I eat husbands.

So, one of my favorite screwball comedies is a lesser known Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche film called Midnight. I know I've mentioned it before. The plot is moderately simple: penniless chorus girl, Eve (Colbert), is on the hunt for a rich husband when she meets taxi driver, Tibor Czerny (Ameche). Afraid she's falling in love with him, she's runs away and runs right into a high society party and a tricky love triangle. Now, a rich husband, George Flamarian (John Barrymore), wants Eve to help him separate his wife (Mary Astor) and her lover (Francis Lederer). Eve assumes Tibor's name to put on the charade and help George out. When Tibor finds out, he's on his way to find out why she's using his name... and to make it permanent! Here's a scene from the movie and I hope it'll whet your appetite to see the whole thing; it's a delightful film!



P.S. I titled the post as such because I think that line is so funny! And weird. What kind of a line is that?

And he always had a nose like yours.

A small bit of news to share: I've changed the layout on my blog. I really like the old one but I thought it might be nice to change it up a bit. I'd love to hear what you think. Do you like the new layout? Prefer the old one? I've also changed the picture. I'm going to try and change things up a bit every now and again, especially since I have so many great pictures - it'd be nice to use as many as possible. Oh, and I've also cut out the "tonks" in my username. This isn't a huge change really, but I thought it might be important to note.

Now for #10 in the count-up: Midnight (1939)


I discovered this movie through Netflix recommendations and was so impressed by it that I wrote a post about it and then bought it. I love Claudette Colbert as a comedienne and I didn't even discover her until about a year ago.

Poll results for last week's poll. Out of 16 votes, 9 voted for an equal proportion of light and dark films, 6 preferred light films, and 1 preferred dark films. Thank you so much for voting!

Now, for this week's poll, I'm going to preface the question with an explanation (and a confession). I've only seen 3 Clark Gable films: Gone with the Wind, Dancing Lady, and It Happened One Night. Nothing against Mr. Gable, of course, just what I've happened to see. My poll for this week actually pertains to his leading ladies. That is, which of them do you prefer? They are each very unique and wonderful in their own way: Vivien Leigh, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert, and Myrna Loy. I know there are more than the ones I've listed, but I'm listing the ladies of the films I've watched or hope to watch soon (Wife Versus Secretary is on my queue, thus Myrna Loy, and after reading my TCM book on the leading couples of the Hollywood era, I thought it appropriate to add Jean Harlow). If I have not listed your favorite, please do comment with your choice.

spur of the moment review

Don't worry: this isn't a new segment. I'll work on posting again in the next day or two about a good musical number (I have a few in mind). I just wanted to share a delightful discovery I made tonight: Midnight (1939) starring Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche. The first (and only) movie I'd ever seen of Don Ameche was Down Argentine Way (1940) which was a thorough disappointment, so I was a little wary to check out another of his films (a silly judgment, I know. I'll work on that). I've only seen Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (1934), which I love, but I didn't know enough of her other work to guess what to expect in this movie.

All this to say, Midnight completely took me by surprise. It is a wonderful film - the sort of film I wish I'd seen sooner. It's delightful from beginning to end. I watched it with my roommate and we had a very fun time trying to predict what would happen next. It turned out to be a pretty tricky game as there are some surprising twists throughout. (I challenge you to watch the movie and predict the twists correctly - excluding, of course, the happy ending because we knew that would happen) The movie had me laughing out loud and ended with me smiling quite contentedly.

I leave you with a quote and a picture. The quote is, surprisingly enough, hilarious in context. Just wait till you see it! (For the record, the quote and the picture do not necessarily go together)

"It was a simple case of alcohol poisoning. She'd had one highball too many. We found her in the gutter."


For the sake of discussion, what movies have you stumbled upon that turned out to be delightful?