Criterion Month Day 3: Summertime

Summertime (1955)

On the surface, I thought I’d be walking into familiar territory with 1955’s Summertime, since its basic plot does bear some resemblance to my last movie, Now, Voyager. This is another story about a lonely woman going on a vacation in the hopes of finding herself and some peace of mind, set during a time when female independence was a bit of a rarity. But as this film shows, there are many ways to tell a similar story, as the more somber tone of Now, Voyager is miles away from the picturesque, unabashedly romantic mood of Summertime, which revels in the rebirth that a trip abroad can bring, even if such things are never meant to last. Continue reading →

Criterion Month Day 2: Now, Voyager

Now, Voyager (1942)

Most years, I start my Criterion Months somewhere in the depths of the golden era of Hollywood’s studio system, and this year is no exception. Though this year I’m starting with one of that era’s genres that sometimes gets overlooked in the grand scheme of film history and serious critical analysis, most likely due to filmmaking’s old friend, sexism. This genre would be the reductively-named “women’s picture”, which were a certain type of melodrama, typically revolving around a female character’s personal journey. One of the great stars of this genre (along with her nemesis Joan Crawford) was Bette Davis, and Now, Voyager has been regarded as one of the best examples of Davis’s work in this genre, which I found to be very much a product of its time, but also felt very unique in its depiction of mental health struggles. Continue reading →

Criterion Month Day 1: His Girl Friday

His Girl Friday (1940)

The 1928 play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur has been adapted for the screen four times but its second film version, 1940’s His Girl Friday, is certainly the most consequential. That’s because director Howard Hawks had the inspired idea to change one of the central characters, Hildy Johnson, into a woman, completely changing the story’s dynamic. Instead of simply a story of a weary reporter trying to turn over a new leaf, we get that plus all sorts of mid-century gender dynamics! It’s a good time now hurry up and get in here.

Continue reading →