More cheerful fare for your isolating days. These three comedies are currently showing on the Criterion Channel but you should be able to find them elsewhere.
His Girl Friday (1940)
Fast-talking, smart-alecky, razor-sharp newspaper room comedy. Based on a hit play by Ben Hecht, and starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. The original play (and previous movie The Front Page) featured two male leads, but Howard Hawks gave the starring role a sex change, switching star reporter Hildy Johnson from male to female, thus introducing a new romantic angle. Happily Hildy’s character and dialogue remain intact, resulting in a fantastically crusading female role for Russell, which she obviously relishes. Hildy is still a talented, ambulance-chasing newshound who can trade jokes and jabs with the rest of the boys. She is pitted here against her boss and ex-husband Grant, who is trying to prevent her remarriage and retirement from the newspaper game.
Everyone involved is wonderful and the rollercoaster plot is quite the ride.
If you want to compare versions, The Front Page (1931) is also currently showing on Criterion.
You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
Everyone loves Jimmy Stewart in Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, but you should see him in this earlier gem – he looks like a gangly teenager here, but even at this tender age he can turn on the megawatt charm. This is another ensemble piece, with a cast full of the best character actors of the time. The plot involves the collision course of two families, when the son of a ruthless businessman falls in love with a girl from a wildly eccentric and bohemian clan. The message of the picture is encapsulated in the title, and it’s apparent from the outset that before true love can triumph the capitalists must learn a lesson or two about living from the bohemians. All accomplished amid wacky shenanigans of course. Big heart, big fun.
Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
This may or may not be the movie that gave birth to the whole subgenre of gang-of-misfits-attempt-a-big-heist, but it is one of the most charming and successful. From the jazzy score to the gritty street locations to the wonderful ensemble cast, this film is a joy from start to finish. I especially liked how all the blundering is never entirely overdone, but remains fairly underplayed and realistic. This was one I’d never heard of, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.