Charles Ruggles

  • Roy Del Ruth – It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)

    Roy Del Ruth1941-1950ComedyRomanceUSA

    It was remade in Bollywood twice… Pugree (1948) and Dil Daulat Duniya (1972).

    It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) is a motion picture comedy, directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Victor Moore, Ann Harding, Don DeFore, Charles Ruggles and Gale Storm. Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story, losing to Valentine Davies for another Christmas-themed story, Miracle on 34th Street.Read More »

  • Nick Grinde – Sudden Money (1939)

    Nick Grinde1931-1940ComedyDramaUSA
    Sudden Money (1939)
    Sudden Money (1939)

    Synopsis:
    Promises of happier times dawn for the financially distressed Patterson family when father Sweeney and brother-in-law Archibald “Doc” Finney win a $150,000 grand prize in the sweepstakes contest. With their windfall, each member of the family decides to pursue a dream. Drummer Sweeney reorganizes his old high school ragtime band, while Doc bankrolls his own horse betting system. Mother Elsie, who won an art contest in high school, takes up the easel and paint brush, while daughter Mary enrolls in finishing school in hopes of snagging a rich husband, and Junior is shipped off to military school. Grandpa Casey Patterson, meanwhile, thinks that the whole brood has taken leave of their senses. Clouds begin to darken the family’s dreams when Sweeney hires the comely Yolo to spice up his band, and Mr. Jordan, the wealthy father of Mary’s suitor, Johnny Jordan, pays a surprise visit to the family and is shocked to find Yolo balancing on Sweeney’s back.Read More »

  • Frank Tuttle – This Is the Night (1932)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyFrank TuttleUSA

    An affair is about to be consummated in a planned trip to Venice, but complications ensue when the woman’s husband returns unexpectedly from the Olympics. Cary Grant is the javelin-wielding Olympian in his first feature film. For probably the last time he gets fifth billing behind, among others, a sparkling Thelma Todd and Charlie Ruggles.

    Very pre-code in its sensibility, with clear references to Lubitsch.Read More »

  • Rouben Mamoulian – Love Me Tonight (1932)

    1931-1940MusicalRomanceRouben MamoulianUSA

    Parisian tailor Maurice Courtelin (Maurice Chevalier) goes to the chateau of the Duke d’Artelines (C. Aubrey Smith) to collect a debt owed by a spendthrift nephew, the Viscount Gilbert de Varèze (Charlie Ruggles), Maurice passes as a Count and interacts with other members of the household, including the nervous bookworm the Count de Savignac (Charles Butterworth) and the near-nymphomaniac Countess Valentine (Myrna Loy). But he falls madly in love with Princess Jeanette (Jeanette MacDonald) and slowly wins her to his side. Now, how does Maurice explain to her that he’s nothing but a tailor?Read More »

  • George Marshall – Papa’s Delicate Condition (1963)

    1961-1970ComedyGeorge MarshallUSA

    Synopsis:
    If Jack Griffith’s wife doesn’t like the color of a neighbor’s house, he’ll arrange for it to be a house of a different color. If the owner of the ice cream parlor doesn’t believe in selling triple banana splits for a penny, Jack will buy the establishment. And if Jack’s little girl wants the pony in the circus parade, why not buy the entire circus! This last prank sends Amberlyn Griffith back to Texarkana c. 1900, where her father is running for his third term as mayor. Jack follows, bringing the entire circus.Read More »

  • Howard Hawks – Bringing Up Baby (1938)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyHoward HawksUSA

    Synopsis wrote:
    David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.

    Rob Nixon, Kerryn Sherrod & Jeff Stafford wrote:

    Why BRINGING UP BABY is Essential

    In the eyes of many critics, Bringing Up Baby is the quintessentialscrewball comedy, incorporating all the standard elements of the genre such as themadcap heiress, a hapless leading man virtually victimized by herattentions and a group of stuffed shirts whose pomposity is deflated by thefarcical goings on. It also stands as a prime example of the liberatinginfluence of eccentricity (and the female) in the screwballcomedy.Read More »

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