skygiants: Audrey Hepburn peering around a corner disguised in giant sunglasses, from Charade (sneaky like hepburnninja)
[personal profile] skygiants
I've been desperately impatient for Yuletide reveals this year because ever since remembering the existence of The Talk of the Town (1942) and then rewatching it for Yuletide canon review I have been dying to tell everyone about it, and I had to WAIT and it was EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING.

Okay, so: The Talk of the Town. It stars Cary Grant as a labor organizer who gets falsely accused of murder and arson and has to hide out in the house of the local schoolteacher while avoiding detection by her subletter, a Supreme Court nominee.

It is, of course, a screwball comedy.

SUPREME COURT NOMINEE RONALD COLEMAN: The law is built on reason and principle
FUGITIVE LABOR ORGANIZER CARY GRANT, FORGETTING THAT HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE IN HIDING, AND EMERGING FROM THE BUSHES IN RIGHTEOUS ANARCHIST DISDAIN: The law is a gun pointed at somebody's head!
STRESSED-OUT SCHOOLTEACHER JEAN ARTHUR: ... so this is .... Joseph the anarchist gardener???

And then the next half hour of the movie is just all of them living in a house together arguing about legal ethics and falling in love while attempting to make sure that Supreme Court Nominee Ronald Coleman doesn't notice that his new favorite radical gardener is actually a fugitive on the lam?

Actual quotes, from this actual movie:

JEAN ARTHUR: That professor's got a mind like a steel trap. And sometimes he seems like such a little boy, I feel like kissing him.
CARY GRANT: Not a bad idea.

RONALD COLEMAN: We must get some [borscht] for Joseph.
JEAN ARTHUR: We haven't the time.
RONALD COLEMAN: But think of his face, the ecstasy.

RONALD COLEMAN: Leopold, what a fine fellow. I've been thinking, Nora, that if someone took his hand and said, "Leopold, my reckless friend, here's love and companionship forever." Well, some day that man would... You see what I mean, Nora?

Guys, it's good. It's SO good. It's so VERY good that the studios were so indecisive about what the actual endgame was supposed to be that they filmed two whole different heterosexual endings and just kind of threw one at the screen at random, and the ending they picked doesn't actually read any less like a threesome, so well done, team!

Anyway all this is to say that my primary Yuletide assignment was Labor Relations for Talk of the Town; my recipient asked for threesome fluff, which is the absolute correct thing to ask for out of this film, and I instead ended up spending several hours researching major union-related Supreme Court cases of the thirties and forties because unfortunately sometimes I cannot be stopped.

(I had a blast writing for this movie in several directions, but the real personal giveaway here was the minor plot point involving obsolete recording technologies.)

Date: 2019-01-01 07:09 pm (UTC)
osprey_archer: (Default)
From: [personal profile] osprey_archer
This movie sounds DELIGHTFUL and I have added it directly to the top of my Netflix queue.

Date: 2019-01-08 12:33 am (UTC)
osprey_archer: (Default)
From: [personal profile] osprey_archer
I saw it! And Supreme Court Nominee Ronald Coleman is so LUDICROUSLY in love with Leopold Dilg, I'm amazed that the studios let it go by. The chess game! The borscht! The part where he needs advice how to flirt with a girl in order to get information from her to clear Dilg's name because he's clearly never flirted with a girl before in his entire blessed life.

Even when he's asking Nora to marry him, he phrases it as a job offer - much less romantic than that bit at the end that you quoted, where he's ostensibly trying to set Nora up with Dilg, but really it sounds like he wants to grab Dilg's hand and say "Leopold, my reckless friend..." himself. In fact, every single scene where either man tries to set Nora up with the other one. JUST ADMIT YOU LOVE EACH OTHER AND LEAVE POOR NORA OUT OF IT.

Although actually I totally bought that Dilg was into her too. (Cary Grant has chemistry with everyone, he can't help it.) Nora/Ronald Coleman is the wobbly leg of the OT3. Although weirdly I want them to marry and then Dilg can come visit them in between bouts of labor agitation and he sleeps on their couch and they feed him borscht to try to build him back up because he's looking peaky, and generally bond over how much they both love Dilg, until finally Dilg is like "You GUYS we need to talk about the elephant in the room.

Date: 2019-01-09 04:05 pm (UTC)
osprey_archer: (Default)
From: [personal profile] osprey_archer
But you've already written the perfect Talk of the Town futurefic! (I love how we both independently decided that of course Nora has to marry Lightcap, never mind what the end of the movie might imply. Who wouldn't kiss Cary Grant if they had the chance?) I wouldn't be able to get the voices just right like you did.

Date: 2019-01-01 07:28 pm (UTC)
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
From: [personal profile] aurumcalendula
I need to watch this! (and possibly vid it)

Date: 2019-01-01 07:35 pm (UTC)
maplemood: (lydia deetz)
From: [personal profile] maplemood
Oh my gosh, but this movie sounds like pure joy?! I'll have to watch it!

