Year (1942), Adams Ribs 1949), and The African Queen (1951). Hepburn continued acting as late as 1994, concentrating on television acting in The Man Upstairs (1992) with Ryan O’ Neal and This Can’t Be Love with Anthony Quinn.

Cary Grant (1904 - 1986) was an English-born American actor who became one of the most popular leading men in film history. Grant started his career in vaudeville before heading to Hollywood. He became a superstar in the late 1930s in a series of screwball comedies including The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne. He was a memorable C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940) opposite Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. He received two Best Actor nominations for Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Hearts (1944). Other classic Grant films include Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). He made four popular films with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He was presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970.

Bringing Up Baby Trivia:

• This was Hepburn’s first comedy and she was coached by Hawks and several vaudevillians acting in the movie.
• RKO executives thought the film would be a flop because there wasn’t enough romance. They also didn’t like the glasses Grant wore in the film; they wanted the director to take them away.
• Grant didn’t think he would ever be a star at this point in his career. At nearly 34, he thought his time for stardom may have past.
• After the film’s release, Hepburn was declared box-office poison and Hawks was fired from his next film assignment.

To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.

Don’t let the title fool you, it’s in English. 

Why watch this film?

• To watch the pairing of Hepburn and Grant, two years before The Philadelphia Story.
• The dialogue is fast and furious, just like Howard Hawks’s His Girl Friday.
• The film features a wonderful collection of character actors including May Robson and Charlie Ruggles.
• It’s classic example of the screwball comedy genre.

To join the discussion on October 18, 2021, at 6:30 p.m., click here. Once you RSVP,  you will receive an invitation and a link to the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions:

1. What did you enjoy most about this film?
2. Why do you think the film wasn’t a success upon its first release?
3. Do you think Hepburn and Grant were a good comedy team?
4. Can you see anyone else in the Hepburn role?
5. Do you think the film deserves to be considered a classic today?
6. Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue?
7. Was there a character actor that stood out to you?

Grant and Hepburn on the RKO backlot with “Baby”

Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant in “His Girl Friday”

His Girl Friday (1940) is an American screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Based on the play The Front Page (1928) by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, Hawks decided to turn Hildy Johnson, played by a man in the original, into a woman, changing the dynamics of the story and according to many critics, an improvement. The supporting cast includes Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, Roscoe Karns, John Qualen, Helen Mack, and Alma Kruger.

Hildy Johnson (Russell) has left newspaper journalism behind to marry insurance salesman Bruce Baldwin (Bellamy), much to the dismay of her former editor and ex-husband Walter Burns (Grant). Walter does his level best to convince Hildy that she return to her career and to him! What ensues is one of the smartest, fast-talking screwball comedies ever made.

Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, and Rosalind Russell

Howard Hawks (1896 - 1977) was an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the great directors from the classic Hollywood era. Hawks excelled in directing films in all genres. His films were famous for featuring strong women characters. These tough-talking “Hawksian women” helped to define the director’s work. Some of Hawks’ popular films include Scarface (1932) Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Gary Cooper won a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in Sergeant York (1941) under Hawks’ direction.

Cary Grant (1904 - 1986) was an English-born American actor who became one of the most popular leading men in film history. Grant started his career in vaudeville before heading to Hollywood. He became a superstar in the late 1930s in a series of screwball comedies including The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne. He was a memorable C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940) opposite Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. He received two Best Actor nominations for Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Hearts (1944). Other classic Grant films include Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). He made four popular films with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He was presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970.

Rosalind Russell (1907 - 1976) was an American film and stage actress. She was nominated for four Best Actress Academy Awards throughout her career. She won five Golden Globe Awards and a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Ruth in Wonderful Town. Russell was a versatile actress who excelled at both comedy and drama. She was also one of the few actresses of her day to portray lawyers, judges, and psychiatrists. Some of her famous films include The Women (1939), My Sister Eileen (1942), Sister Kenny (1946), Picnic (1955), Auntie Mame (1958), Gypsy (1962), and The Trouble with Angels (1966).

To watch this film on YouTube, click on the link below.

Why watch this film?

