Platinum Blonde + Broadway Bill: Way underrated
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meyerpa@ohsu.edu — 18 years ago(February 02, 2008 08:08 PM)
Man, that's tough. To put them in the top 5, you've have to nudge out WONDERFUL LIFE, MR. SMITH, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, MR. DEEDS, and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU. There's others too, including MEET JOHN DOE (which I think is a little tired, frankly), ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (which is very funny and an early example of the dark comedy), and AMERICAN MADNESS (which I've always thought was ahead of its time in terms of skilled direction). Don't get me wrong, those two are great movies, but Capra has so many that are better. I think BLONDE gets a bad rap because the male lead is virtually unknown (even though he's pretty fun to watch). But Harlow is at her best in the film, and Loretta Young is simply hot (though not exactly voluptuous). My favorite scence is the one where Halliwell Hobbes talks about "puttering". Regarding BILL, have you seen RIDING HIGH? The former is a remake of the latter (both done by Capra), with the latter starring Warren Baxter. Baxter was afraid of horses and you can tell it in the movie, but he's really good. But the best part about RIDING HIGH is Myrna Loy, who is way better than Colleen Gray in BILL, who quite frankly annoys me because her personality is too shiny for me and she can sing about as well as a horse-pie compared to Crosby (but who wouldn't be upstaged by Crosby (besides Bob Hope, of course)?). At the end of the day, however, both movies are a little contrived and fall short of being better than the movies I mentioned earlier.
Oh yeah, I forgot out about LADY FOR A DAY and its remake POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES. BLONDE and BILL are no comparison. -
mjr1114 — 15 years ago(April 26, 2010 12:01 AM)
Broadway Bill has Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy, Riding High has Bing Crosby.
(I know I'm posting late, but it was backwards in the earlier post.)
I like both PB and BB, IAWL doesn't even get into my top 10 Capra list. Meet John Doe tops it. I think IAWL gets old after so many viewings. I don't tire of his other films that I have seen, though. Could watch them over and over, back to back. (unless I don't feel like crying anymore, that is)
I still have to see his silent films and American Madness, among those I have yet to view, though.
But so far, PB and BB are in my top 10. -
lmchildress — 15 years ago(June 05, 2010 01:05 AM)
Er, that's BROADWAY Bill, there
I agree that the original was way better than the remake, even though I love Crosby. Part of the problem is that the remake utilizes too many scenes from the original, so that you have actors looking both young and old in the same movie. And, yes, Myrna Loy was so much better than the woman in the remake. Too bad she and Crosby never worked together.