Screwball Comedies and Why I Love Them
I did say I was going to eventually make a post on this so here I go. Well it's probably already clear that I love old movies well one of my absolute favorite genres is the Screwball Comedy. One of the reasons I love Screwball Comedies is it is like Film Noir one of those genres that really is not around anymore (except films that are revised examples meant to play tribute to the genre) and like Film Noir it is one of the most misunderstood genres
First of all what is a Screwball Comedy Not:
1) A screwball comedy is not "something so funny that it is stupid like Dumb and Dumber". This is why you can't trust the internet
2) A screwball comedy is not something like the Marx Brothers, 3 Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, or Abbott & Costello well you get what I am trying to say
3) Finally a screwball comedy is not something that is romantic with comedy that would be a romantic comedy. However I guess that is somewhat closer than the other two because I consider Screwball Comedy a type of romantic comedy
However whereas romantic comedy is romance with comedy, screwball tends to be more comedy with romance.
One definition that I like is the following from filmsite.org . Screwball comedies were characterized by social satire, comedic relief through zany, fast-paced and unusual events, sight gags, sarcasm, screwy plot twists or identity reversals, and precisely-timed, fast-paced verbal dueling and witty sarcastic dialogue - blending the wacky with the sophisticated. Screwball comedies were one of the answers to the Great Depression, they were meant to cheer people up.
Anyways what I personally love about Screwball comedies is hard to pinpoint. I think they did have some of the best actors of the time period: William Powell, Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn (although she wasn't appreciated for hers at the time), Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne, Barbara Stanwyck, etc (and you will notice that mostly actresses populate this list and that is because with a few notable exceptions, ala Cary Grant, the females were the stars of the Screwball Comedy).
It also produced some great comic teams like Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant/Irene Dunne, William Powell/Myrna Loy, Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers (which is also a musical pair)
They also represented work from great directors like Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Leo McCarey, Preston Sturges, Ernst Lubitsch (well he was sort of his own genre but he was great). Howard Hawks is probably my favorite director of the genre.
Another thing that goes with the female actresses is strong female characters. People incorrectly assume that females of this period were prim, proper and dainty. Instead it was usually the female character calling the shots and winning over the male. If it was the male winning over the female (like in "His Girl Friday")the female character was still strong. In fact in His Girl Friday the male character wants to win back his wife who is also his star reporter from becoming a "traditional house wife". Obviously he loves her but more importantly he respects her intelligence and wants her back on his staff. If anything I think we've taken several step backs when it comes to great female characters in Hollywood Movies.
Screwball Comedies were also the answer to the Hay's Production Code which put strict restrictions on everything that can be made. One way to define Screwball Comedies in simple terms is "sex without the sex." And a lot of these Screwball Comedies did have sexual undertones which might not be as apparent to today's audiences where everything is said right out because we don't have those restrictions they had at that time.
Another thing I love about Screwball Comedies is there is very little sap. Screwball Comedies do not take themselves seriously. You know who is going to end up with who but instead of that agonizing "does he/she love me" nonsense that you get in today's romantic comedies, Screwball Comedies focus on farce, mad cap situations, wacky mix-ups, mistaken identities, and so forth. The characters usually don't get together until the last minute (sometimes it's just because the character being chased just gives up) but you will have a lot of fun getting to that point. Other common themes found in screwball comedies are class differences, divorce with remarriage, choice between the boring & predictable with the crazy & unpredictable. Finally Screwball comedies tend to have great witty dialog that is usually delivered at rapid speed.
I am working on a list of some of my favorites of the genre but to make it more confusing I included both Romantic & Screwball Comedies in the list. Mainly because the Great Depression Produced great examples of both See Here But I will try to define the films better below:
This is just my own classification of these films not something that should be set in stone. The only thing I can say for sure is these films are all excellent and I highly recommend them. Also this list is a working list and I do plan to revise and add more
Sadly the great era of romantic and screwball comedies ended with WWII. Of course there are still great romantic comedies but I don't think so many great ones were ever produced at the same time. Instead there was more a focus on war films and later comedies tended to focus more on the Nuclear Family from what I've noticed.
Another thing that I think symbolically killed the screwball comedy was the death of Carole Lombard. She died in 1942 in a plane crash after a war bond rally. Her last film was a Lubitsch Picture called "To Be or Not to Be" a satire on fascism with Jack Benny (and also a very good film btw.) She was one of the most popular Screwball Heroines so I think her death sort of changed things in a way, left a cloud over things.
But from 1934 to 1942 so many great comedies were produced to help people get through the Depression. I know it's cliche to say it but they really don't make them like this anymore.
