Leo McCarey: The '30s
Wild Company
Let's Go Native
Part Time Wife
Indiscreet
The Kid from Spain
Duck Soup
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Six of a Kind
Belle of the Nineties
Ruggles of Red Gap
The Milky Way
Make Way for Tomorrow
The Awful Truth (November 11/06)
As silly and over-the-top as its premise might've indicated, The Awful Truth benefits greatly from the stellar work by stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne - with Grant delivering an expectedly hilarious and charismatic performance. The story follows wedded couple Jerry (Grant) and Lucy (Dunne) as they split up and subsequently interfere with each other's plans for remarriage, as Jerry latches onto an heiress and Lucy gets serious with wealthy yokel Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy). Directed by Leo McCarey, The Awful Truth moves at a brisk clip and features a number of genuinely (and surprisingly) funny moments - most of which come courtesy of Grant's increasingly comedic presence. The admittedly thin storyline remains one of the film's few shortcomings, and there's little doubt that The Awful Truth has earned its reputation as one of the most effective screwball comedies from the 1930s.
out of
Love Affair (January 13/07)
This oft-told tale revolves around two characters (Irene Dunne's Terry and Charles Boyer's Michel) who meet on board a cruise ship and pledge to reunite six months later atop the Empire State Building. Tragedy ensues after Terry is struck by a car en route to the encounter, forcing the pair to go on with their separate lives (temporarily, anyway). Though Love Affair does boast an expectedly engaging performance from Dunne, the slow-pace with which the film has been imbued - coupled with the inclusion of several needless subplots - ultimately makes it awfully difficult to care about Terry and Michel's plight. It's consequently not surprising to note that the characters' climactic meeting is strangely underwhelming, particularly as screenwriters Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart force the pair to behave oddly dishonest with one another (a tactic that's clearly been employed to prolong a Michel's key discovery about Terry). The film briefly recovers for an admittedly romantic finally, but it's simply too little too late by then.
out of
