#1 Cheap Icons of Screwball Comedy, Vol. 2 (Theodora Goes Wild / Together Again / A Night to Remember / The Doctor Takes a Wife) Reviews
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Columbia and RKO were the smallest of the major Hollywood studios in the 30s and 40s. RKO was famous for the Astaire/Rogers musicals and Columbia was known for attracting leading actresses on short term contracts, usually starring them in romantic comedies. This collection of Columbia comedies showcases 2 leading ladies, the unique Irene Dunne and the ubiquitous Loretta Young.
Dunne was a ladylike dramatic actress who could also sing. She surprised the pundits in 1936 when she starred in her first outright comedy, "Theodora Goes Wild", displaying her superb timing and sunny personality. The change of direction was so surprising, Dunne was nominated for an Oscar! Both this film and "Together Again", released in 1944, focus on the break down of Dunne's ladylike persona, the first as a small town spinster who writes a racy novel and the latter as a widowed mayor who falls for a sculptor. Both films benefit from first rate leading men although Charles Boyer looks a bit tired in "Together Again" and is a rather stiff farceur. Melvyn Douglas, however, matches Dunne magnificently in "Theodora". The latter, whilst overlong, is the superior film with a wonderful collection of supporting players and many good lines. The film is meticulously directed but would be better with some of the spontaneity and speed of the subsequent and more famous "The Awful Truth". "Together Again" is best with the byplay between the stars. The rest is reminiscent of those squeaky clean American 50s situation TV comedies like "The Donna Reed Show", with "cute" Charles Coburn as Dunne's father-in-law dispensing advice with a trowel and Mona Freeman as a tiresome and precocious teen.
In 1939, Loretta Young refused to renew her 20th Century Fox contract due to differences with studio head, Daryl F. Zanuck. She decided to launch out on her own, a bold and courageous decision. Zanuck had her blackballed from the studios. "The Doctor Takes a Wife", released in 1940, was an important film for Young because it broke the blackball. It is a funny career versus marriage farce starring Ray Milland as an academic medico and Young as a spinster novelist. Complications arise when the couple are presumed married. The farce races from one situation to the next like a freight train. Apparently it was written for Dunne and Cary Grant and while the stars are handsome, competent and likeable in the best Hollywood tradition, they lack the flair of Grant/Dunne. The film also shows evidence of editing removing some of the continuity. Some scenes end abruptly. The attached trailer contains a nightclub scene, for example, which is missing from the final print. Similarly, "A Night to Remember" is pleasant enough entertainment whereby mystery novelist Brian Aherne and wife Young rent a Greenwich Village apartment and stumble on a murder mystery of their own. The film is quite corny and the stars overact with a vengeance.
The best news of the set is that the prints of the films are good. The extras are minor with some promotional material for other Sony releases, theatrical trailers for 3 of the films and one very amusing technicolour cartoon from 1940. The set is reasonable value but "Theodora" might be the only one which warrants revisits. The others are amusing in parts but generally one dimensional, particularly "A Night to Remember".
PS The people at Sony have a sense of humour too. Both Dunne and Young were staunch Catholics, known, with Rosalind Russell, as the "Nuns of Hollywood" and great friends.
Icons of Screwball Comedy, Vol. 2 (Theodora Goes Wild / Together Again / A Night to Remember / The Doctor Takes a Wife) Overview
Crazy situations, fast and sophisticated dialogue, and conflict arising from the roles of men and women in modern society? these are the essential elements of the Screwball Comedy. The Awful Truth, Twentieth Century, Holiday, His Girl Friday and The More the Merrier are prime examples of what would become a hallmark for Columbia Screwball Comedies. With superb production values, top directors (Capra, Hawks, Cukor, Stevens) and major stars, these classic films are some of the best known screwballs. For the second volume of Columbia's Screw Ball Comedies form the '30s and '40s, we return to the vaults to rediscover more classics of the beloved genre featuring two of its most glamorous leading ladies.
The Legendary Irene Dunne plays a small-town author whose racy bestsellers, written under a pseudonym, bring her notoriety when a New Yorker (Melvyn Douglas) discovers her secret, in Theodora Goes Wild. In Together Again, Dunne plays the mayor's widow who falls for a sculptor (Charles Boyer) as he works on a statue of her late husband. Beautiful Loretta Young plays a feminist writer forced to pretend she's married to Ray Milland (whom she loathes) in The Doctor Takes a Wife. In A Night to Remember, Loretta Young and her mystery writer husband (Brian Aherne) take an apartment in Greenwich Village and almost immediately find themselves in the middle of a genuine murder case.
Icons of Screwball Comedy - Sandy - OHIO
I am a FAN of old movies. Just love them. Think that some of them are BETTER than some of the movies being made today. I also liked these movies because I'm a great Fan of Loretta Young and Irene Dunn. So glad these movies have been preserved!
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