rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1937
Directed by Leo McCarey; produced by Leo McCarey; written by Viņa Delmar; based on the play by Arthur Richman
Starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy, Alexander D'Arcy, Cecil Cunningham, Molly Lamont
'The Awful Truth' is a screwball comedy starring Cary Grant, resulting in one of the more entertaining of his entries in the genre. Along with 'Bring Up Baby' and 'His Girl Friday' it belongs to the best; the similarities between the three are very noticable, but the differences are the important ones. As a battle of the sexes, especially when it comes to words and will, these films are entertaining as comedy gets. All you need is a man and a woman, loving each other without admitting it, and a third person who ends up being duped.
Here the outcome is obvious before the film really begins. After a quarrel Lucy (Irene Dunne, getting top billing) and Jerry (Grant) decide it is time for a divorce. They simply don't trust each other anymore, and to be honest, the reasons seem good enough. Still, it is very clear they love each other very much, so the story shows what happens in these couple of weeks before ending up together, which sounds like a spoiler, but really, think again. On the way to happiness they have an argument over who gets the dog. Court's decision: Lucy, but Jerry is allowed to visit.
This gives Jerry enough reason to enter Lucy's house once in a while. The first time we get to see this is right after she has met Dan (Ralph Bellamy), a not so bright oil-man from Oklahoma, just waiting to be made fun of. His mother (Esther Dale) does not like Lucy very much. Jerry dates women, one dancer who knows how to shock when her skirt is lifted while singing "Gone with the Wind", of course representing that wind. Later he tries to find happiness with the rich Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont). Of course nothing works out.
Before Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell, under the direction of Howard Hawks in both cases, it was Leo McCarey who directed Cary Grant together with Irene Dunne for this film. Apparently through improvising the director and stars have created a brilliant example of screwball, with smiles in every scenes, and some great laughs in between. Dialogue is timed perfect, and a simple joke like falling out of a chair is working with the help of Grant. Dunne steals the show in a later sequence when she pretends to be Grant's sister.
You could argue about the greatest coupling Grant has had in this genre. I think 'His Girl Friday' is the best of the pack, but I like Grant more with eithe Dunne or Hepburn. As single performers I would go with Hepburn and Grant, but as a duo this film proves how good they work together. In 'My Favorite Wife' (1940, Garson Kanin) and 'Penny Serenade' (1941, George Stevens) they showed it two more times. The first is another fine example in screwball comedy.