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The Slap
Robert Montgomery and Nora Gregor in But The Flesh is Weak (1932)Here is a follow-up to my 2018 article "Slap Happy."Â Â The slap, which can be a quick and easy way to create comedy or drama, was...
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Spray of Glory: The Seltzer Bottle
The knockabout comedians smacked, shoved and kicked one another on stage. Many entered the fray with weapons. The slap stick. The bladder. And, as we will discuss today, the seltzer bottle.  In...
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Man-Child Comedy: Tanguy (2001)
I recently came across a unique man-child comedy. It's a 2001 French comedy called Tanguy. Tanguy (Eric Berger), a 28-year-old student, is not a bad person. He's neat, polite, good-natured, loving...
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"Where Are You?" Part 2
I have a few more examples of the "Where Are You?" routine, which cleverly presents quick escapes, near misses, and surprise returns. The original article can be found at...
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Dog Mommies, Part 3
Consolation Marriage (1931)Â Play Girl (1932)Â Â Blondie of the Follies (1932)Shanghai Express (1932)Â Â Dinner at Eight (1933)Too Many Wives (1937)Easy Living (1937)Battle of Broadway (1938)Â A Girl Must...
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Suspense Spoof
Foul Play (1978) is an affectionate spoof of Alfred Hitchcock thrillers. Hitchcock had a clear notion of what suspense was. He famously said:<blockquote>The bomb is underneath the table and the...
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Tidbits for May, 2022
Richard Denning and Angela Stevens have fun before the radio-controlled atomic-powered zombies arrive in Creature with the Atom Brain (1955).Vincent Price and Nancy Kovack in Diary of a Madman (1963)...
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The Endless Legacy of Film Tropes
Cataloging tropes is a job that never ends. One, two or even three tropes turn up in nearly every film that I come across. Tropes insistently find their way into scripts much like flood waters flow...
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Tidbits of September 2022
Jimmy Finlayson in She Knew All The Answers (1941) Billy BevanGod's Country and the Woman (1937)   Holy Matrimony (1943) Charles ConklinFrisco Jenny (1932) Pokes and JabsEdmund Lowe and Janis Carter...
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Tidbits for November 2022
Let us start off this month with photos of Lloyd HamiltonBilly Bevan in Shining Victory (1941)Heinie Conklin (to the right) in Tenth Avenue Angel (1948) Nazi spies engage in their morning calisthenics...
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Rain Slideshow 3
Rain is a cinematic spice. How less dynamic would this scene from The Train Robbers (1973) be without the rain?Or this scene from Casablanca (1942)? Sources: Other Men's Women (1931)Another Language...
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Slaps for November 2022
Sources:The Bowery (1933)I Covered the Waterfront (1933)Exclusive Story (1936)Nothing Sacred (1937)The Trip to Tilsit (1939)The Mortal Storm (1940)That Hamilton Woman (1941)Citizen Kane (1941)  Maisie...
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The Virtuous Man-child
The man-child in films is obviously a favorite topic of mine.  Yung-Hang Bruce Lai, a film researcher and critic, has written an interesting essay about a particular type of man-child - the virtuous...
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Tidbits of January 2023
Welcome to the New Year!Where do we start?Franco and Ciccio perform a number of comic set pieces in Two Public Enemies (1964). The plot involves a pair of petty criminals on the run from gangsters....
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Dona Flor and Her Six Imitators
"Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" was a 1966 novel by Brazilian author Jorge Amado. The story involves a widow, Flor, who establishes a new marriage with a gentlemanly but dull pharmacist, Teodoro....
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Three Bigamy Stories
I discuss the history of the bigamy melodrama in my upcoming book. I came across three bigamy films that didn't fit within the discussion. A unique type of bigamist appears in The Men She Married...
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AI Generated Comedians, Part 1
In recent months, I have been hearing a lot about computer programs that use artificial intelligence to generate art. I tried out five of the programs - NightCafe, Imgit, Stablecog, Midjourney and...
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AI Generated Comedians, Part 2
I uploaded a second batch of comedians. These comedians included Jerry Lewis, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Lupino Lane and Harold Lloyd.  This produced a very different type of comedian. These...
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