IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025919/
IMDB rating: 7,9
Director: Howard Hawks
Main Cast: John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
"Based on the Broadway play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, Twentieth Century is 'screwball comedy' at its screwiest. Director Howard Hawks once claimed that he was the first to treat his romantic leads like comedians: whether he was or not, it is true than Barrymore and Lombard deliver two of the funniest performances of the 1930s.
Poking fun at his master thespian image, Barrymore's hammy Broadway impresario Oscar alternately threatens to shut 'the Iron Door' on his associates or kill himself to get his way, but ultra-spirited Lombard as shopgirl-Mildred-turned-diva-Lily proves his equal in acting chops and screen strength. With most of the action confined to the eponymous train, Oscar's machinations to get the estranged Lily to star in his next show rise in hysterical pitch as the quarters get increasingly close, culminating in another Oscar death spectacle for an audience of passengers. Swiftly paced by Hawks, the rapid-fire jokes and arguments never let up, setting the standard for the genre's speed and humor. With equally superb supporting performances from Walter Connolly and Roscoe Karns, Twentieth Century became a box office hit, turning Lombard into a star comedienne and joining It Happened One Night (1934) as the prototype for the screwball genre." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/twentieth-century-v51294
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