Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Paramount – 1937: SWING HIGH, SWING LOW & TRUE CONFESSION

Aug 27, 2021

For our Paramount 1937 episode, we look at two movies starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray: Mitchell Leisen's comedy/melodrama Swing High, Swing Low and Wesley Ruggles' screwball comedy True Confession. Topics include our surprise at Leisen's go-for-broke portrayal of male abjection and MacMurray's risk-taking in Swing High, Swing Low; the quiet virtues of Paramount's leading men; the moment when John Barrymore became Late Al Pacino; and Lombard's adorable sociopath in True Confession as a precursor to Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched. "She's going to FRY!"

 

Time Codes:

0h 01m 00s:                  SWING HIGH, SWING LOW [dir. Mitchell Leisen]       

0h 40m 00s:                  TRUE CONFESSION [dir. Wesley Ruggles]

1h 20m 26s:                  Listener mail on La Marseillaise with Adam

           

Studio Film Capsules provided by The Paramount Story by John Douglas Eames

                                   

+++

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise’s latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

* Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! 

*And Read lots of Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.*

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