Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

When one thinks of film comedy Ingmar Bergman is usually not the first director who comes to your mind. However he actually made some comedians over his career including The Devil's Eye, Secrets of a Woman and All These Women. However probably the best of his comedies is Smiles of a Summer Night.

Around the time Bergman started making Smiles of a Summer Night, he was in fact very depressed. After a lot of stress making some of his previous movies, he knew he had to make a film just for fun and that film ended up being Smiles of a Summer Night. He would later say at this time he had just two options, "write Smiles of a Summer Night, or kill myself." Fortunately he choose the first option. Bergman would also later say "I thought it was time for a box-office success, and though everyone disagreed with me, I was convinced that this picture would succeed."

This film was heavily by the famous Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. One person who definitely realized that connection was Woody Allen, who would incorporate much of this Bergman film into his 1982 movie, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy.

Fredrick (played by Gunnar Bjornstrand) is married to a young woman named Anne (played by Ulla Jacobsson). Despite being married for two years and sharing a bed Anne is still a virgin and this makes Fredrick quite nervous. Fredrick asks a woman who he used to have an affair with, Desiree a beautiful actress (played by Eva Dahlbeck). Desiree still has feels for Fredrick though she is currently the mistress of a solider named Count Malcom (played by Jarl Kulle). Meanwhile Fredrick's son Henrik (played by Bjorn Bjelvenstam) has devoted himself to God, but finds himself quite tempted by the family's maid Petra (played by Harriet Andersson).

This is a sex comedy that is very frank about sex (shockingly so for a 1955 Swedish movie). However it never delves into cheap or easy vulgarity. Rather than this, the humor in the film remains very smart, sophisticated and charming even with its highly sexually nature. The humor also remains very funny throughout. Often making one laugh out loud. The humor is not the only great thing about this film as the performances are all fantastic and Gunnar Fischer's cinematography is quite lovely to look at. This all comes together to create a film that is smart, sexy, funny and just all around fantastic. 

The film was huge success all over the world. Because the film earned so much money Svensk Filmindustri, the studio Bergman was working for would give Bergman strong control over his future films. The studio was so happy with this film they submitted it to the Cannes Film Festival. However Bergman was unaware of that it was even submitted until one day while sitting reading the newspaper he saw that the film was a huge success there.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90563/Smiles-of-a-Summer-Night/articles.html

Monkey Business (1931)

Though most people site Duck Soup or A Night at the Opera as their favorite Marx Brothers movie (I love both those movies a lot  by the way), my personal favorite is Monkey Business. This film is so fast paced and full of jokes, yet almost every single one of them hits perfectly. This movie features the great skit where all four of the brothers try to inmate Maurice Chevalier (which has to rank as among the funniest skits in movie history), Groucho and Thelma Todd have great chemistry (she would only appear in one more Marx Brothers movie, Horsefeathers), there is a brilliantly surreal sequence in which Harpo interrupts a Punch and Judy show that doesn't seem to have any puppeteers and it has one of my favorite Groucho lines "Madam, you're making history. In fact, you're making me, and I wish you'd keep my hands to yourself". Also helping make this film great is that Zeppo is actually given some good scenes here and he pulls them off very well (making me wish he was given more to do in other Marx Brothers movies).

Monkey Business was the brothers' third movie and their first one written specificly for the screen. Their two previous films, The Coconuts and Animal Crackers had been two of the brothers' successes on Broadway. Since these were hits on Broadway, it was assumed they would probably have success with them on the movie screen and that ended up being correct. Those movies were huge successes.

Writer S.J. Perelman had written a book called Dawn Ginsbergh's Revenge, which Groucho really liked. Groucho sent a complimentary letter to Perelman and asked to meet him backstage (the brothers were still on Broadway at this time), and Perelman said he would enjoy writing for the brothers. He was assigned to co-write (with W.B. Johnstone, who wrote the brothers' first stage success, I'll Say It Is) a radio script for the brothers, this would end up not happening because of the difficultly of the non-speaking Harpo being on radio. However the basic story idea of the Marxes as stowaways became the basis for this film in which Perelman would be a writer. However despite Groucho being impressed with Perelman' book, he wasn't as impressed with the script. His response can be summed up in two words "It stinks". Groucho often stated that the brothers in reality adlibbed nearly all of the funniest jokes in this movie and the next film Horsefeathers (also written by Perelman) and little of what Perelman wrote ended up in either script. The director of both films, Norman Z. McLeod, agreed that there was a lot of adlibbing on both the movies, and McLeod felt these adlibs were funnier than anything in the script. Groucho would later state about Perelman "...he is a great writer with a brilliant comic mind that didn't always mesh well with the lunacies of the Marx Brothers."

