December 24 movie: The Man Who Came to Dinner. 200 movies! Woo! Actually I think there have been a lot more than that, but I forgot to post movie write-ups for most of September and October. So I'm guessing it's probably more like 215-220, but if we only count the ones that got written up, this makes 200.
Looking back over the entire movie list there are fewer repeat viewings than I had expected. I think this list made me more aware of which movies I'd seen recently and so less likely to watch the same movies over and over. Still, there were some repeat viewings, notably The Man with a Movie Camera (4 times!), and this is the second viewing of The Man Who Came to Dinner.
With apologies to Holiday Inn I think this is my favorite Christmas movie. Monty Wooley plays a famous author/radio personality who falls on the ice and commandeers the home of a hapless small-town family during the holidays. Hilarity ensues! Bette Davis plays his secretary, and Ann Sheridan is the diva who tries to steal Davis' love interest, played forgettably by some forgettable guy. Also costars Billie Burke, Jimmy Durante, Mary Wickes, and a bunch of penguins.
I've seen it a bunch of times before, but this is the first time I caught the very beginning. Which explains why Monty Wooley is able to make such outrageous demands on the family he's staying with: after falling outside their house, he holds the threat of a lawsuit over their heads. Wooley's character is even more ornery and imperious in the first few scenes; by later in the film he starts to soften up and the abject fear surrounding him doesn't make as much sense. According to Robert Osborne the studio didn't think Wooley could carry a movie like this, so they considered instead casting Orson Wells (which would have been bizarre, I just don't see him doing comedy) and John Barrymore (which would have been great, but unfortunately his alcohol-related decline had gone too far by then).
Trivia note about Monty Wooley: he was a Yale classmate and good friend of Cole Porter, and played himself in the Porter biopic Night and Day. But due to his age he couldn't convincingly play a college student alongside Cary Grant, who played Porter. So they made him Porter's professor and mentor instead of his classmate. Which is one of the smaller distortions of fact in Night and Day. Though I hear Delovely was just wretched, so I should stop trashing Night and Day which was at least entertaining.
re: holiday inn: my sister and I were renowned for our rendition of "sisters" at the camp tamakwa talent show. the fact that we were nine years apart (I was the little kid, she was the jailbait) and wearing matching t-shirts just made it more memorable. for YEARS people at family events would try to persuade us to sing it. I think I still know all the words :-)
ps - I hope it's Holiday Inn that I'm thinking of!
I think "Sisters" is White Christmas. But the song is great! I wish I could see your performance of it!
THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER is a favorite with my wife, daughters, and me to watch every Christmas - a true classic comedy with fast-paced dialogue and a host of character actor performances, most notably Jimmy Durante, who plays an endearing actor named Banjo but who is really playing Durante. The character Banjo was marginally based on Harpo Marx, the bitch Lorraine based on Gertrude Lawrence, Beverly Carleton based on Noel Coward, and of course the nasty and rude leading man Sheridan Whitside based on the venomous critic/commentator Alexander Woolcott. Everybody should see it!