Icons of Screwball Comedy, Volume 1 (If You Could Only Cook / Too Many Husbands / My Sister Eileen / She Wouldn't Say Yes)

I'm a big fan of Jean Arthur and that is why I purchased these two screwball comedies of hers. But I do intend to watch the other movies on the other DVD disc (which does not feature Jean Arthur but other actresses, such as Rosalind Russell). I know that "If You Could Only Cook" is one of Ms. Arthur's better efforts and was released in 1935, about a year before "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936), which made Ms. Arthur especially into a big star (along with Gary Cooper, whom Ms. Arthur in later years described as her favorite leading man). It ("If You Could Only Cook") was quite charming and quite funny and humorous and I want to watch it again real soon! I can't recommend it enough and gave it a 5-Star rating. "Too Many Husbands" was released in 1940 and while not as good as "If You Could Only Cook" it is still fun to watch. I am quite familiar with Fred MacMurray (as the notorious insurance-agent-turned-murderer, Walter Neff, alongside Barbara Stanwyck in "Double Indemnity"; and as the cowardly naval officer, Keefer, in "The Caine Mutiny" alongside Humphrey Bogart); but Melvyn Douglas, while I have seen him in other roles, I have never seen him in any of his earlier movies and it was so refreshing to see him young for a change. I believe it was shortly after this last film that Ms. Arthur's then-husband, Frank Ross, helped Ms Arthur to set up an independent production company to provide Ms. Arthur with more satisfactory starring-vehicles for her very unique and wonderful talents (Jimmy Stewart, who was her leading-man in two of her more memorable films, said of Ms. Arthur that there was nobody like her in the movies: "Nobody had her humor, her sense of timing."). And through Ross's help, this set the stage for some of Ms. Arthur's finest films including "The Devil and Miss. Jones" (1941), "The Talk of the Town" (1942), and "The More the Merrier" (1943). All are really brilliant films to see, especially for anyone interested in seeing any of Hollywood's best from the Golden Age of Hollywood (from about 1928--when sound came into being in the movies--through most of the 1940s, when the once seemingly all-powerful Big Studio system began to fade). The "Devil and Miss Jones" is very important: It ("Devil/Jones") is both fun to watch and makes one of the most important social comments about the issues that often confront ordinary working-class men and women in America which, like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (see below) , is surprisingly still quite relevant even today. I haven't seen all of Ms. Arthur's work. Mostly, I have seen her better films (some listed above), but just even seeing some of her less-famous films makes me adore Ms. Arthur all the more and I want to make sure in this (amateur) review that for anyone interested in the big stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, you definitely should see as many of Ms. Jean Arthur's movies as you can get--you are definitely in for a real treat especially if you did not already know about Jean Arthur! Be sure to also see "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), "Shane" (1953), "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936), and "You Can't Take It With You" (1938): I highly recommend seeing "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" first for anyone out there who has never seen Ms. Arthur's films before now: It is ranked as one of the three most important movies ever to come out Hollywood in that watershed year of 1939: Yes, yes, I know that is a long time ago. But these three films (the other two were "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz"--both also released in 1939) actually say something very important and intrinsic about America. And in the case of "Mr. Smith ...", this movie grimly examines and even brutally and quite shockingly puts on trial America's most cherished Ideals and Values--so it is more than just "entertainment" (although it is still one of the most entertaining movies I have ever seen). And Ms. Arthur's place in both the movies (as a very great star) and as having been a very important part of not just one of the greatest movies ever to come out of Hollywood, but also one of the most important films that tests whether these precious things called "American Ideals and Values" (that is how the central protagonist, Jefferson Smith, in the film is always phrasing it)--whether these Ideals & Values are just as relevant then as today. Take my word for it: You will be genuinely shocked at just how luridly and even eerily believable this movie--"Smith"-- really is in portraying the political corruption of power in America even to this day!. "Mr. Smith ..." is still quite relevant because even today, what goes on in Washington (and continues to go on); this film is incredibly prescient and hauntingly accurate in what it reveals. And to further emphasize how important this movie really is, I would highly recommend this movie, "Mr. Smith ..." to any and all foreigners to watch--whether they are friend or foe to us or just neutral--to get an idea of what America's Ideals and Values actually are: "Mr. Smith ..." is, arguably, the most realistic and convincing attempt to capture America's ideals about our country on film. Indeed, if I had only just one movie to save for future generations to watch (and I could not save any others--presumably, I have no other choice) I would pick "Mr. Smith ..." simply for the statement it makes about what America is or ought to be in terms of our American Ideals and Values. This movie is also a must-see because it is one of the most convincing studies of power (fictional) in the American cinema (in fact, the greatest and most convincing [again, fictional] study-in-power in American movies is "Citizen Kane", which came out in 1941). The other perhaps most memorable film of Ms. Arthur's to see next is, I believe, "Shane" (1953), which if it is not the greatest Western ever made it is certainly among the greatest. "Shane! Shane! --Come back, Shane!" Also quite memorable (with Ms. Arthur) is "The Whole Town's Talking" (1935), "History is Made at Night" (1937), "Easy Living" (1937), "Only Angels Have Wings" (1939), and "A Foreign Affair" (1948), co-starring Marlene Dietrich.George, Tampa. Florida

