Caltrops - Peter Molyneux's The Movies - I'm amazed Brian Yuzna never made a sequel to Society with that title.

Forum Overview :: Peter Molyneux's The Movies

by Brody Wilder 01/29/2020, 4:51pm PST

Fullofkittens wrote:

Grace Kelly stars as Katherine Hepburn, Bing Crosby stars as Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra stars as Jimmy Stewart. They tone down the abusive ex angle, it's implied that Grace left Bing because he's a no-account alcoholic but not that he ever physically abused her. It's one of those great old-timey movies like THE THIN MAN where a bunch of rich people just continuously day-drink and quip at each other. This one has a bunch of classic Cole Porter songs, some of which are performed by Louis Armstrong.

That sounds better. A few musical interludes would've been a nice break from all the guys telling Kath she's like a frigid sculpture made of ice made of piss. At the same time, it sounds like a missed opportunity, because wifebeating alchoholic is the role Frank Sinatra was born to play. Do they still use driving drunk as the ultimate emblem of personal liberation? Seeing Kath finally cut loose and get behind the wheel three sheets to the wind reminded me of that other daydrinking classic from around the same time, Topper.

Topper was the one with Carey Grant and Constance Bennett as inebriated socialites, who die in a car crash while Carey's trying to drive with his feet. To get into heaven, they have to (learn personal responsibility?) teach a stuffy bank manager how to loosen up. And not loosen up his purse strings and stop foreclosing on Okie farmers (because, again, literally The Great Depression). No, they have to teach him how to get in fights and flirt with girls and speed home drunk to tell his domineering wife how it's going to be. Carey and Constance learn absolutely nothing, which just makes the movie feel unbalanced from a modern perspective, now that every character is expected to grow or change in some way.

The Thin Man was good. I also liked There's Always a Woman (1938) with Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell. It's exactly like The Thin Man, except the husband and wife detectives are idiots who hate each other and can't hold their liquor. It's also weirdly sexy. Check it out.

The Philadelphia Story (1940) by Brody Wilder 01/28/2020, 12:23pm PST NEW

This was remade into the enjoyable musical HIGH SOCIETY (1956). by Fullofkittens 01/29/2020, 6:00am PST NEW

I'm amazed Brian Yuzna never made a sequel to Society with that title. by Brody Wilder 01/29/2020, 4:51pm PST NEW