This film has inspired debate among Marx Brothers fans. It begins with a man telling the captain that there are four stowaways on the ship, but no one has seen them. When asked how he knows there are four, he states that they were singing Sweet Adline. Then the film cuts to four barrels and we hear Sweet Adline being sung, and after the song the Marx Brothers pop out of each. Now the debate has to do with whether there are three or four voices singing and if we actually hear Harpo's voice. Unfortunately I do not know the answer to this.

This film was not surprisingly a hit at both the box office and with critics. Now the story is simply an excuse for comedy, and it is impossible to properly analyze why the Marx Brothers are so funny. So just watch the movie for yourself and laugh yourself silly, you won't regret it.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/290225%7C86548/Monkey-Business.html


            

Happy 87th Birthday to Looney Tunes and Bosko

87 years ago today the very first Looney Tunes cartoon Sinkin in the Bathtub was released. This also marked the first appearance of Bosko on cinema screens. While it is true that he had appeared in 1929's Bosko the Talk-ink Kid before, that was just a pilot film and only shown to distributors for the cartoons. Sinking in the Bathtub marks his real birthday. So to celebrate the greatest cartoon series ever made, and the birthday of the first Looney Tunes star, today we are going to look at three Bosko cartoons.

The first we will look at is the second Bosko cartoon and second Looney Tune all together, 1930's Congo Jazz. In Sinkin in the Bathtub Bosko clearly had a stereotypical black voice (provided by animator Max Maxwell), However with this film he was made to sound more like Disney's star character Mickey Mouse with a high pitched voice (now provided by Johnny Murray). A lot of stereotypical black dialogue was originally written for this cartoon but never used. This is not were the similarities to Disney end as this cartoon bares a strong rebalance to the 1929 Mickey Mouse cartoon Jungle Rythym. Despite all this it remains a very entertaining picture so directed by Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising here is Congo Jazz.

Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising were the creators of Bosko and they also co-directed is earliest films. However when Looney Tunes sister series Merrie Melodies was created, Ising took over directing that series while Hugh Harmon directed the Looney Tunes (all the Bosko films) mostly by himself. This next cartoon took place after that happened and is also one of Bosko's best films. This cartoon shows Bosko in a much more violently funny cartoon. That shows a brief glimpse of what Looney Tunes would later become, despite the still obvious Disney influence. This cartoon bears a passing rebalance to another Disney cartoon, this time Walt's 1927 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Great Guns (for which Harmon was an animator on). So from 1931 here is Bosko the Doughboy.

                                           Last but not least is another one of Bosko's best outings. This cartoon featured another addition to make Bosko resemble more and more Mickey Mouse. That was Bruno the dog, obviously inspired by Pluto. This was Bruno second appearance in a Looney Tunes as he had previously appeared in Bosko's Fox Hunt (released the previous year). This film features some sentimentality, which would figure more into Harmon's MGM work. It is also a film of great energy and a joy to watch. So from 1932 and directed by Hugh Harmon, here is Big Hearted Bosko.
                                                                 

While these films were quite successful Hugh Harmon (and to a lesser extent Rudolph Ising) was not happy about the budgets they were made on. He simply wanted more money to make these cartoons. However Leon Schlesinger refused to raise the films budget. After this both Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising left Warner Brothers in mid-1933. However learning from their former boss, Walt Disney, losing the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Harmon and Ising made sure they owned the rights to the character of Bosko.  Because of this the Looney Tunes series no longer had any star characters (which would lead to the creation of the beloved characters we associate with Looney Tunes today) When at MGM Harmon and Ising created a series called Happy Harmonies. Though this series focused mostly on one shot characters and stories, a few Bosko cartoons were made for it.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier

Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin 

                                                 

Happy 80th Birthday to Daffy Duck

80 years ago today one of the world's greatest cartoon characters made his first appearance on movie screens. This character was Daffy Duck and his film debut was 1937's Porky's Duck Hunt. Before this cartoon movie audiences had never seen a cartoon character as wild, crazy and energetic as Daffy. Naturally audiences wanted more Daffy, and of course they got more of him. Today to celebrate his birthday we are going to look at three classic Daffy Duck cartoons.

