Together Again wins favorite Irene Dunne comedy film in recent poll

It was close but Together Again won favorite Irene Dunne comedy in last month's poll with 15 votes. Edging out perennial favorite The Awful Truth by 2 votes. Together Again is the comedy that paired Irene with Charles Boyer and co-starred Charles Coburn, Mona Freeman and Adele Jergens. It's one of the few Irene films I have yet to see, but obviously it is fondly remembered. My fave Irene film, My favorite Wife logged 9 votes. Surprisingly Theodora Goes Wild only got 2 votes. Joy Of Living received 1 vote and Lady In A Jam received none. Thanks to everyone that stopped by and voted. I know Irene appreciates it.

New poll..Favorite Irene Dunne screwball comedy

In honor of Irene Dunne being the star of the month, I thought a poll would be a good thing to do. The question I pose is...which screwball film of Irene do you like the most? The choices are Theodora Goes Wild, My Favorite Wife, The Awful Truth, Joy Of Living, Together Again and Lady In a Jam. I know she did more comedies but these are her most well known. The poll will be up through the end of the month.

Star of the month: IRENE DUNNE

Irene Dunne has been a frequent topic of conversation on my blogs. She had one heck of a year in 2011 on my other blog, All Good Things. First she won the Favorite Classic Actress tournament, beating the likes of Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck, Grace Kelly and Vivien Leigh. Then she was the top ranked star for the year as well. Ahead of Cary Grant even. Wow! Impressive indeed! And now she is Screwball Cinema's first star of the month. I will share all my thoughts on why Irene is my 2nd most favorite actress ever. She sits right behind my girl Carole. You know Irene seems to be getting the best of Carole lately. After defeating her in the tourney last year, she also beat Carole in a poll I did her on Screwball Cinema asking for the favorite screwball comedy queen. Yep, Irene won that too. So please stop by to check out all what I will be doing for the amazing Ms. Dunne!

A new feature on Screwball Cinema...Star Of The Month

I wrote earlier that I had slacked off a little here on Screwball Cinema and was going try to write more this year. I do quite a bit on my main blog, All Good Things and co-writing several other ones with my friends Dawn and Irene. I was thinking about holding a tournament trying to decide the favorite screwball comedy of all time. Probably sometime later on in the year. But for now I will add a new feature called Star of the month where I focus on a specific star who has a regular component of screwball comedies. Beginning next month with Irene Dunne, who starred in such classics as The Awful Truth and Theodora Goes Wild. Hope to see everyone here next month.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to everyone from me and some friends here at Screwball Cinema..

Cary and Priscilla

Cary, Kate and Baby

Nick, Nora and Asta

Carole and John

Claudette and Clark

Irene

Jean

Cary and Roz

Carole and Robert

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S DAY!

Classic Screwball Couples

Just some photos of some classic couples in screwball comedies. Enjoy.

Kate and Cary

Jimmy and Jean

William and Myrna..and Skippy

Clark and Claudette

Carole and Robert

Cary and Rosalind

Gary and Jean

Barbara and Henry

Carole and William



and of course my favorite pair..Cary and Irene

Screwball Quote Of The Day: THEODORA GOES WILD (1936)

Theodora: I suddenly realized I was a writer of wide reputation and most of it bad.

THEODORA GOES WILD

 

Congratulations to Irene Dunne!

Irene Dunne won Favorite Classic Movie Actress on my main blog All Good Things a few days ago and here is a film clip from one of her best screwball comedies, The Awful Truth. Irene is hilarious, pretending to be Cary's ditzy sister.

Irene and Cary team up for the first time in The Awful Truth

One of the earliest screwball comedies and one of the best is the 1937 classic, The Awful Truth, which paired Irene Dunne and Cary Grant for the very first time. It's no secret that I have always thought Cary and Irene made the best on screen couple. And Cary has worked with some of the top actresses in the world but he was never better than when paired with Dunnie. The plot of this film has Jerry and Lucy Warriner preparing to divorce and trying their best to ruin each other's chances of remarriage. As one of the early screwball comedies, Truth doesn't hold anything back. The dialogue is crisp and biting. Cary and Irene have wonderful chemistry in their first film together and Irene is positively firing on all cylinders. She is funny from the word go. I believe the great Katherine Hepburn had to have seen this film prior to making Bringing Up Baby and based her performance on what Irene did. She had too. Dunnie was just that good in Truth. The film moves at a brisk pace given the fact it's running time is 92 minutes and not one single second is wasted. In addition to Dunne and Grant, there is terrific support from Cecil Cunningham as Aunt Patsy and Ralph Bellamy in his typical role of the stand up guy. Also Asta the dog from The Thin Man series is a hoot as Mr. Smith. Expert direction from Leo McCarey, who won an Oscar for Best Director for his work here and he deserved it. So if you have never watched The Awful Truth, find it online or rent it or better yet buy it, because you will want to watch this film over and over again.

Jerry: I'm going out to get some popcorn and pink lemonade. I've just seen a three-ring circus.

