March was a long month, to say the least. My birthday was on a Saturday this year, so I got to celebrate it at Disneyland (and finally visit Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!). But within the next week, the park closed down, joining so many more closures and cancellations because of coronavirus concerns (including the beloved TCM Film Festival). We’re now living under different circumstances for the time being, though for me personally, it’s about the same as I work in the news industry, so I’m still going to work. But as always, watching movies has helped me take a break from it all, so I’m thankful for services like TCM and the Criterion Channel for offering a treasure trove of films. And fortunately, TCMFF will still live on this year, just from the comfort of our homes instead of in the heart of Hollywood. Anyway, before moving forward to April, a look back at what I watched over the past month.

New-to-Me: 32

Re-Watched: 11

New-to-Me Films by Decade:

• 1910s – 0
• 1920s – 1
• 1930s – 4
• 1940s – 7
• 1950s – 11
• 1960s – 4
• 1970s – 3
• 1980s – 1
• 1990s – 0
• 2000s – 1
• 2010s – 0
• 2020s – 0

List of New-to-Me Films:

1. California Suite (1978)
2. Hot Millions (1968)
3. ‘G’ Men (1935)
4. Captains of the Clouds (1942)
5. Something to Sing About (1937)
6. My Wild Irish Rose (1947)
7. Pinky (1949)
8. I Want You (1951)
9. Above and Beyond (1952)
10. All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953)
11. B.F.’s Daughter (1948)
12. The Guardsman (1931)
13. Sitting Pretty (1948)
14. The Paper Chase (1973)
15. The Day of the Locust (1975)
16. The Train (1964)
17. The Rare Breed (1966)
18. The Court Jester (1955)
19. Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
20. Sweet Dreams (1985)
21. Death of a Cyclist (1955)
22. Pale Flower (1964)
23. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
24. The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
25. China Seas (1935)
26. The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)
27. Wonder Man (1945)
28. In the Cut (2003)
29. Guilty Bystander (1950)
30. Up Periscope (1959)
31. Torpedo Run (1958)
32. The Sea Around Us (1953)

A Few Favorite Discoveries:

The Court Jester (1955), directed by Melvin Frank, Norman Panama

For this post, I decided to highlight just one film as it was a perfect case of watching the right movie at the right time. I watched The Court Jester as I was working my way through the Danny Kaye collection on the Criterion Channel before the films expired at the end of the month. It’s another one of those films I’d been meaning to watch but hadn’t gotten around to, but my timing couldn’t have been better as it just really captured my attention for a couple of hours. It’s a pure delight, mixing physical comedy and clever dialogue with the fun of the swashbuckler genre in the vein of The Adventures of Robin Hood and Scaramouche. I’ve seen several of Danny Kaye’s movies now, and this is easily his best as it really showcases the full range of his talent from his comedic skills to his musical abilities. The rest of the cast is great too, from Basil Rathbone to Angela Lansbury, though I especially loved Glynis Johns and her character, and she works wonderfully alongside Kaye. I enjoyed this film so much, I found myself putting it on in the background a few times throughout the rest of the month when I was doing other things, so it’s definitely among my go-to comfort movies now. While The Court Jester is no longer streaming on the Criterion Channel, it’s still available on Amazon Prime, so I highly recommend it, especially if you need a nice, light-hearted pick-me-up! Get it? Got it. Good.