Our first film is Daffy Duckaroo directed by Norm McCabe. Norm McCabe is one of the most forgotten directors of Looney Tunes cartoons. Part of this is that he spent such a short time as a director. Before becoming a director McCabe had been one of Bob Clampett's main animators, when Clampett was still doing black and white Looney Tunes. When in 1942 Bob Clampett got promoted to doing color Merrie Melodie cartoons, Norm McCabe took over his black and white Looney Tunes unit. However in 1943 director Frank Tashlin had returned to Warner Brothers after leaving it to work at Disney and Colombia. Tashlin was given charge of this unit and McCabe was no longer a director. However Norm McCabe would later return to be director as he directed various TV cartoons. Included among his TV work is a segment in the Tiny Toons Adventures episode Pledge Week entitled Lifeguard Lunacy. Another reason is that you will not see his shorts on Cartoon Network or Boomerang, because they are in black and white, they contain many references to World War Two and they feature a lot of racial stereotypes. Despite all this though his cartoons had their own unique personality all to themselves, and were often very good films. One of the best examples of his work is the following cartoon so from 1942, here is The Daffy Duckaroo.

  Next up comes one of the most pure energetic cartoons ever made. This is Friz Freleng's Yankee Doodle Daffy. Despite the title this is not a patriotic cartoon even though there were plenty of those coming out of the Looney Tunes series at this time. The title rather alludes to the famous Michael Crtiz live action feature that had come out the previous year. That film featured James Cagney playing George M. Cohan, who was one of the all time great entertainers. This film on the other hand features Daffy as a talent manager trying to promote his latest sensation, Sleepy Lagoon to a less than enthusiastic Porky Pig, who in this cartoon is president of Smeller Productions (a talent agency). Friz Freleng was a master of comic timing and that shows perfectly here as the film is paced perfectly. It may never really slow down, but never does this fast pace become distracting. So from 1943 here is Yankee Doddle Daffy.

     Lastly comes another pairing of Daffy and Porky, this time in a black and white Looney Tune directed by Bob Clampett called Scalp Trouble. Clampett was one of the most energetic and wild directors in the history of cartoons. Since Daffy Duck is one of the most energetic and wild cartoon characters of all time they made a perfect team. The writing credit for this cartoon was given to Ernest Gee. Gee was one of Clampett's friends from high school. He wasn't a writer in the traditional sense. Rather than actually write out a story on a script or storyboard, Gee would join Clampett for a game of Ping Pong. As they played they talked about the cartoon and doing it this way caused him to come up with ideas and gags quickly. Scalp Trouble would be remade by Friz Freleng as a color Merrie Melodie called Slightly Daffy in 1944. So from 1939 here is Scalp Trouble.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier

Happy 125th Birthday Oliver Hardy

Anyone who reads my blogs, knows that I love Laurel and Hardy, and why not? They are hilarious. And on Oliver Hardy's 125th Birthday of course I have to write about some films he appears in.

The first film we are going to look at is called The Paperhanger's Helper (also known as Stick Around) and was before Oliver Hardy teamed up with Stan Laurel. In this film he is teamed up with a forgotten actor named Bobby Ray. The relationship and humor in this film however are very reminiscent of the work he would do with Stan Laurel. There  are some distinct differences though. Oliver Hardy plays a mean character here than he would later and Bobby Ray, while talented doesn't have the charisma of Stan. Despite this however the film is very funny, and a delight to watch. So from 1925 and directed by Ted Burnsten, here is The Paperhanger's Helper.

Next up we are going to look at the first film where Stan and Ollie were teamed, Duck Soup (the supervising director was Leo McCarey who would direct the better know Marx Brother's film of the same name). Unlike most comedy teams of the time Laurel and Hardy teamed up on film, instead of some where else, first. Though they had appeared together first in 1921 with The Lucky Do, they were not a team until this film. Interestingly the film was originally going to star Stan Laurel and Syd Crossley. However for unknown reasons Syd did not appear in the film and was replaced by Oliver Hardy. The story of this short was based off a skit written by a British Music Hall comedian named Arthur Jefferson, who just happened to be Stan's father. This story would be used again for the teams talkie short Another Fine Mess. This is a delightful film and it is easy to see why the team would soon become so popular with audiences. It is also worth noting a first the studio didn't realize what it had as Stan and Ollie would make quite a few shorts separately and also both appear in films where they shared very little footage. So from 1927 and directed by Fred Guiol (with supervising direction by Leo McCarey) here is Duck Soup.

















Last but not least is one of my favorite Laurel and Hardy shorts, Their First Mistake. This short may be one of the funniest live action short subjects ever made. Along with Stan and Ollie also appearing in this film was Mae Busch (in a returning role as Mrs. Hardy (she had already played Ollie's wife in Unaccustomed As I Am, and would later return to the role for Sons of the Desert and The Bohemian Girl)) and Billy Gilbert (known to my fellow Disney lovers as the voice of Sneezy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves), both giving great performances. Stan Laurel was known for improvising and here he improvised so much that the film went over schedule and budget that the ending was never filmed, leaving the short without a proper ending. However this is not a big deal as the film is so funny, I don't care about the lack of an ending. So from 1932 and directed by George Marshall, here is Their First Mistake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-yDwTL3YiI

-Michael J. Ruhland    

Keystone Karnival #2

You know what time it is. Of course you do... It's Keystone Time. Yep we are going to look at some more shorts from the Keystone studio.