Happy Birthday Irene Dunne (1898 - 1990)

Happy Birthday to Irene Dunne, a grand actress who starred in all kinds of films: musicals, westerns, dramas, and of course screwball comedies. Her pairings with Cary Grant are legendary with The Awful Truth, My Favorite Wife and Penny Serenade. And Irene was sensational in the screwball comedy classic Theodora Goes Wild. Other films include Love Affair (1939), A Guy Named Joe (1943), The White Cliffs Of dover (1944), and Life With Father (1947). Happy Birthday Dunnie, as my friend Renata calls her.

Poll Results...and the winner is Irene Dunne as favorite leading lady in screwball comedies

Last month I asked the question who is your favorite screwball comedy leading lady. The choices were Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, Claudette Colbert, Constance Bennett and Jean Arthur. I had a big turnout of voters totaling 60. Now my personal favorite Carole came in 2nd with 15 votes and 25% of the total vote. Carole was pretty much neck and neck with Jean Arthur for the whole time. She edged out Jean by 1 vote. Myrna Loy grabbed 6 votes while Claudette and Constance didn't do that good. The winner and undisputed favorite screwball leading lady is Irene Dunne with a huge 21 votes and 35% of the total vote. That should make my friend Renata very happy as she is a big Irene fan. I am too, she is my 3rd favorite actress of all time. So I thought this turned out pretty well. I want to thank all those who stopped by and took the time to vote. I will have a new poll up shortly.

New Poll started...Who is your favorite leading lady in screwball comedies?

I just started a new poll that poses the question...Who is your favorite leading lady in screwball comedies. I selected 6 actresses as the choices: Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, Claudette Colbert, Jean Arthur and Constance Bennett. It should make for a fun poll. Of course everyone knows who I'm going with.

Hint: you're looking right at her.

March poll results....Irene Dunne is the winner

Last month's poll question was who do you think was Cary Grant's best partner in screwball films. The clear choice was Irene Dunne, who captured 59% of the 27 votes. That was truly amazing. I know I voted for her, she and Grant were magic in The Awful Truth and My Favorite Wife. Congratulations to Irene. Coming in a distant second was Katherine Hepburn (who teamed with Grant for Holiday, The Philadelphia Story and Bringing Up Baby) with 18%. Next was Rosalind Russell (His Girl Friday) with 14%. And finally Myrna Loy (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House and The Bachelor & the Bobby-Soxer) with only 7%.

I will post a new poll before the day is out. Thanks to everyone who voted.

My Favorite Wife is one of my favorite movies ever...

Pure comedy gold. Grant and Dunne team up again for this hilarious comedy about a man who remarries after his wife is reported missing at sea. Everything is fine until the first wife is found by the coast guard and turns her husband's life into a wreck. Cary is in usual good form, but it's Irene Dunne who makes the picture. She is delightful as the former wife who comes back. Great comedy.

Nick: "The moment I saw you I knew.."
Eve: "I bet you say that to all your wives".

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Theodora Goes Wild (1936) is a pure delight

Screwball comedies are probably my favorite type of movies. I just love the zany situations the characters find themselves in. Recently I just watched the 1936 classic Theodora Goes Wild with a marvelous Irene Dunne.

Dunne plays small town girl Theodora Lynn, who lives with her two aunts in the quaint little town of Lynnfield. The town is small and pretty much ran by the women who likes to keep things simple and nice and decent. The women's literary club are at constant odds with the local newspaper who likes to run articles about the author Caroline Adams, who is a famous writer, known for her scandalous stories. The catch is Theodora is actually Caroline and lives a double life, keeping her family and townspeople in the dark about her other half. Theodora visits her uncle in New York, who has been written off by the family because of his own reputation. She uses that as her cover to see her publisher, who constantly tries to convince her to meet her adoring fans. Theodora holds her ground and ends up meeting Michael Grant, who is her book jacket illustrator, played by the always entertaining Melvyn Douglas. Once Theodora leaves New York to head back home, Michael follows her and makes life for her very complicated. The nosy townspeople wonder what he's doing in town and Theodora quickly puts him to work around her family's house. Of course things become harder and harder to keep secret especially when Theodora falls in love in Michael. There are a few dramatic scenes in this movie, like when Theodora goes off on the other women in town about her relationship with Michael. And a subplot involving a friend of Theodora who is run off from town because of the man she chose to marry, and eventually have a child with. But there are lots of moments of screwball hilarity that will have you busting a gut. Irene Dunne, one of my favorites, excels in these types of roles and she hits the mark again with this one. Her natural flair for comedy is most evident in her scenes with Douglas. They make quite the charming pair.

Theodora Goes Wild is one of the best screwball comedies ever made. And Dunne proves she is definitely one of the queens of comedy. I would rank her right up there with Carole Lombard and Myrna Loy. I enjoyed this film from start to finish. I loved the dog that Douglas's character picked up on the way into town and named him Jake...and the bond the two formed. I loved Theodora's two aunts, who were at first like all the other women in town, wound too tight and didn't care for any signs of questionable characters. But once they found out that their niece was the scandalous novelist, they didn't hesitate to have Theodora's back and slam anyone else for thinking bad of her. I also loved the newspaper editor who liked irking the Women's Literary Group just for the heck of it. All so many little things and other characters made this a highly entertaining movie. One I could watch over and over. Theodora Goes Wild will definitely make those Wednesdays much more bearable.