Tag: Frank Capra

Classic Films · Comedies

Arsenic and Old Lace

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: Arsenic and Old Lace, 1944

Before watching the beloved classic Arsenic and Old Lace (Disc/Download), I never would have believed any one movie could contain so many random topics such as serial killers, the Panama Canal, plastic surgery, Niagara Falls, etc. Frank Capra has made me a believer in the oddball, the screwball, and heck, even baseball! Let’s pour a drink and unpack this weird, wonderful film.

Cary Grant starts the movie at the NYC marriage license bureau, about to get hitched to the loveliest girl-next-door, Elaine. Ironically, he is also the author of a book about why men should never get married. Before Mortimer can leave town on his honeymoon, he first has to check in with his elderly aunts to share the good news. While at their home, he discovers the dead body they stashed in the window seat, still awaiting its proper burial in the basement. The aunts have been poisoning their lodgers for years, and Mortimer’s brother has been aiding and abetting, under the delusional persona of Teddy Roosevelt. He thinks all the victims died of Yellow Fever while digging the Panama Canal, which apparently runs through their Brooklyn basement. Things get weirder still when a Frankenstein look-alike shows up at the house, who turns out to be psychotic eldest brother Jonathan. He’s accompanied by plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (the always-creepy Peter Lorre), and yet another dead body in the trunk of his car. Cary Grant is the glue that keeps this madcap story from going completely off the rails, and even though his performance is about as broad and hammy as I’ve ever seen from him, he’s the level-headed one in a family of lunatics.

My favorite part of the movie is every time Teddy makes a run up San Juan Hill, shouting, “CHARGE!!!” as he dashes up the staircase. Before he gets carted off to the Happy Dale mental asylum, let’s toast him with this appropriately named classic cocktail that’s probably a little safer than the aunts’ elderberry wine. While watching Arsenic & Old Lace, I recommend drinking a Roosevelt.

Roosevelt

1 ¾ oz dark rum

½ oz dry vermouth

¼ oz orange juice

1 barspoon simple syrup

Orange Twist

Combine dark rum, vermouth, orange juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a chilled coupe. Express the orange peel over the glass, then use as a garnish.

This is a perfect movie for Halloween because not only does it take place on October 31st, but there’s a delightfully spooky cemetery, a Boris Karloff look-a-like, and a lot of unexpected visitors knocking on the door. If you’re looking for more of a treat than a trick, give Arsenic and Old Lace a watch. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

It Happened One Night

LizLocke3 Comments
Image Credit: It Happened One Night, 1934.

I don’t know what this says about me, but I have a thing for grumpy heroes in popular culture. I guess when I really stop to think about it, I’m the grumpy hero of my own life: I don’t have time for nonsense, my baseline descriptors are sarcastic and pessimistic, but deep down inside I’m a romantic puddle of mush. Maybe that’s why I adore Clark Gable so much in this week’s film It Happened One Night (Disc/Download)—we are two cynics who found love, despite our better instincts.

Hailed as one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, It Happened One Night 100% lives up to the hype. It’s amazing to me how this 1930s screwball comedy about a scandalized socialite falling for a wisecracking journalist still manages to feel fresh and relevant nearly a century later. Featuring tropes as old as time (enemies-to-lovers + forced proximity), Frank Capra’s ode to romance on the road is smart, daring, and unbelievably funny. While the script is great, it’s the acting that really sells it for me. Claudette Colbert is both ballsy and vulnerable, so desperate to get to The Wrong Man that she jumps off a yacht, hops on a Greyhound, spends the night with a total stranger (The Right Man), and flashes her gams while hitchhiking. And yet, she still needs Clark Gable to tell her how bus schedules work, and the proper way to dunk a donut, and how to not stand out like a sore thumb among the plebeians. Meanwhile, he needs a woman who makes him laugh, calls him out on his oversized ego, and is ready and willing to take the leap into a life of adventure. These two may be on opposite sides of the curtain, but we know it’s only a matter of time before those walls of Jericho come tumbling down.

Claudette Colbert’s character Ellie Andrews is described as a spoiled brat, but I think she’s more of a pissed-off brat. She’s tired of other people calling the shots in her life, and she’s ready to take the reins. This cocktail I found a few months ago in the New York Times cooking section seems tailor-made for Ellie- The Bitter Heiress!

The Bitter Heiress

3 oz Lillet

1 oz Fresh-squeezed Orange Juice

½ oz Campari

Orange peel

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, and add the first three ingredients. Stir until chilled, then strain into a chilled martini glass. Take the orange peel, hold it over the glass with the skin facing down, then strike a match and hold it between the peel and the drink. Squeeze peel toward match to spray citrus oil onto the surface of the drink, and discard. Garnish with a fresh slice of peel.

If you need a fun romp for an at-home date night, or just a solo screening that’ll make you feel a little less pessimistic about the world, quit bawlin’ and give It Happened One Night a chance. Here’s to the merry go round!

Classic Films

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

LizLockeLeave a comment

MrSmithGoestoWashington
Image credit: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939.

This week, I’m celebrating the Fourth of July with one of the most patriotic movies I can think of. A film that’s stood the test of time, through good presidents and bad, noble politicians and corrupt. I’m talking of course about Frank Capra’s classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (DVD/Download).

It’s astounding how often I’m reminded of the iconic image of Jimmy Stewart as Senator Jefferson Smith, weary after a lengthy filibuster, sweaty, distraught, his face an open wound, realizing his fight is hopeless. The corrupt politicians of Washington have broken him, as they have broken the rest of us too. Jimmy is America in this film. Whether we’re talking about the 1938 or 2018, it’s all the same. Leaders drunk with power can (and often do) run afoul of the people who voted for them. Mr. Smith goes to Washington with a dream of doing good work for the citizens of his state. Though the film has a satisfying ending, I wouldn’t necessarily call it “happy”. Happiness and politics are parallel paths that rarely intersect.

I love a lot of things about this film- plucky Jean Arthur and her little hats, disgruntled newspaperman Diz and his wry cynicism, even Claude Rains as the most sedate villain of all time. But the scene that gets my heart pounding is of course The Filibuster. For 24 hours Mr. Smith tries to postpone a crooked bill from getting through the Senate, and though he eventually falls, the fight is really something to see. While watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, I recommend drinking a Filibuster.

Filibuster

4 oz bourbon

2 oz simple syrup

2 oz lemon juice

2 tbsp fresh orange juice

1 egg white

Angostura bitters

Pour all ingredients except bitters into a cocktail shaker. Shake until combined, then fill with ice. Shake again with all the rage you feel toward our current United States government. Strain into a coupe glass. Top with a few dashes of Angostura bitters.

Filibuster

The thing I find slightly comforting about this film is that it was released in 1939. So, theoretically, Congress has been doing a crappy job for the last 80 years. And we’re still here!!! We still have joys and triumphs, and yes unspeakable rage and indignities. But we’re surviving, day-by-day.   Jefferson Smith didn’t stop fighting for his American ideals, and neither should those of us who believe in honesty, empathy, kindness, and the beauty of our American land.   Cheers!