Ever since seeing "It Happened One Night" on TCM, I've been trying to see all the screwball comedies I can, and I'd have to say it's my favorite old movie genre. Most of them appear in budget-priced sets like "Comedy Kings"  Comedy Kings 50 Movie Pack . That set is a mix of the very bad and the very good, but the films are often in bad condition. Then again, it's 50 films for the price of one, and provides an inexpensive way to sample a lot of films. The set under advisement is not like that at all. It's four films for less than the price of one, but it's also from Columbia, the studio that actually made the films, and all four are in very fine shape.The least helpful thing about this release is the back cover blurb, which mentions "His Girl Friday" (not included in this set), and seems to be trying to persuade viewers unfamiliar with screwball comedies to buy this set, rather than simply provide information for what would seem to be the natural audience, those who already like them (or perhaps the blurb writer was unfamiliar with them). There's no help inside the case, either. But there is from Leonard Maltin, in his Classic Movie Guide  Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide: From the Silent Era Through 1965, Second Edition , and from William K. Everson, author of the definitive guide to screwball comedies, Hollywood Bedlam  Hollywood Bedlam: Classic Screwball Comedies . Therefore, I give their views as well as my own in this brief review.Leonard Maltin gives three stars to "If You Could Only Cook" (1935), saying "Jean Arthur and Herbert Marshall are (a) superb team". He notes that although the director was William A. Seiter, European prints of the film listed the director as Frank Capra, in order to capitalize on his popularity. Everson calls it "engaging and entertaining".Maltin calls "Too Many Husbands" (1940), an "excellent comedy". awarding it three stars. He notes that it's based on Somerset Maugham's play, "Home and Beauty", and was remade as "Three for the Show" in 1955. Everson says it's from a Noel Coward play, but he probably either confused that or Coward worked up a play from Maugham's original. I found this Jean Arthur comedy delightful.I held off watching "My Sister Eileen" (1942), because it didn't sound too good, but when I saw it I thought it was wonderful. It stars Rosalind Russell as a writer who moves, with her sister, to New York (where the magazines are), and the dialogue, as well as her calm, cool, collected demeanor make this a captivating comedy. Post-moderns reading it backwards for messages and the subtexts they insist on finding in everything, are missing the point. Maltin calls it "amusing", and only gives it two and a half stars. That's because he prefers the 1955 remake, which he awards three and a half stars. Also appeared on Broadway as a musical, "Wonderful Town". This reminds me a bit of the Dean Martin- Jerry Lewis film, "My Friend Irma", but it's far better than that early Martin-Lewis venture in my opinion. Everson says, "wild and nutty".Maltin calls the second Russell piece here, "She Wouldn't Say Yes" (1945), a "predictable but amusing comedy", giving it two and a half stars. It was a lot better than I thought it would be from reading other reviews, despite sort of falling apart near the end (and picking up the threads just in time), and reminds me of "It Happened One Night". Some good supporting character actors. Perhaps the later David Niven film, "The Lady says No" was somewhat playing off the title.Everson notes that four screwball comedies, "The Rage of Paris", "Nothing Sacred", "His Girl Friday", and "My Man Godfrey" have slipped into the public domain, meaning they show up in various print quality in budget releases, although there could still be higher quality prints and versions from the studios. I thought "St. Benny the DIp", which I first found in the Comedy Kings collection, was an excellent film, and sort of a screwball comedy, but the print quality of this film is very low in that set. I also found it on Comedy Classics, a six film budget set from Platinum Entertainment, but the quality wasn't much better. If UCLA or Ted Turner are looking for a film to restore and save, I'd send them to St. Benny.Everson notes that screwball comedy was not considered a genre in its day, and therefore they come from all over the movies. However, since Columbia didn't have its own chain of theaters to automatically show its films, it had to offer these as "B" films, "B" meaning bottom of the marquis. Therefore they made more screwball comedies than any other studio once they found them to be crowd pleasers and in demand from theaters. This Icons set gives viewers a chance to see unusually good prints of four little-seen films in official releases, and strikes a needed balance between the unrestored budget collections and regularly priced single movie DVDs.

