Top 5 Favorite Classic Romantic Comedies

Last week I listed my top 5 favorite modern romantic comedies. This week I'm listing my top 5 classic romantic comedies. I had to create two separate lists – otherwise I might have listed all classic movies, because growing up, I saw more classic movies then I did current ones. I cut my teeth on black and white movies starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, and Cary Grant and, well, anyone. Musicals were my favorite. I loved the costumes, the dancing, the kitsch. But right behind musicals were the romantic comedies, especially screwball comedies.

When American Movie Classics (AMC) actually ran classic movies, I was a huge fan. Then I made the switch to Turner Classic Movies (TCM). And my favorite favorites? Well, I bought them so I could watch them any time I wanted.

What makes the classics so great? The were funny without being raunchy (not that I don't enjoy a little raunch), and being funny without the raunch takes skill. And the subtle innuendo – so well-finessed you almost miss it.

So what are my top 5 favorite classic romantic comedies? Well, here they are (in no particular order):

His Girl Friday  (January 1940) - This madcap movie stars Cary Grant as Walter Burns, a newspaper editor and Rosalind Russell as Hildy Johnson, his ex-wife and former reporter for the newspaper. When he learns about her impending marriage, he schemes to get her back by asking her to cover one more story. With great chemistry between Grant and Russell, snappy repartee and "inside" remarks, it's not to be missed. The movie came in at #19 on the American Film Institute's (AFI) 100 Years ... One Hundred Laughs list in 2000.







It Happened One Night (1934)  - Directed by Frank Capra, starring Clark Gable and Claudette

Colbert -- need I say more? Colbert stars as a pampered socialite who elopes against her father's wishes. When she jumps ship in Florida, she boards a Greyhound bus bound for New York, where meets Peter, played by Clark Gable. Peter, a newspaper reporter, recognizes her and blackmails her to get her story. The film follows their adventures, until, you guessed it, they fall in love. Aww. You'll recognize many a device used in other movies and television shows: the blanket rolled up and placed down the middle of the bed; the shapely bare leg to attract passing cars. Despite a less than rousing start at the box office, the film went on to win five academy awards -- the first film to accomplish that feat.

Bringing Up Baby (1938) - This hair-brained comedy stars Cary Grant, as David Huxley, a nerdy paleontologist, and Katherine Hepburn as Susan Vance, an eccentric scatterbrained woman. The movie boasts a complicated cast of characters, but here's the Cliffs Notes version: it involves a Brontosaurus skeleton, a baby leopard, and a dognapped intercostal clavicle. Just like It Happened One Night, the movie didn't receive good reviews. But decades later, it remains a critical favorite screwball comedy.







The Philadelphia Story (December 1940) - This George Cukor film stars Cary Grant (are you

beginning to see a pattern here?), Katherine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart. Hepburn plays Tracy Lord, a divorced socialite, whose impending marriage runs into trouble when her ex-husband (played by Grant) returns and a tabloid magazine reporter (plaayed by Stewart) shows up for the scoop on her wedding. Madcap adventures soon follow, with perfectly-delivered lines from the all-star cast. The movie received 6 Oscar nominations, and walked away with two. It's also one of Rotten Tomatoes Top 100 Romantic Comedies of all time.

My Favorite Wife  (May 1940) - Cary Grant (yes, you've guessed it, I'm a huge fan of Cary Grant) and Irene Dunne star in this hilarious comedy about a shipwrecked Ellen Arden, played by Dunne, and her unwitting bigamist husband, Nick, played by Grant. Ellen had been missing 7 years and declared legally dead. She returns to find her husband off on his honeymoon with his new wife. Determined to track him down before his honeymoon night, Ellen confronts him. Unsure how to tell his new wife that Ellen has come back from the dead, Nick devises all manner of schemes to avoid the confrontation,. And the courtroom scene is priceless.

How about you? Do you have any classic romantic comedies that make your top 5 list?