1937 – The Awful Truth

It’s an american screwball comedy, directed by Leo McCarey and stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunn as Mr. and Mrs. Warriner. It is based on a 1922 play by Arthur Ruchman and recounts how two rich people interfere with each other and especially their romances once they begin divorce proceedings. I rented it for 3.99 Eur on Apple+.

I had chosen another movie to watch for 1937. It was going to be the Grand Illusion, about French soldiers in a WWI prison camp. It has a lot of clout and prestige, but I just wasn’t in the mood for drama. So I ended up watching something light and funny and at 91 minutes runtime also something quick.

Not going to lie, the premise of the divorced couple still having some feelings for each other was done way snappier in the better known His Girl Friday (also with Cary Grant and Ralph Bellamy in very similar roles). Just a few weeks ago, I saw Pillow Talk and I totally could see how the trope of the somewhat naive oil millionaire from the southwest came along (though there Rock Hudson adopts the persona in a subversion). So why did this movie have me in stitches? Seriously, the jokes are so dumb and have been made a million times, yet I still was hollering with laughter at the silly premises. Even the trained dog nonsense, where he plays hide and seek actually closing his eyes and hiding his head in his paws before he goes on searching for his “treat”.

So, no deep thoughts from me this time. Just like the movie, just something to sit back, laugh a little, pass a good time, but not get a moral lesson or a philosophical diatribe. I’ll probably forget about the movie tomorrow, but hey, for a little while, I forgot about the world outside and I had a smile on my face and isn’t that enough for a movie?