I found this movie magical when I saw it in college. That there could be such a thing in the world! The silver, moonlit glow of the movie, juxtaposed with the comic, unsentimental harshness with which characters treat each other, was a wonderment, a mystery to figure out.
On re-seeing, it becomes another in a series of old comedies that I find myself more critical of than before. Maybe the surprise element, the sense of discovery, is a potent part of a movie’s pleasure? The Clark Gable character now seems a little too chronically grumpy, the Claudette Colbert character a little too confused and ineffectual. I found myself thinking, just sleep together already—you’re drawing this out! It must be me.
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