Upon watching Holiday Inn...

[ceebeegee]

...Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds have absolutely NO chemistry whatsoever in the scenes after they first meet. They're cute enough when she comes to the Inn and they do the "I'm Linda Mason!" "Alright, you're a fake and I'm a phony" exchange. But once they sing "White Christmas" in the first reel, they're just not interesting together. But she's great with Fred Astaire (who, for a dancer, is a damn good character actor). I love his delivery on this:

Lila Dixon: [about Jim] He gets a look.
Ted Hanover: He always has that look! It's nothing. It has something to do with his...liver.

And this:

Ted Hanover: I like it here...with you and Linda.

He just sounds so deliciously smarmy on something on the last phrase.

I'm surprised they didn't do St. Patrick's Day--they do three February holdiays but nothing for March. I'd've traded Washington's Birthday out for that one--they could've had a theme of "I Just Got Lucky" or something.

*Sigh* What a great movie (minus the, uh, unfortunate staging of the first February holiday which is usually cut when it airs on TV). So cozily perfect for the holidays.

Comments

Blackface and the art of racist f*ckwads...

[neoscribe.livejournal.com]

There is also a very off putting blackface number in the Marx Brothers "A Day At The Races". AH, that crazy early 20th century! Sometimes (even today) I think human beings aren't happy as a whole unless they are singling out and making fun of some race, culture or religious belief. To quote Cornelius from the original Planet Of The Apes, "Beware the beast man, for he is the devils pawn"
But back to Holiday Inn, Fred Astaire's drunk dancing is my favorite part. You can see where John Ritter got all his moves. ;-)

Re: Blackface and the art of racist f*ckwads...

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

He was terrific in that scene. I love it when he's walking through the crowd and that guys's hand keeps flying out and he is waving at it and finally grabs it to shake it. I also love his Firecracker dance.