you use such lovely big words. I like big words.

A batch of classics, a couple of which are actually good!

Animal Crackers (1930) - "The well-known explorer and hunter Captain Spaulding has just returned from Africa, and is being welcomed home with a lavish party at the estate of influential society matron Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) when a valuable painting goes missing. The intrepid Captain Spaulding attempts to solve the crime with the help of his silly secretary Horatio Jamison, while sparring with the anarchic Signor Emanuel Ravelli and his nutty sidekick The Professor."
source: borrowed from the public library
I watched it because: it's on all the "must watch" lists
IMDB: 7.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 96% Audience: 89%
my IMDB: 6/10

notable quote: "Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west, and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce, they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh...now you tell me what you know."

MPAA rating: G

directed by: Victor Heerman

my notes: I wanted to love it, but instead found it disjointed and boring. Still, there were some good bits, and so...

overall: marginally recommended

The Band Wagon (1953) - "Famous musical movie star Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) fears his career may be on the skids, but his friends, Lester (Oscar Levant) and Lily (Nanette Fabray), have written a Broadway vehicle to kick-start his professional life. Tony is ecstatic—until egotistical director Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan) joins the project and casts ballerina Gaby Gerard (Cyd Charisse) as the leading lady. Tony's second chance seems to be fading, but he may get more than he bargained for as the show goes on."

source: borrowed from the public library
I watched it because: now and then, I love a dancing movie
IMDB: 7.4/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 95% Audience: 82%
my IMDB: 7/10

AFI: 25 Greatest Movie Musicals (2006) #17

MPAA rating: [TV-G]

notable quote: "She came at me in sections—more curves than a scenic railway. She was bad! She was dangerous."

directed by: Vicente Minnelli

my notes: I liked it a lot! Some fun musical numbers and an overall good flick.

Academy Award nominee:
• Best Writing, Story and Screenplay—Betty Comden, Adolph Green

• Best Costume Design, Color—Mary Ann Nyberg

• Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture—Adolph Deutsch
overall: recommended

Across the Wide Missouri (1951) - "Tough trapper Flint Mitchell (Clark Gable) is a tenacious survivor in the unforgiving wilderness of the West. Determined to stay on the good side of the local Blackfoot tribe, Flint is intent on marrying Kamiah (Maria Elena Marques), the beautiful daughter of Ironshirt (Ricardo Montalban)—especially since this union would allow him to freely pursue his trade in the region. Struggling to win the approval of the protective Ironshirt, Flint finds himself truly falling for Kamiah."
source: borrowed from the public library
I watched it because: I have a (not so) secret crush on Clark Gable
IMDB: 6.2/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: N/A% Audience 36%
my IMDB: 5/10

notable quote: "My dad wasn't just one man named Flint Mitchell. He was a breed of men... mountain men who lived and died in America. He used to tell me about these men he knew. Men who walked the Indian trails and blazed new ones where no man had ever been before. Men who found lakes and rivers and meadows. Men who found paths to the west and the western sea; who roamed prairies and mountains and plateaus that are now states. Men who searched for beaver and found glory. Men who died unnamed and found immortality."

MPAA rating: [TV-PG]

directed by: William A. Wellman

my notes: The quotation above tells the story. This is an overblown, terribly-written movie that takes itself WAY too seriously. Also, Gable is roughly twice the age as the character he plays, which makes it an embarrassing farce. Ick.

(Also, "Men who searched for beaver and found glory" made me laugh out loud.)

overall: not recommended

My Man Godfrey (1936) - "In New York post-Great Depression, the spoiled socialites Irene Bullock and her sister Cornelia Bullock are disputing a scavenger hunt where the winner is the one who brings a 'forgotten man' first. They go to the city dump and Cornelia offers five dollars to the derelict Godfrey Smith to go with her and her companion to the Waldorf Hotel. The man pushes her in the garbage and Cornelia leaves the landfill with her companion. However, Irene explains to Godfrey that she wanted to beat Cornelia to it and he accepts to go with her to win the prize. Irene offers the position of butler to Godfrey and tells her parents Alexander and Angelica Bullock that she has hired Godfrey to work for their dysfunctional family in their mansion. Irene has a crush on Godfrey and protects him while Cornelia hates him and wants to harm him."
source: streamed on Amazon Prime
I watched it because: I really, really like William Powell - and this is famously good
IMDB: 7.9/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 97% Audience: 90%
my IMDB: 9/10

AFI: 100 Years…100 Laughs (2000) #44

MPAA rating: [TV-G]

notable quote: "'Prosperity is just around the corner.'

    'Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.'"

directed by: Gregory La Cava

my notes: marvelous!

Academy Award nominee:
• Best Actor in a Leading Role—William Powell

• Best Actress in a Leading Role—Carole Lombard

• Best Actor in a Supporting Role—Mischa Auer

• Best Actress in a Supporting Role—Alice Brady

• Best Director—Gregory La Cava

• Best Writing, Screenplay—Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind
overall: enthusiastically recommended

[the title quotation is from My Man Godfrey]