Theodora Goes Wild (1936)

 

Theodora Goes Wild is our third and last Romantic Comedy from the 1930s. This film is an absolute delight from start to finish. Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas give sparkling performances not to be missed.

Full Movie!!!

In the film, Dunne plays Theodora Lynn, a wholesome, small-town girl who lives with her two maiden aunts, Aunt Mary and Aunt Elsie, in Connecticut. Unbeknownst to them, Theodora writes risqué novels under the name of Caroline Adams. When one of her stories is printed in the town's local paper, the Lynnfield Bugle, it's citizens, including her aunts, protest and force the paper to stop running it. Theodora finds it amusing that her work has the town all in a frenzy.

 

Theodora goes to New York to visit her publisher (she tells her aunts she's visiting her uncle). He wants her to do some publicity for her book, which of course she can't do without revealing who she really is. During her meeting she meets the illustrator of her book cover, Michael Grant (played with zest by Melvyn Douglas). He finds it funny that the author of such a racy book is so unworldly. This of course makes Theodora mad and she sets off to prove him wrong. First she gets drunk and then she goes up to his apartment, where he scares her off - and proves his point - by his advances.

Next we find Theodora back in her hometown when who should show up by Grant. He gets himself hired as her aunt's gardener, under the name of Dubarry. Naturally the two end up falling in love, shocking Theodora's aunts in the process.

 

My favorite scene, and the scene that made me a Melvyn Douglas fan, is when Theodora visits him in his room in the back yard.

 

My favorite scene

 

When Grant realizes he is in love with Theodora, he goes back to New York. Theodora follows, only to run into his father and find out that Grant is already married! She also finds out that he can't divorce his wife as it would ruin his father's career. Theodora decides to do something about it. First, she moves into Grant's apartment, causing him to move out. Then she has her publisher reveal her identity as an authoress. This shocks her aunts and her entire hometown. What has become of their church-going, Sunday school teaching, organ playing Theodora?

 

 

 

 

Theodora's actions lead Grant's wife to file for divorce. Then she returns to Lynnfield - with a baby! Her aunts are shocked but ready to take her back in. In all the confusion, Grant shows up. He also thinks the baby is Theodora's!! She straightens them all out by telling them that the baby belongs to her friend, who had secretly married her sweetheart at Theodora's urging.

 

 

This film is a must to watch, especially if you are an Irene Dunne fan! Dunne almost turned down the role because she was afraid it might damage her good-girl image. I'm glad she didn't! She is perfect in this role (which incidentally was her first comedy) and received an Oscar nomination for it (she lost to Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld). Douglas is the perfect leading man (he has been compared to William Powell but never achieved the star status that Powell did). Some people find his silliness in the film annoying but it was that aspect that made me love him in this part.

 

Dunne's Wardrobe by Bernard Newman

 

Behind-the-Scenes

 

Douglas and director Richard Boleslawski touching up Dunne's make-up

 

In Douglas's autobiography, he recounts a story about Dunne - she wasn't excited enough on one of her entrances. Boleslawski crept up behind her just as she was about to enter and fired a blank cartridge from a hand gun. If you watch the movie, you will "be rewarded with one of the most breathless, bewildered on-camera entrances ever recorded" (See You at the Movies: The Autobiography of Melvyn Douglas. Melvyn Douglas & Tom Arthur. 1986. 110).

Douglas and Dunne at the premiere

 

A car ad featuring Dunne as Theodora

 

Our next film also features Melvyn Douglas. To learn more about this underrated actor, read Robert Osborne's article on him here.

Sources:
TCM - Theodora Goes Wild
IMDb
All images found via Pinterest

If You Could Only Cook (1935)

*Sorry this post has been so long in coming. I've gotten frightfully behind! I had wanted to re-watch this film before posting but just couldn't seem to ever make it to the library.

 

If You Could Only Cook (1935) stars Jean Arthur and Herbert Marshall. It was directed by William A. Seiter, not a name familiar to most (if any). So how did Columbia get people to see this movie? Robert Osborne explains below: 

 

In the film, Herbert Marshall plays Jim Buchanan, the head of a large automobile firm. He is unhappy because the Board of Directors will not look at his sleek new car designs. While walking through the park he happens upon Jean Arthur, who plays Joan Hawthorne. She is sitting on a park bench checking the job listings in the paper (it's the Depression you know). She spots a listing for cook and butler positions. The problem is, the job is open to a husband and wife team only. Joan, presuming Jim is also out of work, talks him into applying for the job with her. He decides to play along.

The job is located at the Rossini manor, the home of a former bootlegger, played by Leo Carillo. Rossini has Joan prepare a sauce. She gets the job when, instead of putting garlic directly in the sauce, simply waves it across the top. It's a great scene.

Jim, Joan, Rossini, and his bodyguard

The trouble begins when Joan and Jim are shown to their room. Singular. They solve the problem by Jim sleeping on the adjoining balcony/porch. Also, as Jim knows nothing about being a butler, he sneaks home to get lessons from his own butler. Rossini's bodyguard sees Jim sleeping on the porch and gets suspicious.