• It is considered one of the best screwball comedies of all time.
• The overlapping dialogue throughout the film was unique when released and copied ever since.
• Rosalind Russell had one of the best roles of her career as Hildy Johnson.
• It showcases Cary Grant’s ease at playing comedy like no one else could.
• The cast features a supporting cast of some of the best and most popular character actors of the day.

To join the discussion on September 13, 2021, at 6:30 p.m., click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and link to the discussion on Zoom.

His Girl Friday trivia

• Rosalind Russell was literally the last choice to play Hildy Johnson?! Carole Lombard was the director’s first choice but deemed too expensive. Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Margaret Sullivan, Ginger Rogers, Jean Arthur, and Irene Dunne were all offered the role but turned it down. Supposedly, even Joan Crawford was considered.
• Russell hired a writer to help her ad-lib some of her dialog to better compete with Grant who was ad-libbing like crazy.
• The film contains several inside jokes that audiences in 1940 would have picked up on immediately.
• Russell was loaned to Columbia from M-G-M where she had just completed The Women (1939).
• The film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in 1993.
• It premiered at Radio City Music Hall before it went into wide release where it was universally praised by the critics and public.

Discussion questions:

1. What did you think of the relationship between Walter (Grant) and Hildy (Russell)?
2. Did the character of Hildy Johnson surprise you in any way?
3. Did you have a favorite line or interaction between Hildy and Walter?
4. What about the character actors? Any favorites?
5. The film moves at break-neck speed; were you able to keep up with it?
6. Did anything surprise you about the film?
7. Was the ending satisfying? Was it what you expected?

Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck are an unlikely pair in Howard Hawks’s “Ball of Fire”

Ball of Fire (1941) is an American romantic comedy directed by Howard Hawks and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The screenplay was wirtten by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. The cinematography was by Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane), the music by Alfred Newman.

The plot concerns a group of professors developing and writing an encyclopedia who encounter a nightclub entertainer who is an expert on American slang. Cooper plays Professor Bertram Potts who is an expert on English and grammar. Seven other professors are experts in science, geography, physiology, law, philosophy, botany, and history. All of the professors are bachelors, with the exception of Professor Oddley who is a widower. 

When Professor Potts realizes that their entry on slang is terribly out of date, he goes out into the world to do some research. He encourages nightclub singer Sugarpuss O’Shea to help him. She ignores him at first but when her boyfriend, gangster Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews) is under scrutiny for murder, she decides to hide out with the professors.

The seven professors and Mrs. Bragg

Howard Hawks (1896 - 1977) was an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the great directors from the classic Hollywood era. Hawks excelled in directing films in all genres. His films were famous for featuring strong women characters. These tough-talking “Hawksian women” helped to define the director’s work. Some of Hawks’ popular films include Scarface (1932) Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Gary Cooper won a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in Sergeant York (1941) under Hawks’ direction.

Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961) was an American film actor who was known for his down-to-earth, understated acting style. He was a major star for almost four decades until his untimely death at age 60. Cooper got his start in silent film but easily made the transition to sound. During the early 1930s, he became a major star in films like A Farewell to Arms (1932), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). Other popular Cooper films include Meet John Doe (1941), Sergeant York (1941), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1952). Cooper won two Best Actor Academy Awards: Sergeant York and High Noon (1952).

Barbara Stanwyck (1907 – 1990) was an American film star who got her acting start with a supporting role on Broadway in a play called The Noose (1926). The next year she had the lead in another Broadway production, Burlesque which was a huge hit. She eventually made it to Hollywood where her success was not immediate. Director Frank Capra saw something in Stanwyck and he educated her in filmmaking and film acting and the rest is history. Stanwyck was nominated four times for the Best Actress Oscar—Stella Dallas (1937), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)—and remains one of the most beloved movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage and film actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947) co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw.

Dana Andrews on “the Ameche”

The amazing supporting cast includes Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Leonid Kinskey, Richard Haydn, Aubrey Mather, Allen Jenkins, Dan Duryea, Kathleen Howard, Mary Field, and Charles Lane.