Date: 2019-01-01 08:10 pm (UTC)
kore: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kore
HOLY CRAP THIS SOUNDS AMAZING

Date: 2019-01-01 08:26 pm (UTC)
littledust: Britta & Annie & Shirley, thumbs up. ([comm] triple thumbs up)
From: [personal profile] littledust
You have convinced me to watch this movie! :O

Date: 2019-01-01 08:43 pm (UTC)
sovay: (Cho Hakkai: intelligence)
From: [personal profile] sovay
It's so VERY good that the studios were so indecisive about what the actual endgame was supposed to be that they filmed two whole different heterosexual endings and just kind of threw one at the screen at random, and the ending they picked doesn't actually read any less like a threesome, so well done, team!

This is true. In tenth grade I had the gaydar of a rock and I OT3'd the characters, because the movie did.

(Now I hope someone's written fic where there's borscht.)

Date: 2019-01-01 09:01 pm (UTC)
sovay: (Lord Peter Wimsey: passion)
From: [personal profile] sovay
I'm considering nominating for Purimgifts; Dilg is not a difficult character to headcanon as Jewish, given givens.

DO IT.

Date: 2019-01-01 09:20 pm (UTC)
stultiloquentia: Campbells condensed primordial soup (Default)
From: [personal profile] stultiloquentia
Well, I know what I'm going to make my friends watch at our next movie night!

Date: 2019-01-01 09:49 pm (UTC)
luzula: a Luzula pilosa, or hairy wood-rush (Default)
From: [personal profile] luzula
Whaat. I rarely watch movies, I am just more of a reader overall, but I now have a burning desire to watch this.

Date: 2019-01-02 09:25 am (UTC)
julian: Picture of the sign for Julian Street. (Default)
From: [personal profile] julian
There were a few earlier movies that played on Cary Grant's inability to stay in the closet, too. (Or possibly they were just photoshoots? I forget. ...ah, ok, photoshoots and _My Favorite Wife_.)

Date: 2019-01-03 08:02 am (UTC)
julian: Picture of the sign for Julian Street. (Default)
From: [personal profile] julian
Yes! In floofy bathrobe. Also, everything about Sylvia Scarlett.

(It's just _My Favorite Wife_ co-stars his then-roommate (...of 11 years), Randolph Scott.)

Date: 2019-01-02 07:06 pm (UTC)
ambyr: a dark-winged man standing in a doorway over water; his reflection has white wings (watercolor by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law) (Default)
From: [personal profile] ambyr
This certainly sounds Relevant To My Interests!

Date: 2019-01-03 02:31 pm (UTC)
lokifan: black Converse against a black background (Default)
From: [personal profile] lokifan
OH MY GOD A DELIGHT. *adds to list*

Date: 2019-01-03 03:48 pm (UTC)
aria: (Default)
From: [personal profile] aria
Becca can we please watch this for a movie night, I don't know if I only thought that or actually said it aloud on our last movie night but NEVERTHELESS, I WOULD LOVE TO.

Date: 2019-01-05 06:26 pm (UTC)
tree_and_leaf: Watercolour of barn owl perched on post. (Default)
From: [personal profile] tree_and_leaf
This sounds AMAZING!

Date: 2019-01-07 02:23 am (UTC)
ageorwizardry: water rippling over stones (Default)
From: [personal profile] ageorwizardry
Zomg that was you!! Even once I saw the author reveals I didn't realize that meant skygiants wrote my yuletide story. Hi! I've enjoyed basically every book/movie/tv/theater review of yours I've ever run into, and recently subscribed to you so I won't miss any now that I'm actually trying to use dreamwidth again. I'm so thrilled that you wrote my yuletide story and enjoyed the process! (And are recruiting more people into watching the movie, because yessss—more people watching means more of a chance of more fic, which would be delightful [rubs hands together!])

Date: 2019-01-15 06:50 pm (UTC)
alchimie: (Default)
From: [personal profile] alchimie
I am very pleased to find out that this is readily available to me streaming because now I really, really want to watch it.

Date: 2019-03-18 08:23 pm (UTC)
alchimie: (Default)
From: [personal profile] alchimie
Not yet -- it is exactly my spouse's cup of tea, so I am planning to suggest it as a shared post-medical-procedure distraction next week.

Date: 2019-03-09 02:13 am (UTC)
aamcnamara: (Default)
From: [personal profile] aamcnamara
BECCA.

Date: 2019-06-29 02:36 am (UTC)
sovay: (Renfield)
From: [personal profile] sovay
my recipient asked for threesome fluff, which is the absolute correct thing to ask for out of this film

I feel you should know that my father just finished watching The Talk of the Town and called me immediately to talk about the chemistry between Colman and Grant.

Thank you!

Date: 2023-12-01 01:52 am (UTC)
brainwane: My smiling face, including a small gold bindi (Default)
From: [personal profile] brainwane
Your post here is the reason I have been meaning to watch this film for years. Finally did. What a delight! Decided Kate Mackinnon could play Dilg in the remake.

Re: Thank you!

Date: 2024-04-15 01:01 am (UTC)
brainwane: My smiling face, including a small gold bindi (Default)
From: [personal profile] brainwane
Also, it is currently free to watch in the US on Tubi!

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