Although this is a competent and reasonably entertaining Hollywood musical, it isn't in the first division of the genre; the material – it's based on Ruth McKenney`s popular short stories – was handled better in an earlier non-musical film and the Broadway stage musical “Wonderful Town”.This film musical uses all original songs - none of which are memorable – and only some of the dance numbers – early examples of Bob Fosse`s choreography and a couple featuring his own performances – are the only real highlights.Garrett and Leigh are of course always worth watching and the whole cast do their best with what is, frankly a second-rate effort when considered along with the Broadway version – with superior music by Leonard Bernstein.Still, it's been well-remastered and is moderately fun if a bit dated in it's attitudes.The UK DVD release has no extras; English subtitles are available if required.

I saw this as a child and loved it so whenit became available I bought on Amazon. I should have sent it back immediately because I had trouble playing it but eentually managed to watch it all the way through and discovered that what seemed wonderful as a child didn't translate into adulthood except for one very spectacular dance sequence withn Bob Fosse and Tommy Rall. So this disc has only ben played once - by me that is. Because of the recent excellent TV series Fosse/Verdun I wanted to watch it againto see what Fosse was. I only think of him as a brilliant but second string dancer in films like Kiss Me Kate and wanted to see what he was like as an actor. He must have had a mighty personality offscreen because as far as I could remember he was pretty bland On screen. Well I won;t find out from this film because although, I repeat, it has only been played once it now won;t play at all. If I could remember the seller I would complain because this is either a cheap pirate copy or one of those sold to outfits like Suffit and re-sold

It's about 2 sisters who travel to Greenwich village in new york for fame and fortune. They end up in crummy digs. Janet leigh is the prettier of the 2 sisters and is a dancer. Betty garrett is the writer who meets Jack lemmons character the publisherThis is a delightful film. We'll worth a look

I don't recall ever seeing this, or any clips from it, on TV and I think I can see why. However, it is worth the purchase, just to see the brilliant Bob Fosse and Tommy Rall spinning "on a sixpence" in one number. Unfortunately, however, the music throughout is not memorable and the acting a bit wooden even given the three main actors in the cast, and knowing the Bernstein "Wonderful Town" version of the story, full of catchy numbers, this is nowhere near as good. If only someone would film that in full (instead of the concert recordings).

This DVD arrived on time and in good condition. I watched this on TV a little while ago and just had to have it for my "Feel Good" collection of movies, sometimes you just want to watch something that does not rely on sex, violence, drugs or whatever and where you can enjoy a good story with wonderful actors and a great ending.