111. The Awful Truth (1937)

Directed By Leo McCarey

Synopsis

Couple starts getting suspicious of each other and get a divorce. Still while going through rebounds they can't get over each other... they end up stuck in a room with only one bed, what happens next is left to the imagination.

Review

I love Cary Grant, he had appeared on the list before in She Done Him Wrong, but he played a very minor part in that; here, he shines. Comedies like this, like The Thin Man or It Happened One Night rely very much on the quality of the main actors, the way lines are delivered etc. Here Irene Dunn and Grant really make the film work. Of course it's McCarey so the whole film is very well directed and for that reason he got the Oscar.

Still, like McCarey said he got the Oscar for the wrong film, I agree with the fact that Make Way For Tomorrow was superior, but it really didn't have the mass appeal of this film. The film is funny, actually in moments hilarious and superbly acted. Hey I've already quote the film today with the sentece "Oklahoma City itself!?"... you have to watch the film to get it though.

Cary Grant is a superbly natural actor, a single expression is worth a thousand words for him, a flick of the head or a raise of the brow are funnier than most other actors put together, it's a very self-deprecating humour that just work superbly here. The film however doesn't have much to say other than being funny. Still a very entertaining one and half hours, so get it from Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The film was written by Sidney Buchman (uncredited) and Viña Delmar, from the play by Arthur Richman. It was directed by Leo McCarey. This film marked the first appearance of the uniquely effective light comedy persona used by Cary Grant in almost all his subsequent films, catapulting Grant's career. Writer/director Peter Bogdanovich has noted that after this movie, when it came to light comedy, "there was Cary Grant and everyone else was an also-ran." McCarey is largely credited with concocting this persona, and the two men even shared an eerie physical resemblance.

Ironically, Grant fought hard to get out of the film during its shooting, since McCarey seemed to be improvising as he went along, and initially even wanted to switch roles with Ralph Bellamy.

The film is one of a series of what the philosopher Stanley Cavell calls "comedies of remarriage", where couples who have once been married, or are on the verge of divorce, etc., rediscover that they are in love with each other, and recommit to the idea of marriage. Another example starring Cary Grant is The Philadelphia Story filmed shortly after The Awful Truth. The original template for this kind of comedy is Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Many screwball comedies are based on the audience enjoyment of the humorous dynamic of people who are clearly too smart for their own desires.

Cary Grant walks in on his wife!: