This week’s movie is The Awful Truth (1937).
The romantic comedy is about Jerry
and Lucy Warriner, a married couple that get divorced after a series of
compounding misunderstandings. And yet, they seem to still love each other as
they sabotage each other’s attempts to move on romantically. The film is
directed by Leo McCarey, who
specialized in comedy coming out of the silent film era. Most of the scenes
were improvised by the cast and director on the day, with only the general
story arc being known. Before The Awful Truth, for which he won a Best Director
Oscar, his best known film was The Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup. He also directed the
classic romance drama An Affair
to Remember (at the end of his career). McCarey worked with composer Ben Oakland, cinematographer Joseph Walker and art director Lionel Banks on the film.
However, its great success is due to its wonderful leads: Irene Dunne and Cary Grant (who would again star
together in My Favorite Wife
– which is almost the same movie). Ralph
Bellamy, Alexander D’Arcy,
Cecil Cunningham, Molly Lamont, Ester Dale, and Joyce Compton feature in
support. Interestingly, Cary Grant thought that the film was not working at all
and wanted to be released from his contract – only for it to be one of his
early hits, and help really launch his career as a leading man. The Awful Truth
is also one of the early, and best, screwball comedies – many of the classic
comedies from the 1930s and early 1940s are screwball comedies. This is a
must-see for fans of screwball comedies and Cary Grant. Check out the trailer.
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