First of all what is a Screwball Comedy Not:
1) A screwball comedy is not "something so funny that it is stupid like Dumb and Dumber". This is why you can't trust the internet
2) A screwball comedy is not something like the Marx Brothers, 3 Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, or Abbott & Costello well you get what I am trying to say
3) Finally a screwball comedy is not something that is romantic with comedy that would be a romantic comedy. However I guess that is somewhat closer than the other two because I consider Screwball Comedy a type of romantic comedy
However whereas romantic comedy is romance with comedy, screwball tends to be more comedy with romance.
One definition that I like is the following from filmsite.org . Screwball comedies were characterized by social satire, comedic relief through zany, fast-paced and unusual events, sight gags, sarcasm, screwy plot twists or identity reversals, and precisely-timed, fast-paced verbal dueling and witty sarcastic dialogue - blending the wacky with the sophisticated. Screwball comedies were one of the answers to the Great Depression, they were meant to cheer people up.
Anyways what I personally love about Screwball comedies is hard to pinpoint. I think they did have some of the best actors of the time period: William Powell, Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn (although she wasn't appreciated for hers at the time), Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne, Barbara Stanwyck, etc (and you will notice that mostly actresses populate this list and that is because with a few notable exceptions, ala Cary Grant, the females were the stars of the Screwball Comedy).
It also produced some great comic teams like Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant/Irene Dunne, William Powell/Myrna Loy, Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers (which is also a musical pair)
They also represented work from great directors like Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Leo McCarey, Preston Sturges, Ernst Lubitsch (well he was sort of his own genre but he was great). Howard Hawks is probably my favorite director of the genre.
Another thing that goes with the female actresses is strong female characters. People incorrectly assume that females of this period were prim, proper and dainty. Instead it was usually the female character calling the shots and winning over the male. If it was the male winning over the female (like in "His Girl Friday")the female character was still strong. In fact in His Girl Friday the male character wants to win back his wife who is also his star reporter from becoming a "traditional house wife". Obviously he loves her but more importantly he respects her intelligence and wants her back on his staff. If anything I think we've taken several step backs when it comes to great female characters in Hollywood Movies.
Screwball Comedies were also the answer to the Hay's Production Code which put strict restrictions on everything that can be made. One way to define Screwball Comedies in simple terms is "sex without the sex." And a lot of these Screwball Comedies did have sexual undertones which might not be as apparent to today's audiences where everything is said right out because we don't have those restrictions they had at that time.
Another thing I love about Screwball Comedies is there is very little sap. Screwball Comedies do not take themselves seriously. You know who is going to end up with who but instead of that agonizing "does he/she love me" nonsense that you get in today's romantic comedies, Screwball Comedies focus on farce, mad cap situations, wacky mix-ups, mistaken identities, and so forth. The characters usually don't get together until the last minute (sometimes it's just because the character being chased just gives up) but you will have a lot of fun getting to that point. Other common themes found in screwball comedies are class differences, divorce with remarriage, choice between the boring & predictable with the crazy & unpredictable. Finally Screwball comedies tend to have great witty dialog that is usually delivered at rapid speed.
I am working on a list of some of my favorites of the genre but to make it more confusing I included both Romantic & Screwball Comedies in the list. Mainly because the Great Depression Produced great examples of both See Here But I will try to define the films better below:
- It Happened One Night: Screwball Practically Invented the Genre
- The Thin Man: Comedy, Mystery, Romance but not really Screwball
- Twentieth Century: Screwball
- Gay (as in happy) Divorcee: A screwballish musical
- My Man Godfrey: Screwball
- The Awful Truth: Screwball (also the best example of the comedy of remarriage)
- Bringing Up Baby: Screwball and probably the outright funniest of the genre
- Ninotchka: Satirical Romantic Comedy
- His Girl Friday: Screwball
- Philadelphia Story: Romantic Comedy with some Screwball Elements
- The Shop Around the Corner: Romantic Comedy
- Arsenic & Old Lace: Black Comedy with romance
- The Lady Eve: Screwball
- Palm Beach Story: Screwball
This is just my own classification of these films not something that should be set in stone. The only thing I can say for sure is these films are all excellent and I highly recommend them. Also this list is a working list and I do plan to revise and add more
Sadly the great era of romantic and screwball comedies ended with WWII. Of course there are still great romantic comedies but I don't think so many great ones were ever produced at the same time. Instead there was more a focus on war films and later comedies tended to focus more on the Nuclear Family from what I've noticed.
Another thing that I think symbolically killed the screwball comedy was the death of Carole Lombard. She died in 1942 in a plane crash after a war bond rally. Her last film was a Lubitsch Picture called "To Be or Not to Be" a satire on fascism with Jack Benny (and also a very good film btw.) She was one of the most popular Screwball Heroines so I think her death sort of changed things in a way, left a cloud over things.
But from 1934 to 1942 so many great comedies were produced to help people get through the Depression. I know it's cliche to say it but they really don't make them like this anymore.