The Palm Beach story 1942 - A delirious screwball romance

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IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: Preston Sturges
Main Cast: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee

"The Palm Beach Story is yet another satirical gem from director Preston Sturges, who gives the story a cynical edge sharper than in other screwball comedies. In 1942, even as the Great Depression was giving way to the war-time economy of World War II, poking fun at the idle rich continued to be a popular comic motif. The film's title is less meaningful to current audiences than it was to moviegoers of the 1940s, when train travel was the most frequent way that people got between cities, and the wealthy of the eastern seaboard rode trains each winter to the warm shores of Palm Beach, Florida. The performances in The Palm Beach Story are uniformly strong, with such non-comic actors as Joel McCrea and Mary Astor showing the diversity of their talents. Claudette Colbert gives one of the best performances of her career, though it is often overshadowed by her work in It Happened One Night." - www.allmovie.com

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Three cornered moon 1933 - A slightly screwball tale of the Great Depression

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IMDB rating: 6,8

Director: Elliott Nugent
Main Cast: Claudette Colbert, Richard Arlen, Mary Boland, Wallace Ford, Lyda Roberti, Tom Brown, Joan Marsh

"The golden age of screwball comedy was brief but glorious, and exactly when it began and ended is a source of some debate. Three-Cornered Moon is often cited as the first real example of the genre, but whether screwball or not, it's a delightful and charming comedy that, at 77 minutes, knows better than to outstay its welcome. The script is literate and sophisticated, making comedic a situation that at the time would have been rather desperate. Claudette Colbert is winning as the relative center of calm and sanity in the storm of lunacy. Her soft, round face is a mask of sensibility covering both determination and exasperation. She holds her own against the scene-stealing efforts of Mary Boland, who creates a character whose obliviousness and ditziness could be irritating in less expert hands. Boland knows quite well how to deliver her laugh lines so they land exactly where they're supposed to, as well as how to clear them out to make room for the next one - while at the same time giving them a freshness to disguise the technique beneath it all. Altogether Moon is a bit too soft to be the kind of knockabout it wants to be, but it's a pleasing trifle nonetheless." - www.allmovie.com

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Bringing up baby 1938 - The quintessential screwball comedy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029947/
IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Howard Hawks
Main Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Charles Ruggles, Barry Fitzgerald, May Robson

"Bringing up baby is the quintessential screwball comedy, and one of the crowning comic achievements in the careers of director Howard Hawks and stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It may also be one of the defining examples of comedy feature film at its purest and most basic. At the time of its release, it seemed to close out the screwball genre: the portrayals in film inflated and punctured an array of movie (and social) stereotypes in as fine a style had ever been accomplished. The screwball comedy originated in the depths of the Great Depression as a reaction to the despair of everyday life, as well as to the publicized antics of wealthy fops and heiresses who seemed oblivious to the fact that people were literally starving to death. The idle rich were the genre's essential ingredient, from satirical pre-screwball efforts such as Zoltan Korda's Cash (an especially offbeat example since it was made in England) to pioneering Hollywood screwball comedies like Gregory La Cava's My man Godfrey. As time passed, however, other targets became acceptable, including intellectual 'eggheads' and eccentric members of officialdom. Bringing up baby skewers all of them and more - including over-zealous psychiatrists and blustery, pretentious upper-class stuffed shirts - hitting the bullseye with each one. Apart from its acting, pacing, and verbal acrobatics (an essential element of any Howard Hawks talking picture), Bringing up baby is a masterful achievement precisely because it distills its diverse ingredients down to the characters. The plot, such as it is, deals with mistakes and mistaken identities (right down to heiress Hepburn's pet leopard) but is really about nothing - absolutely nothing, to paraphrase a standard articulated by Jerry Seinfeld in the 1990s. Even the one main element of the 'story' - the search for a missing dinosaur bone belonging to the museum where Cary Grant's character works - is such an obvious, ridiculous comic device, a comedic equivalent to Hitchcock's 'MacGuffin' concept. The screwball comedy was never quite the same, nor was any filmmaker or cast able to build a film on such slight material so successfully ever again." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/bringing-up-baby-v7142

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Easy living 1937 - A mixture of two artistic manifestations: the director's and the screenwriter's

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028816/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Mitchell Leisen
Main Cast: Edward Arnold, Jean Arthur, Ray Milland

"Adapted by Preston Sturges from a play by Vera Caspary, Easy Living's mix of slapstick humor, topical 'in' jokes ('Wallace Whistling' being a great roman-a-clef for gossip columnist Walter Winchell), social realism, and social satire, make it one of the most potent viewing experiences that one can find among 1930s comedies. Elements of its story recall works such as Mark Twain's story The Million Pound Note, as well as early '30s topical comedies such as Zoltan Korda's Cash, while other aspects call to mind such future Sturges works as Christmas in July, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, and Hail the Conquering Hero. The plot and the pacing of most of the movie will leave even modern viewers breathless with laughter. The picture's frantic, screwball trajectory and velocity are compromised ever so slightly by just a couple of slow points. Director Mitchell Leisen occasionally lets the action drag in ways that Sturges, once he started directing his own scripts, never would have permitted. Sturges would have treated his script's obligatory romance between the hero and heroine with enough breezy humor to let it flow freely from one section of the satirical body of the work into another. Leisen, by contrast, has it played straight and sincere, with all of the attendant seriousness of purpose entailed therein.
Although not quite in a league with My Man Godfrey, It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby, or His Girl Friday, Easy Living is close enough to merit audiences as big as theirs, and also close enough to Sturges' own movies in content, if not approach, to demand attention from his fans as well. And certainly no movie ever portrayed the interaction of the different classes of New York City during the Great Depression in a zanier fashion." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/easy-living-v90257/

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Nothing sacred 1937 - See the big fight! Lombard vs. March!