First up is A Busy Day, a film staring the biggest name to come out of Keystone, Charlie Chaplin. While Charlie would later leave Keystone and go to make some of the best comedy films of all time, he got his start at the Keystone studio. He worked at the studio only for the year 1914, however a lot happened during this year. He had his first film role, he adopted the Tramp costume, he started directing his own films and he acted in Tillie's Punctured Romance (the first known feature length comedy). When making A Busy Day, he had not begun directing yet, instead this film is directed by the head of Keystone Studios himself, Mack Sennett. Also while he had appeared in the Tramp costume by this time (starting with Kid Auto Races in Venice), he had not truly adopted the costume and the character was far from realized. In this film he does not appear in that costume but rather in drag, actually playing a woman, with Mack Swain (who would later play Big Jim McCay in Chaplin's The Gold Rush). While this is far from one of Charlie Chaplin's best films, it is an entertaining little romp, and a fascinating look into the early career of one of comedy film's greatest masters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gfMWt1oj7c

Probably the best teaming of stars at Keystone was the teaming of Mabel Normand and Fatty "Roscoe" Arbuckle. The two had perfect chemistry together and it was always a joy seeing them share the screen. Up next is my favorite pairing of the two, Fatty and Mabel's Simple Life from 1915. This short shows a bit of sweetness in the characters that is unusual in Keystone films, that actually tuned up multiple times in the shorts that teamed these two up. It works in these films because of the talent these two stars had. However this is still a slapstick comedy at heart, featuring much of the typical Keystone sense of humor, and much of it is quite funny. The film was directed by Fatty himself. So enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_T80QoRLIs

By the time this last short (1924) was made, the studio had changed it's name to Mack Sennett Comedies. This short stars the studios latest big star, Harry Langdon, who Mack Sennett felt was the greatest comedian he ever worked with. This is one of Harry's best shorts a mini masterpiece called All Night Long. The film was directed by Harry Edwards and written by Arthur Ripley, two of Harry's best collaborators. Despite Frank Capra often times given himself credit for creating Harry's character, this film was done before he ever worked on a film with Harry Langdon, and it is obvious that the character is fully developed here. While hints of Harry's character showed up in earlier films, this is one of the earliest (and arguably the earliest) times that every thing came together perfectly. This film also has the slower pacing and offbeat humor that is shown in Harry's best work. This may be one of the greatest live action short comedies ever made so enjoy, a lot.
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D4kt55ezsE

-Michael J. Ruhland

Classic Film Comedy Short Stories #12

It's been a while since I have done one of these. So a quick reminder this is a mixture of trivia and short stories about classic film comedy (1912.-1955). This was inspired by the Animation Antidotes posts on Cartoon research.com to give credit where credit is due.

French cinema and stage legend Sacha Guitry made only one published novel. This novel was adapted by Guiltry himself into his most popular film, The Story of a Cheat (1936). Most of his films were based off his own plays. Another exception to this is his film The Pearls of the Crown (1937). That film was his only story originally written (by himself) to be a movie. Both are fantastic films I highly recommend.





Director Chuck Jones had a set of rules for the coyote and roadrunner cartoons to follow (Roadrunner must stay on the road, No dialogue beyond "Beep Beep", the roadrunner must never hurt the coyote, etc.). However his main writer Michael Maltese was unaware of such rules. Coyote and roadrunner cartoons were the easiest cartoons to make for them, and therefore where often used to fill time when another cartoon was taking a longer time.

Laurel and Hardy made foreign language versions of their own films, by reading the words written phonetically off-screen. Some of these were in fact longer than the original English language version (with extra scenes added) and some combined multiple shorts together. Though it is often written that Pardon Us was the team's first feature (it was their first English language one) the first of their films to reach feature length (at least that I'm aware of) was Noche De Duendes (1930), a Spanish language version of The Laurel and Hardy Murder Case (1930) with scenes from Berthmarks added. This film was 49 minutes, and a feature is any film over 40 minutes.

When working on the film The Kid (1921), Charlie Chaplin would take Jackie Coogan (who played the title character) to an amusement park, for pony rides or whatever every Sunday. The two remained close for many years.

-Michael J. Ruhland