Acteurist oeuvre-view – Jean Arthur – Part 5: MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936), THE EX-MRS. BRADFORD (1936) & ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN (1936) + Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto

There's Sometimes a Buggy

In this week's Jean Arthur Acteurist Oeuvre-view cast, we revisit Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) for thoughts old and (hopefully) new, and then look at two minor screwball comedy variations on genre films from 1936, the RKO murder mystery The Ex-Mrs. Bradford, co-starring William Powell, and a weird little riff on Mr. Deeds combined with a crime thriller, Adventure in Manhattan, co-starring Joel McCrea. Join us as we discuss Gary Cooper's complex performance and creepy sexlessnes and Arthur's wholesome lack of naivety and self-lovemaking in Mr. Deeds, a deeply romantically and politically confused movie, and the reasons why Arthur doesn't (and shouldn't) give screwball performances in her most famous roles.

Time Codes:

0h 1m 00s: MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936) [dir. Frank Capra]

0h 31m 59s: THE EX-MRS. BRADFORD (1936) [dir. Stephen Roberts]

0h 41m 54s: ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN (1936) [dir. Edward Ludwig]

0h 56m 03s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – CELINE ET JULIE VONT EN BATEAU (1972)

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* Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* 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 piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again"

* Check out Dave's 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!

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