June Film Roundup

The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956): Another film where Judy Holliday brasses her way into getting what she wants because she’s worth it. Her film persona is often described as a “ditz”. I haven’t seen Born Yesterday , whose title implies it has something to say on the issue, but I feel like that’s not quite right, or maybe the meaning of “ditz” has changed over the years. I feel like “ditz” implies a level of absent-mindedness, like Lucy Ricardo. But so far the distinguishing feature of Judy Holliday’s characters is that they believe women are equal to men. Not in an overtly militant way, just always acting from a position of equality with all other human beings. The world throws a lot of bullshit in their path to try to dissuade them from this attitude, but they ignore or plow through it. A more recent version of this character might be Elle from Legally Blonde (2001). You could say that this belief is fine in 2001 but naive in 1956, and Laura in The Solid Gold Cadillac is pretty easy to manipulate, which I guess is where “ditz” comes from. But since these are feel-good comedies and not the real 1950s, Laura’s stubbornness wins through and she is proven correct. So really, she has an accurate view of the universe in which she lives. Three Ages (1923): Sort of a proto- History of the World, Part I but I didn’t like that movie very much either. Some slapstick, a couple of great stunts, a soupçon of 1920s racism. There is a laugh-out-loud joke right at the end, but does this film really need to be four reels long? You’re just making more work for the preservationists, Buster. Full of Life (1956): We’re surely going to watch every Judy Holliday movie, so this won’t dissuade me, but she wasn’t very wacky in this one. It turns out her all-too-brief career is not an uninterrupted streak of inspired comedy chaos, and thus this was only kinda enjoyable. Apparently the screenplay was toned down from something more “frank”, so you’re left with a kitchen-sink dramedy that’s extremely tame by today’s mega-frank standards. Whereas The Solid Gold Cadillac still feels fresh, and It Should Happen To You feels maybe even more transgressive than before in its portrayal of low-stakes feminine obsession.