The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. The plot concerns the machinations of a soon-to-be-divorced couple, played by Dunne and Grant, who go to great lengths to try to ruin each other's romantic escapades. The film was directed by Leo McCarey, who won the Academy Award for Best Director, and was written by Viña Delmar, with uncredited assistance from Sidney Buchman, from the 1922 play by Arthur Richman.[1]
The Awful Truth marked the first appearance of the uniquely effective light comedy persona used by Cary Grant in almost all his subsequent films, catapulting his career. Writer/director Peter Bogdanovich has noted that after this movie, when it came to light comedy, "there was Cary Grant and everyone else was an also-ran." McCarey is largely credited with concocting this persona, and the two men even shared an eerie physical resemblance.
Grant fought hard to get out of the film during its shooting, since McCarey seemed to be improvising as he went along, and initially even wanted to switch roles with co-star Ralph Bellamy. Although this led to hard feelings, it didn't prevent another McCarey-Grant collaboration, An Affair to Remember (1957), from being made later.
The film is one of a series of what the philosopher Stanley Cavell calls "comedies of remarriage", where couples who have once been married, or are on the verge of divorce, etc., rediscover that they are in love with each other, and recommit to the idea of marriage. Other examples include The Philadelphia Story and His Girl Friday, both released in 1940 and both starring Grant, and the Noel Coward play and film Private Lives. The original template for this kind of comedy is Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Many screwball comedies are based on the audience enjoyment of the humorous dynamic of people who are clearly too smart for their own desires.
In 1996 The Awful Truth was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Jerry Warriner (Cary Grant) returns home from a trip to find his wife, Lucy (Irene Dunne), is not home. When she returns in the company of her handsome music teacher, Armand Duvalle (Alexander D'Arcy), he learns that she spent the night in the country with him, after his car supposedly broke down. Then, she discovers that Jerry hadn't gone to Florida as he had claimed. Mutual suspicions result in divorce.
Lucy moves into an apartment with Aunt Patsy (Cecil Cunningham) and becomes engaged to her neighbor, Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy) from Oklahoma. However, Leeson's mother (Esther Dale) does not approve of her. Eventually, Lucy realizes that she still loves Jerry and decides to break the engagement. However, before she can inform Dan, Armand shows up at her apartment to discuss Jerry's earlier disastrous interruption of Lucy's singing recital. When Jerry knocks on the door, Armand decides it would be prudent to hide in the bedroom. Jerry wants to reconcile, much to Lucy's delight, but then Dan and his mother make an appearance. Wanting to avoid complications, Jerry slips into Lucy's bedroom, too. A fight erupts when he finds Armand already there. When Jerry chases him out of the apartment, right in front of the Leesons, Dan and his mother stalk out.
Afterward, Jerry becomes seen around town with heiress Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont). To break up this relationship, Lucy crashes a party at the Vance mansion, pretending to be Jerry's sister. She acts like a showgirl (recreating a risqué musical number she had seen performed by one of Jerry's girlfriends) and lets on that their "father" had been a gardener at Princeton University, not a student athlete. Realizing that his chances with Barbara have been effectively sabotaged, Jerry drives Lucy away in her car.
Motorcycle policemen stop them, and Lucy, plotting to spend more time with Jerry, sabotages the car. The couple get a lift to her aunt's cabin from the policemen. Once there, Jerry admits having made a fool of himself and they reconcile.
Cast
Production
The Awful Truth was in production from June 21 through August 17, 1937.[2]
Awards and honors
Director Leo McCarey received an Academy Award for Best Director for The Awful Truth. In addition, the film received a nomination for Best Picture, Irene Dunne was nominated for Best Actress, Ralph Bellamy for Best Supporting Actor and Viña Delmar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Film Daily named The Awful Truth as one of the 10 Best Films of 1937.[3]
In 1996 The Awful Truth was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2000, the American Film Institute recognized the film as #68 on its list of 100 Years... 100 Laughs, and in 2002 as #77 on the 100 Years... 100 Passions list.
Other versions
There were two previous film versions of Arthur Richman's play on which this film was based, a 1925 silent version with Warner Baxter in Grant's role, and a little-known early talkie made in 1929 with Henry Daniell and Ina Claire. The play was remade unsuccessfully in color, as the 1953 musical Let's Do It Again starring Jane Wyman and Ray Milland.[3]
Notes
External links
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The films of Leo McCarey |
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| 1920s |
Society Secrets • Freed 'em and Weep • The Sophomore • Red Hot Rhythm
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