Ball of Fire trivia:

• Ginger Rogers turned down the role of Sugarpuss, something she regretted.
• Lucille Ball was going to play Sugarpuss but once producer Samuel Goldwyn found out that Gary Cooper had suggested Stanwyck and that she was available, he gave her the part instead.
• Leonid Kinskey (Professor Quintana) and Richard Haydn (Professor Oddley) were both under 40 years old and younger than Gary Cooper.
• Dana Andrews based his character (Joe Lilac) on real-life gangster Bugsy Siegel. Siegel owned the Formosa, a club across the street from Goldwyn Studios.
• Gary Cooper was paid $150,000 for his role, while Barbara Stanwyck earned the odd salary of $68,133.
• Don’t feel too sorry for Stanwyck though. By 1944, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States.
• Barbara Stanwyck received her second Best Actress (out of a total of four) for this film.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on August 30, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link for the discussion on Zoom.

Why watch this film?

• For the terrific script by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.
• The great performances and chemistry between Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.
• The amazing group of character actors assembled for this film.
• To see Dana Andrews as Joe Lilac, three years before his star turn in Laura.
• This is a great example of director Howard Hawks’s versatility.
• To hear the great American 1940s slang that your parents and grandparents spoke.

Gary Cooper shares a laugh with Robert Taylor while he visits his wife, Barbara Stanwyck on the set of Ball of Fire.

Discussion questions:

1. What did you think of the pairing of Cooper and Stanwyck?
2. Billy Wilder said this was a modern version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Do you agree with that comparison?
3. Did you have a favorite professor/character actor?
4. What do you think changed Sugarpuss’s opinion of Bertram? Do they have a chance at happiness?
5. Did this film remind you of any other movies you have seen?
6. Do you think this fits the category of screwball comedy?

Backstory

1941 was a great year for both Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. 

Stanwyck films released in 1941:

The Lady Eve, directed by Preston Sturges

Meet John Doe, directed by Frank Capra

You Belong to Me, directed by Wesley Ruggles

Ball of Fire, directed by Howard Hawks**

Four films, two costars. Henry Fonda starred with Stany in The Lady Eve and You Belong to Me.

Cooper films released in 1941:

Meet John Doe, directed by Frank Capra

Sergeant York, directed by Howard Hawks*

Ball of Fire, directed by Howard Hawks

**Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she lost to Joan Fontaine (Suspicion).

*Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Actor. 

Henry Fonda, Preston Sturges, and Barbara (Stany) Stanwyck on 
the set of The Lady Eve

 

Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan in Howard Hawks’ “I Was a Male War Bride”

 I Was a Male War Bride (1949) is a comedy directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan. It was based on I Was an Alien Spouse of Female Military Personnel En route to the United States Under Public Law 271 of the Congress by Henri Rochard. Man, that is a title if there ever was one! Author Rochard was a Belgian who married an American nurse. Most of the filming took place in Heidelberg, Germany. Filming also took place at Shepperton Studios in London, and at 20th Century-Fox studios in Los Angeles.

The film concerns the relationship between Women’s Army Corps officer Catherine Gates (Sheridan) and French Army officer Henri Rochard (Grant). Officer Gates is assigned to transport Rochard by motorcycle (he has to ride in the sidecar) in an assignment to find Schindler (Martin Miller) a lens maker who Rochard is trying to recruit to work for France.

Gates and Rochard have a bumpy ride (both figuratively and literally) in their efforts to find Schindler. The two argue constantly and distrust each other. Will they be able to overcome their differences in order to bring their mission to a successful conclusion? 

Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan

Howard Hawks (1896 - 1977) was an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the great directors from the classic Hollywood era. Hawks excelled in directing films in all genres. His films were famous for featuring strong women characters. These tough-talking “Hawksian women” helped to define the director’s work. Some of Hawks’ popular films include Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Ball of Fire (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

Cary Grant (1904 – 1986) was an English-born American actor who became one of the most popular leading men in film history. Grant started his career in vaudeville before heading to Hollywood. He became a superstar in the late 1930s in a series of screwball comedies including The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne. He was a memorable C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940) opposite Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. He received two Best Actor nominations for Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Hearts (1944). Other classic Grant films include Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). He made four popular films with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He was presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970.

