Film School Drop Outs Challenge 2017 - Week 6 - Genre - Romance - Screw Ball Comedy

“Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There is too much fraternizing with the enemy.”
― Henry Kissinger

The only Screwball Comedy I had seen before now was His Girl Friday. It was a real doozy of a film, a thrilling depiction of a highly entertaining battle between a divorced couple, played by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, as they go at it hammer and tongs. It felt like I had court-side seats to a tennis open grand final as the couple traded verbal zingers back and forth with panache and force until one of them lobbed up an opportunity for…

I wonder if Marilyn Monroe ever watched this film?

What I seem to be doing at the moment with my filmwatching is starting to plug some holes in my cinematic knowledge. It has been inadvertent but I had noticed that particular pattern had emerged in the last few weeks or so.

What with me having broken my Paul Thomas Anderson duck last night, making vague noises about watching more musicals, and even dipped my toe into Japanese noir, I now find myself tackling the screwball comedy. I know, sometimes I surprise even myself.

Truth be told, The Awful Truth just happened to be a title that caught my eye - like I say, completely inadvertent. I have ventured into these…

A husband and wife suspect each other of cheating so agree to a divorce. Though neither really wants it. Then, they both try to move on and make the other jealous at the same time. Poor Ralph Bellamy, he's always the rebound guy in these films.

I always cringe when I read the synopsis of these screwball comedies, because it sounds contrived and silly. However, the situations they get themselves into, the dialog, and the interesting side-characters make up for it every time. Especially the dialog.

Leo McCarey doesn't get much recognition as a director, but he did a number of the top comedies as well as more heartfelt films such as Make Way for Tomorrow and An Affair to…

It was famously remarked by the film’s director Leo McCarey upon his acceptance of the Oscar for Best Director for The Awful Truth, “Thanks, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture.” This was spoken in reference to the fact that Make Way for Tomorrow had also been released within the same year, and of course it would be easy enough to say that said film is easily the superior effort of McCarey’s, but I also feel that The Awful Truth deserves its time in the spotlight because it’s also a great screwball comedy. Sure, it would be easy enough to say from the offset that it looks incredibly cute but what it is that makes The Awful…

Here's a tremendous example of Cary Grant at his screwball comedy finest, playing one half of a sniping couple in the throes of divorce proceedings and trading insults with the speed of rapid machine gun fire as they try to derail each other's future plans.

Irene Dunne displays her considerable propensity for comedy and is a superb foil for Grant's laconic asides, bringing a wonderful sense of mischief to the role of a possibly wronged but perhaps not entirely innocent wife..

Their separation proves almost as much of a trial as their marriage as the pair spark beautifully off each other assisted by a great supporting cast including Ralph Bellamy (typecast in yet another 'The Other Guy' role which he…