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029322/
IMDB rating: 7,5

Director: William A. Wellman
Main Cast: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly

"Nothing Sacred is among the best screwball comedies of the 1930s, and one of the few to have been filmed in Technicolor (avoid those two-color reissue prints), allowing modern viewers to see what New York City looked liked back in 1937. Carole Lombard and Fredric March lead a strong, versatile cast, and William Wellman's crisp direction keeps the story brisk and peppy. Screenwriter Ben Hecht gives the story an unusually sardonic edge, with fine dialogue and interesting secondary plot twists. Overall, the film plays well for current-day audiences, and the New York location gives the film a distinctive visual texture. The musical score by Oscar Levant both mocks and celebrates the George Gershwinesque musical style then in vogue. Nothing Sacred was later adapted into a Broadway musical, Hazel Flagg, which in turn was filmed by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as Living It Up (1954), with Lewis in the Carole Lombard role." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/nothing-sacred-v35733/

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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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Mr. Deeds goes to town 1936 - A light-hearted classic Capra screwball comedy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027996/
IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: Frank Capra
Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft

"Frank Capra built his career around the themes that he explores in Mr. Deeds goes to town. For the populist Capra, the battle lines are clearly drawn; he makes his points (sometimes heavy-handedly) by pitting small-town simplicity, selflessness, and idealism against big-city sophistication, greed, and cynicism. Capra raised the 'little guy' to iconic status, stereotyping him as effortlessly as he stigmatized the corrupt city slicker. Gary Cooper's Longfellow Deeds often looks as if he is visiting from a different era, an errant knight guided by an anachronistic code of chivalry. He is not afraid to resort to violence if words don't get the job done, although his impassioned speeches tend to get him in more trouble than they get him out of. He is looking for a 'damsel in distress' and he is guided by an archaic and romantic notion of 'noblesse oblige'. Jean Arthur makes her first of three Capra appearances as this damsel, the hard-nosed reporter who exposes Mr. Deeds to ridicule. Her nasally, pointed line delivery is sharp and precise, and Cooper's trademark laconic delivery is also perfect for the role. Playing the part as if born to it, Cooper is at the top of his game, imbuing Deeds with just the right blend of empathy and intelligence.
Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Mr. Deeds goes to town won Capra his second of three Best Director trophies." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mr-deeds-goes-to-town-v33624/

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My man Godfrey 1936 - One of the landmark screwball comedies of the 30's

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028010/
IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Gregory La Cava
Main Cast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette

"My Man Godfrey is one of the 1930's most delightful, classic screwball comedies. It was directed by Gregory La Cava for Universal and is now considered the definitive screwball comedy, with its social commentary on life during the 30s. The film, filled with marvelous character actors (Alice Brady, Eugene Pallette, Gail Patrick, and Mischa Auer), resonated with Depression era audiences for its statements on morality and class. [On a side note, the real-life divorced couple of Powell and Lombard were married previous to the film's making, from 1931 to 1933.] The screenplay by Morrie Ryskind - a co-screenwriter for the Marx Bros.' A night at the opera (1935) - and Eric Hatch was based on Hatch's own short novel 1011 Fifth Avenue.
The film displays the mad-cap personalities of a wildly rich, eccentric family. One of its members - a flighty socialite/heiress, finds a down-and-out 'forgotten man' tramp in a hobo colony during a scavenger hunt, and hires him as the family's butler. The bum teaches them the realities of life, ultimately regenerates their confused, scattered lives, and reverses the nobility of rich and poor.
The entertaining film was both a commercial and critical success, with six Academy Award nominations (but no wins), including Best Actor (William Powell), Best Actress (Carole Lombard with her sole Oscar nomination), Best Supporting Actor (Mischa Auer), Best Supporting Actress (Alice Brady), Best Director, and Best Screenplay. However, it set a milestone as the first film to receive nominations in all four acting categories and it remains one of the few films with that distinction in addition to not being nominated for Best Picture.
In the same year, another William Powell film - The Great Ziegfeld - won the Best Picture and Best Actress awards, and Powell also appeared in Libeled Lady (1936) and After the Thin Man (1936). The film was remade in 1957 with David Niven as the 'forgotten man' and June Allyson (in her next-to-last film) as the Lombard character."

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Twentieth century 1934 - The movie which invented screwball comedy

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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It happened one night 1934 - The movie which set the pace for screwball comedy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025316/
IMDB rating: 8,3

Director: Frank Capra
Main Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly

"Frank Capra's seminal screwball comedy, which won all five major Academy Awards for 1934, is still as breezy and beguiling today. Scripted by Capra's frequent collaborator Robert Riskin, Frank Capra's It Happened One Night became the prototypical screwball comedy and elevated Columbia Pictures from Poverty Row status to respectable 'major minor' studio. Starring Clark Gable, on loan from MGM as punishment, and Claudette Colbert, on loan from Paramount for twice her usual pay, Capra's and Riskin's comic romance between a down-to-earth newspaper reporter and a spoiled runaway heiress set the standard for screwball. Its fast-paced repartee, kooky heroine, witty gags, and class-crossing love story became hallmarks of the genre in such later films as My Man Godfrey (1936) and Bringing Up Baby (1938); the overt lustiness barred by the 1934 Production Code was transmuted into clever banter and the romance conveyed an ideal Depression-era fantasy. A critical and commercial hit, It Happened One Night was the first film to sweep the top five Oscars, rewarding Capra, Riskin, Gable, and Colbert, and fulfilling Columbia impresario Harry Cohn's desire to turn his B-studio into a class act.
The only other movies to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay) were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991)." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/it-happened-one-night-v25509

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