Grant and Sheridan on a pleasant motorcycle ride

Ann Sheridan (1915 - 1967) was an American actress and singer. Her movie career began in 1934 where she appeared in 19 films! Her roles were all small and mostly unbilled, but she appeared in another 20+ films before she was signed to Warner Bros. in 1938. She was given better roles and was groomed for major stardom. The studio dubbed her “The Oomph Girl,” a title she hated but helped contribute to her popularity. During World War II she was a popular pin-up girl. As a star, Sheridan starred in Angels Wash Their Faces (1939), Castle on the Hudson (1940), It All Came True (1940), They Drive by Night (1940), City for Conquest (1941), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942). During this time she starred opposite Warner’s top leading men including John Garfield, James Cagney, and George Raft. Her biggest success during this period came with Kings Row (1942), a film in which she received top billing over Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, and Betty Field. Sheridan made the transition to television and was starring in the weekly western series, Pistols 'n' Petticoats (1966-67) when she became sick with cancer. She died on January 21, 1967, at the age of 51.

Sheridan’s first starring vehicle; notice who is billed third!

 I Was a Male War Bride trivia:

• The production was beset with problems; Ann Sheridan caught pleurisy that turned into pneumonia, Cary Grant contracted hepatitis, and Hawks broke out in hives. The production was shut down for three months so Grant could recover and gain back the 30 pounds he lost while he was sick.
• Cary Grant did a lot of his own stunts.
• Ann Sheridan actually drove that motorcycle in the film without the use of a double.
• Ava Gardner was considered for the part of Catherine.
• The film was 20th Century-Fox’s biggest box office hit of the year.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join a discussion of the film on Zoom on March 16, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation via email with a link to the Zoom meeting.

Questions for discussion:

1. What type of comedy genre do you think this film fits best?
2. What did you think of the pairing of Grant and Sheridan?
3. Did I Was a Male War Bride remind you of any other films?
4. Did anything about the film surprise you?

Screening of "Ball of Fire" at Daystar Center June 10

“Stanwyck on State Street” Series: Ball of Fire (1941)
Where: Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street
When: June 10, 2017
Time: 6:45 p.m.
Hosted by Stephen Reginald

New York Showgirl Sugarpuss O’Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) needs to hide out for a while to keep from being forced to testify against her gangster boyfriend, Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews). To escape the police, she finds refuge with a bunch of scholars working on an encyclopedia. Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper), a grammarian, is working on an entry on slang and thinks Sugarpuss could help him get up to speed on the current lingo.

While Sugarpuss is hiding out with Potts and his seven professor colleagues, she finds she’s getting attached to this odd collection of encyclopedia research writers. Potts falls head over heels for Sugarpuss, but Joe Lilac plans to marry Sugarpuss so she can’t testify against him in court. Will Lilac get his way or will Sugarpuss pledge her allegiance to Potts and the professors.

Stanwyck was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in this classic screwball comedy written by Charles Brackett and BillyWilder and directed by the legendary Howard Hawks. Ball of Fire boasts an impressive supporting cast, including Oskar Homolka, Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, Allen Jenkins, and Dan Duryea.

Classic screwball comedy “His Girl Friday” coming to “The Venue 1550” November 8

The comedy classic His Girl Friday (1940 ) will be screened at “The Venue 1550” at the Daystar Center, 1550 S. State St., November 8, 2012 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7 per person and can be purchased at the door or online. This event will be hosted by Stephen Reginald, Classic Movie Man.

His Girl Friday, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell is an adaptation of the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur classic Broadway smash, The Front Page. Grant plays Walter Burns, a Chicago newspaper managing editor and Russell is Hildy Johnson an ex-reporter for the same paper and Burns’s ex-wife. On the eve of her marriage to a new man, Burns tries to convince Hildy to come back to the paper and him. Considered one of the greatest classic screwball comedies of all time, His Girl Friday is filled with non-stop one liners and the fastest dialogue ever recorded on film.

Backstory

Carole Lombard was first choice
to play Hildy Johnson

Howard Hawks originally planned to do a straight remake of The Front Page. During a read-through of the script during auditions, Hawks had his secretary read Hildy Johnson’s lines. Hawks, always a champion of strong women, liked the sound of Johnson’s lines coming out of the mouth of a female. The script was changed to make Hildy the ex-wife of Walter Burns and many think His Girl Friday is better than the film on which it is based.