Rossini and Joan try to solve the problem

Rossini, suspected that the couple isn't really a couple, begins flirting with Joan. Jim of course doesn't like this all. He goes down to his office and gets his drawings to show Joan, hoping to impress her. Unfortunately, when Jim isn't looking, Joan takes his drawings to his own company and tries to sell them. They think that she stole them and have her arrested.

Rossini then steps in. He realizes that Joan loves Jim and kidnaps Jim, who left to marry his society fiancé when he realized he was getting too deep into things. You'll have to watch the movie to find out how it ends ;)

 

And now, Robert Osborne's closing thoughts:

Sources:
TCM - If You Could Only Cook
Another great post on this film
All images found via Pinterest

Libeled Lady (1936)

Today is the first National Classic Movie Day. What better way to celebrate than write about one of my favorite movies, which also just so happens to be a Romantic Comedy. It stars four of the biggest stars of the 1930s: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, and Spencer Tracy. Yep, it's Libeled Lady.

First of all, a definition of "libel":

Libel - a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation.

The following synopsis is from the TCM website (it's been a while since I've seen the movie and I don't own it on DVD yet):

The presses at The New York Evening Star stop too late to kill a false story on heiress Connie Allenbury (Loy), so she sues the paper for libel, asking $5,000,000 in damages. Warren Haggerty (Tracy), the paper's editor, would do anything to get her to drop the suit, although he is happy that it has saved him from finally taking his girl friend Gladys (Harlow) to the altar. Hoping to get themselves out of the suit, Haggerty and the owner, Mr. Bane, reluctantly track down former Star employee Bill Chandler (Powell), a specialist in libel cases. Bill tricks Haggerty into a big salary, then plans his strategy: he will marry someone in name only, then pursue Connie and have his "wife" find them in a compromising situation, thereby forcing her to drop the suit. Although she doesn't like the idea, Gladys agrees to marry Bill when Haggerty promises to marry her later. Bill arranges to meet Connie and her father, J. B. Allenbury (Connolly), and eventually she becomes attracted to him.

 

 

No one can resist that face

 

 

 

On a fishing trip, Bill begins to return her affection and he tricks Haggerty and Gladys into postponing the plans. Back in New York, Bill and Connie see each other secretly, while Gladys begins to appreciate Bill's suave attentions. When Haggerty suspects that Bill isn't doing his job, he goes to Connie to plead for the paper and runs into Bill. He then incites Gladys into going through with the plan by printing a false society column linking Bill and Connie. He follows Gladys to a charity carnival they are attending. When Mr. Allenbury hears gossip that Bill may have a wife, he warns Connie, who instead proposes to Bill. When Gladys and Haggerty go to their hotel, they discover that Bill and Connie are married and that he has told her everything.

The showdown

Bill reveals that he had discovered the day before that Gladys' Yucatan divorce from her first husband was not valid and thus her marriage to him was a fake. Gladys, however, says that she got another divorce later in Reno and really is married to Bill. She refuses to let Bill go, but Connie makes her realize that she only fell for Bill because he showed her the little kindnesses that Haggerty didn't. When the women hear the men fighting, Gladys rushes to Haggerty and they make up. Finally, Mr. Allenbury arrives and demands an explanation, which they loudly and simultaneously give him.

 

Would I ask you to do this thing for me if I didn't consider you practically my wife?

You can't build a life on hate, or a marriage on spite. Marriage is too important.

Mine only lasted an hour, but... I know.

The absolute best scene in the entire movie is when Powell, pretending to be an expert on fly-fishing, actually has to go fishing with Loy and her father, who are avid fly-fishers. You can watch the scene below:

 

               

On the set (note Powell's upside-down book)

 

Filming the scene

Another interesting aspect of the film is that at this time, Powell and Harlow were a couple. Harlow wanted to play the part of Connie so she would be the one that ended up with Powell, but the studio wanted another Powell/Low movie. Harlow had to be content with the roll of Gladys. This makes her scenes with Powell all the more interesting as she has to act as though Powell thoroughly disgusts her and her character has to pretend to be madly in love with him. She calls him and ape and bites his hand when they're alone and kisses him passionately when they're not. Unfortunately, after making just two more pictures, Harlow died 8 months after the release of Libeled Lady, leaving behind a heartbroken Powell. She was only 26.

 

 

A couple costume sketches by Dolly Tree for Harlow and Loy.

                

 

The hat from the sketch

 

If the above clips haven't encouraged you to immediately find a copy of this movie to watch, perhaps Robert Osborne can persuade you. After all, it is one of his top five favorite comedies...

 


Behind-the-scenes photos and costume sketches from the TCMDb Archives. All other pictures found via Pinterest.

This movie airs on TCM on Nov. 13th at 11pm EST.
Also, be sure to check out this awesome behind-the-scenes look at the movie by Silver Scenes.

This post is part of the My Favorite Classic Movie Blogathon hosted by Classic Film and TV Café. Be sure and check out all the other fantastic posts.

 

How did you celebrate?

Myrna flipping pancakes on the set