Join the
Sixties generation

The screwball comedy was virtually invented at Columbia Studios during the height of the depression. Following the huge success of Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" (1934), Columbia would make more of these madcap romantic comedies than any other studio. Typical "screwballs" featured marital mix-ups and plenty of opportunities to poke fun at the wealthy, while allowing audiences to dwell in the luxury of the upper class. These films also offered some of the best roles for actresses in this period, often playing working-girls in a man's world (Rosalind Russell in "His Girl Friday") or socially liberal gals battling restrictive upper-crust society (Katherine Hepburn in "Holiday"). A breezy approach to male and female roles was a hallmark of the screwball comedy.

ICONS OF SCREWBALL COMEDY: VOLUME 1

If You Could Only Cook (1935)
Unemployed Jean Arthur happens to meet Herbert Marshall sitting on a park bench. Assuming that he needs work too, she asks him to pose with her as husband-and-wife so they can get jobs as a cook-and-butler team at the mansion of a mobster (Leo Carrillo). Charmed by her, Marshall, who's actually the head of an auto firm, goes along with the plan, learning the finer points of butlering from his own butler. In order to sell the deception, the "couple" has to share the servants' quarters, and the comedy complications multiply from there.

Too Many Husbands (1940)
Director Wesley Ruggles assembled a stellar cast -- including Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurra, and Melvyn Douglas -- for this fast-paced, Oscar-nominated comedy. Arthur finds herself in the position of having one excess husband when MacMurray returns one year after he's been declared legally dead, and shortly after she's married his best friend (Douglas). Arthur isn't sure it's such a terrible predicament as two husbands vie for her affections.

My Sister Eileen (1942)
Rosalind Russell was nominated as Best Actress for her role in "My Sister Eileen." She stars with Brian Aherne and Janet Blair and the trio enliven the all-out farce whose antics were first introduced in the pages of The New Yorker magazine, then in a hit Broadway play. The zippy dialogue is nonstop when two Ohio girls newly arrived in New York settle into a Greenwich Village basement apartment, and are promptly confronted by the neighborhood characters. Russell would later reprise her role in the Broadway musical version "Wonderful Town."

She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945)
Director Alexander Hall was reunited with his "My Sister Eileen" star Rosalind Russell for this comedy about a psychiatrist who ardently believes one should keep one's impulses under control. Lee Bowman plays the cartoonist who's most successful comic creation, "the Nixie," embodies the opposite approach to life. Bowman and Russell are thrown together when a ticket agent, inspired by the Nixie, assigns them to the same train berth—unleashing some of Bowman's own impulses. Russell displays her supreme talent for physical comedy, as she tries to thwart Bowman at every pass.

ICONS OF SCREWBALL COMEDY: VOLUME 2

Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
Under the direction of Richard Boleslawski, Irene Dunne was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for this zany romantic comedy about a small-town girl (Dunne) who, under a pseudonym, writes a racy best-selling novel that scandalizes her prudish neighbors. On a trip to New York, she falls in love with the sophisticate artist (Melvyn Douglas) who discovers her secret and sets out to free her from the confines of her small-town society. Once unfettered, Theodora takes up the task of liberating him using his own tools: gossip, humiliation, and plenty of humor. Censored for suggestive situations, the film has been newly restored and is uncut. A fine supporting cast, including Thomas Mitchell and Spring Byington, keeps this film rolling along splendidly.

Together Again (1944)
Director Charles Vidor reunited Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer for their third and last co-starring vehicle (following "Love Affair" and "When Tomorrow Comes," both 1939). Their first comedy together concerned the small town mayor and widow (Dunne) who hires a suave sculptor (Boyer) to immortalize her deceased husband. The New York Times, in an enthusiastic review, declared this picture "suggestive of naughtier things" than censors allowed for the period. Legendary character actor Charles Coburn co-stars.

A Night to Remember (1943)
Brian Aherne and Loretta Young star as a married couple who move to New York's Greenwich Village. Young is concerned that her author husband only writes thrillers and hopes the new surroundings will inspire him to write a love story for a change. However, her plans go quite awry when the building turns out to be filled with shady characters and the body of a dead man is found in their backyard.

The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940)
Ray Milland and Loretta Young star in this story of a best-selling authoress who expounds the virtues of the single life, and the doctor who is mistaken for her husband. Great performances highlight this sparkling comedy and the supporting cast includes Reginald Gardiner, Gail Patrick, and Edmund Gwenn. Alexander Hall ("Here Comes Mr. Jordan") directed.

E-mail OnVideo