Casting Call
Hawks had Cary Grant in mind for Walter Burns from the start, but the casting of Hildy Johnson proved problematic. Hawks originally wanted Carole Lombard, who he directed in Twentieth Century (1934). Lombard, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, was too expensive. Supposedly the role of Hildy was offered to Katherine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Margaret Sullivan, Ginger Rogers, and Irene Dunne. All turned the role down. Joan Crawford, coming off her success in The Women, (1939) was even considered. Hawks finally settled on Rosalind Russell. Hawks encouraged ad-libbing on the set, so Russell hired a writer to punch up her dialogue because she thought Grant had all the good lines.

Ralph Bellamy, Cary Grant, and Rosalind Russell

His Girl Friday was #19 on American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Laughs and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

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The Lady Barbara

Of all the great female movie stars from the golden age of Hollywood, Barbara Stanwyck is probably one of the most underrated. A star almost as soon as pictures could talk, Stanwyck worked with some of the best directors of the day. Frank Capra, early in his career, starred Stanwyck in a host of ground-breaking dramas in the early 1930s, including Ladies of Leisure (1930), The Miracle Woman (1931), Forbidden (1932), and The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), the first film shown at Radio City Music Hall.

What made Stanwyck so amazing was her versatility as an actress; she was equally adept at both comedy and drama.Today, Stanwyck is probably best remembered by movie buffs for portraying Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944). Her performance in that film set the standard for film noir femme fatales. Many dramas followed, but Stanwyck starred in some wonderful comedies in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

In 1941, Stanwyck starred in three classic films: The Lady Eve, Meet John Doe, and Ball of Fire. These films were directed by, in respective order, Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, and Howard Hawks. The latter directed her to what would be her second Academy Award Best Actress nomination. In an era that produced many female movie stars, few actresses can match the extraordinary run Stanwyck had in the early 1940s.

Barbara Stanwyck is a true film legend, not because she was a great beauty, though she was, but because she was an actress of great depth and talent.

Howard Hawks and "His Girl Friday"

Howard Hawks is one of the greatest American movie directors of all time. Adept at all film genres, Hawks excelled at fast-paced screwball comedies like Twentieth Century, Bringing up Baby, and His Girl Friday.

His Girl Friday was a reworking of the Ben Hecht Charles MacArthur classic The Front Page. By making Hildy Johnson a woman and the ex-wife of editor Walter Burns, Hawks thought the dialogue was funnier and added a dimension that The Front Page lacked. This was a pretty risky decision at the time, since The Front Page was considered a classic not to be messed with.

Hawks's risk paid off and the casting of Cary Grant as Walter Burns and Rosalind Russell as Hildy Johnson was inspired. In Grant's capable hands, Walter Burns is a more complex character than he was in the original. In The Front Page, Burns is a total cad. He wants to lure Hildy back to the newspaper business for completely selfish motives. In His Girl Friday, Walter wants Hildy back at the paper because she's a great reporter, but also because he's still in love with her. Russell's Hildy is the perfect Hawksian heroine: self-assured, smart, and independent. It's hard to believe that Russell was the eighth choice to play Hildy Johnson. Jean Arthur, Katherine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Irene Dunne, Margaret Sullivan, and Ginger Rogers all turned the role down. Hawks wanted Carole Lombard, who he directed to stardom in Twentieth Century, but she was too expensive, working as an independent actress. Joan Crawford was even considered for the role.

Russell was so put off by being eighth on the list (ninth if you count Crawford) that the first time she met Hawks, she showed up with wet hair. She soon discovered that Hawks wanted her to succeed in the role and after a few rough patches early in the shooting, she quickly gained confidence, going toe-to-toe with the more experienced Grant (His Girl Friday was his third film with Hawks).

As the story goes, Hildy quits the paper to marry dependable, but dull, insurance salesman Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). Tired of being a "newspaperman," Hildy says she wants a normal life of domesticity, but Walter suspects she's fooling herself, so he plots to lure her back to the paper and into his arms.

Hawks was never one for depicting domestic married life on the screen, preferring to portray the chase and the buildup to marriage, and no one  showcased the chase better than Hawks. Since Hawks admired smart, funny women, his heroines are never given short shrift on film. From camera angles to screen time, Grant and Russell are treated equally. One of the reasons Hawks's films still seem so fresh and contemporary is due to his strong female characterizations.

Howard Hawks directed some of the greatest films of all time and His Girl Friday is one of his best.

His Girl Friday opened at Radio City Music Hall on January 11, 1940.