Friday, June 24, 2011

Quick Reviews: Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), Twentieth Century (1934)

"BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936" (1935)
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This bubbly showbiz musical - a resuscitation of 1929's Oscar winning formula - is a classic backstage tale of yearning stardom, clean-cut producers and desperate gossip columnists, with a  beaming, positively perky debut from Eleanor Powell
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"You Are My Lucky Star" and "Broadway Rhythm", which would both be featured by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen in Singin' in the Rain, make their bebut, and Powell's dancing is electrifying, but shoddy, senseless climax nearly ruins the mood. [B-]
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"TWENTIETH CENTURY" (1934)
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Howards Hawks' first try at comedy isn't as furiously madcap as His Girl Friday, but John Barrymore and Carole Lombard are a match made in heaven in this early satirical screwballer with a touch of Lubitsch. 
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Playing a prestigious playwright and the belligerent, overnight star respectively, Barrymore and Lombard pull off some of the best acting in their careers, most of it a hysterically heated tete-a-tete aboard a moving train. [B+]

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