I remember Mama 1948 - An affecting portrayal of family life

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IMDB rating: 8,4

Director: George Stevens
Main Cast: Irene Dunne, Barbara Bel Geddes, Oskar Homolka, Philip Dorn, Cedric Hardwicke, Rudy Vallee, Barbara O'Neil

"George Stevens's charming film version of Kathryn Forbes' collection of short stories entitled Mama's Bank Account features Irene Dunne as Mama in one of her finest and most ingratiating performances. The film is narrated by Mama's daughter Katrin (Barbara Bel Geddes), recalling the trials and tribulations of her family in turn-of-the-century San Francisco.
Stevens was occasionally taken to sentimentality in even his most dramatic films, and here, if no different, it is at least more appropriate. The movie is another excellent example of how films centered on women became increasingly important in the post-WWII era. Nicholas Musuraca's cinematography captures the feel of turn-of-the-century San Francisco, and the production values are adequate without being showy - somewhat better than average for an RKO picture from this era." - www.allmovie.com

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Cimarron 1931 - Lavishly produced but a little bit dated Western

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021746/?ref_=nv_sr_3
IMDB rating: 6,1

Director: Wesley Ruggles
Main Cast: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, Nance O'Neil, William Collier Jr., Roscoe Ates, Edna May Oliver

"Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture - and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990 - the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him - until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire.
Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. The famous Oklahoma Land Rush sequence was filmed near Bakersfield, CA, and included 47 camera operators and 5,000 dress extras. The scene, which to a modern viewer suggests some heavy borrowing from William S. Hart's similar sequence in the silent Tumbleweeds (1925), remains Cimarron's centerpiece and tends to dwarf the empire building sweep of Edna Ferber's original novel. And, to be frank, the remaining hour or so of political intrigue is rather ponderous and dull in comparison. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/cimarron-v9640/

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Love affair 1939 - A wonderful, touching romance

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031593/?ref_=nv_sr_2
IMDB rating: 7,4

Director: Leo McCarey
Main Cast: Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Maria Ouspenskaya, Lee Bowman, Astrid Allwyn

"Love Affair is among the most influential romance films of its era, a smooth tale of a shipboard romance and the obstacles that love must overcome. At the core of the film are the performances of Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne as the lovers. They make the audience want their love to succeed and overcome the obstacles in its way. Leo McCarey was among Hollywood's top commercial directors of the 1930s and 1940s, and Love Affair, with its 87-minute running time and brisk pace, is a good example of his skills. In the 1950s, McCarey attempted to become a more serious director, but the public rejected his propagandist anti-Communist films. The one success he found in the 1950s was a direct remake of Love Affair - An Affair to Remember, which was the inspiration for the later hit Sleepless In Seattle." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/love-affair-v30272/

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The awful truth 1937 - One of the best screwball comedies of the 30's

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028597/
IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: Leo McCarey
Main Cast: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy, Joyce Compton, Molly Lamont

"One of the greatest screwball comedies of the thirties, The awful truth is arguably the archetypal example of this influential genre. The plot - in which a gorgeous, sophisticated couple (played by Cary Grant and Irene Dunne) divorce, dabble with various Mr. and Miss Wrongs, and get back together again - is the screwball formula distilled to its essence. Also exemplary are the film's opulent sets and costumes, and Grant's and Dunne's fabulously witty dialogue. Like the featured couple in most screwball comedies, Jerry and Lucy Warriner are made for each other, a fact reinforced mostly by their sublime bickering (and the supporting characters' futile attempts to keep up with them). Based on a stage play by Arthur Richman that had been filmed twice before, Vina Delmar's script ably supplies the two stars with choice barbs, and Leo McCarey's confident direction keeps the action moving from set piece to hilarious set piece. Grant and Dunne are, unsurprisingly, brilliant as the warring Warriners, though special mention must also be made of some of the actors playing their hapless suitors: Ralph Bellamy as the hayseed Dan Leeson (Bellamy would later play nearly the same role in Howard Hawks' His girl Friday); Alexander d'Arcy as the hilariously insipid Armand Duvalle; and Joyce Compton as the incomparable Dixie Belle Lee. Nominated for six Oscars in 1938, the film walked away with only one, for McCarey." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-awful-truth-v3472

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Theodora goes wild 1936 - The turning point in Irene Dunne's career

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028355/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,4

Director: Richard Boleslawski
Main Cast: Irene Dunne, Melvyn Douglas, Thomas Mitchell

"If Theodora Goes Wild falls just a little bit short of being a truly classic screwball comedy (like Bringing Up Baby or My Man Godfrey), it's certainly not for want of trying on the part of the actress assaying the title role. Recognizing her chance to break out in new directions, Irene Dunne grabs Theodora (the part and the movie) and runs with them for all they're worth. It's a delicious, irresistible star turn by a delicious, irresistible star, and the joy, the skill, and the humor that Dunne brings to the film make up for any of its deficiencies. There are a few problems, however, but most notably that the film is never as wild as its title indicates - and as its setup dictates it must be. It's not the fault of the extremely well-structured screenplay (although it could stand a few more laughs here and there) so much as it is of director Richard Boleslawsky, whose work is good but not as sharp and pointed as is needed to make a perfect screwball comedy. Fortunately, Dunne and the rest of the cast are so good that most viewers won't notice, let alone care, about this. Melvyn Douglas is the perfect partner for Dunne, Thurston Hall is blustery fun, and Spring Byington is dead-on as the town gossip. All in all, Theodora is enormously entertaining." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/theodora-goes-wild-v113178/

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