[Blarg]

Interesting post!

The screwball comedies can be like this -- the ones with Cary Grant, the Topper ghost comedies.

The arch dialogue of Dashiel Hammett type noirs -- the ones you'll see Bogart in, for instance. "I slammed on the brakes when I saw Porky Grout. I never did like Porky Grout. Then all I could see was shattered windshield and Porky Grout." You could turn that into a song. The dialogues between two characters in that type of noir often have a rhythm and a sort of call and response effect to them, too. Bogart and Bacall definitely got that going in To Have and Have Not.