Why you should give screwball comedies of the 1930s a try

I thought since we were headed into a weekend, it’d be neat to look at screwball comedies and their continued relevance, especially today. Now, before you dismiss this because I’m talking about “old” movies, or “black and white” movies, or movies with a bunch of dead people I’ve never heard of, consider this question: What was the first film to sweep the 5 major categories at the Academy Awards?

Answer: It Happened One Night, a screwball comedy starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, and directed by Frank Capra (a director that displayed a wide range and is responsible for so many classics). It Happened One Night won Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay. Only two other films achieved this: One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Silence of the Lambs.

Screwball comedies of the 1930s are more relevant today than most people realize. In fact, I bet many people don’t know exactly what I’m talking about when I write the words screwball comedy. This isn’t the Three Stooges and not The Marx Brothers, not really, but a few of their MGM films might come close. Their are comedic detective films as well, something like The Thin Man — so much fun, but not exactly screwball.

This type of comedy came about during the Great Depression and carried through into the early 1940s. People needed an escape, like we do today. Please put aside any so-called “modern” notions and sensibilities. Of course some of these films will have outdated ideas, situations, and so forth, but these films will surprise you. Why? So many of these films, like My Man Godfrey, starring William Powell and Carole Lombard dealt with real issues, issues of economic class and the little everyman or everywoman against the government. They tackled issues, take His Girl Friday—Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, for instance, they’re reporters who trade crackling dialogue while trying to save a man from execution. You wouldn’t think a film like that would be funny, but it’s wonderful. A dark screwball? Try Arsenic & Old Lace - again, it’s Cary Grant!

My Man Godfrey: the film opens with a group of rich people taking part in a scavenger hunt. One of the “items” they must find and bring back what they call a “forgotten man”, basically a homeless man. William Powell (The Thin Man) plays this “forgotten man” who lost everything in the stock market crash. The family that “finds” him for the scavenger hunt decides to hire him as their butler as sort of a good deed. They see him as a homeless man, but he’s more than that, and in teaches the family a lesson in how to treat people with respect.

These films transported the viewer into funny situations with some serious social commentary. You get actors like Cary Grant (not just a handsome face, but a mainstay of these comedies) and Jean Arthur or Carole Lombard or Myrna Loy (also mainstays of this sub-genre) looking silly while trying to win over their love or prove a point to someone with money and power or social standing. Another thing I love about these is the way they toyed with the Production Code—these films ran circles around the code. By today’s standards these films would seem tame (as far as sexual conduct, violence, etc.), but for that time and for having to abide by the “Code”, these films had to be more clever and subversive. I think it took more creativity to make a film back then. Even Hitchcock made a screwball comedy: Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard!

These directors were versatile (directing in all sorts of genres: drama, noir, comedy, action, thriller), and they were big names: Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges, and the list goes on and on.

I could go on and on, but I’ll list a bunch of films, these are all fun if you can get past the black and white and get over your hangups with their “old fashioned” ideas. These are fun and they have a message! Try a few out!

Where To Start: Hitchcock Films

I've been a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan since I was a teenager. I collected Hitchcock movies on VHS back in the 80s and still have a few on LaserDisc.  I'm a sucker for upgrading certain films when they become available on a higher resolution format.

You may scoff at collecting old movies on Blu-Ray, an important thing to remember (and I'm getting off track a little here, but it's worth mentioning) that just because a movie is old doesn't mean that in the theaters it wasn't high resolution. The limiting factor for home viewing has always been the old CRT televisions and the means of playing the old movies.  I'm sorry, but watching Casablanca on Blu-Ray is worth it!  One thing to watch for though when buying Blu-Rays is to be sure they aren't simply taken from DVD copies and upconverted. Anyway--major digression--

Hitchcockian Elements:  There are a few types of Hitchcock films out there:

• Wrong man/mistaken identity
• Psychological
• Suspense
• Horror
• Confined spaces/limited sets
• Artsy
• Plain old drama

I typically think of them in this way, oh, and by the way, he often combines all the elements. Even in his more "pure" dramas there is suspense or some psychological aspect. There are way more elements than these he tends to toss into his films, but the list above shows the basics.

Here I'm going to tell you where I'd start if I was approaching Hitchcock for the first time knowing now what I didn't back in the 1980s:

You could begin with #1 or #2 here, or if you like some of the actors and actresses I list, go ahead and start with their film(s).  Hitchcock used the same actors and actresses quite a bit.

1. Psycho: This may be obvious, but for mass appeal, I'd start with Pyscho--released in 1960, this is late-period Hitchcock, but so wonderful. Spooky and tense. I'd say it holds up pretty well. A motel out in the desert with a creepy old victorian house overlooking it?  psychological, suspense, horror, and some artsy moments--usually with clever shots
2. Rear Window:  Any film with Grace Kelly and James Stewart is a winner, I shouldn't even have to write anything else about it.  Stewart plays a photographer trapped in his NYC apartment because he broke his leg. He stares into the courtyard day and night and gets to know all the details about his neighbors--oh, and he believes there has been a murder. See this one. In fact, you could start here if you like.  confined space, suspense, drama
3. Notorious:  Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. Again, should be enough. Grant plays a government agent attempting to ferret out Nazis in South America while Bergman goes undercover to find out what the Nazis are up to. This is a great spy movie packed with suspense and a love story. Claude Rains is wonderful in his role, and you almost feel sorry for him.  suspense, drama
4. North By Northwest:  Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, and Martin Landau. Great cast. This film may be the broadest in scope of all the Hitchcock films. This is a mistaken identity film filled with intrigue which takes Grant across the country in order to prove his innocence. This film has it all: wrong man, suspense, drama, love story, and plenty of artsy techniques.
5. Rope:  I really like the films Hitchcock did where the space is limited (see Rear Window above and not mentioned here--Lifeboat).  Rope is a story about not getting away with the perfect murder, but if some people have a right to murder people they feel are inferior to them intellectually.  This one was done as to appear as one seamless take with no cuts. It's an interesting film to watch for the premise alone.  confined space, suspense, horror, psychological
6. The 39 Steps:  This is a wrong man film. Again, on the run after he is mistaken for a murderer. A lot of fun and this one is considered Hitchcock's commercial breakthrough.  I believe this is the first of his many "wrong man" films. This one, too, has spies and a broader scope--not quite like North By Northwest, but this was made in 1935!
7. The Lady Vanishes: takes place mainly on a train and is a wonderful mystery. This one is like a comic thriller in a lot of ways. Witty.  A young woman meets an older woman who seems to disappear into thin air. The young woman gets drawn into a complex mystery.
8. Strangers On A Train:  based off the Patricia Highsmith novel, and the inspiration for another of my favorites--Throw Momma From The Train. 

'm stopping with these seven. There are quite a few I've left off the list that I adore. Spellbound, Vertigo, The Birds, Suspicion, Foreign Correspondent, The Man Who Knew Too Much (the earlier one with Peter Lorre rather than the James Stewart/Doris Day version), To Catch A Thief, and Rebecca. There are more though, many, many more to find and enjoy.

Rebecca is a great movie (and won an Academy Award)--winning against another Hitchcock film from the same year--Foreign Correspondent! I wouldn't recommend starting with it since it isn't the typical Hitchcock film.

Bottom line: if you enjoy suspense-filled films with the best actors and actresses of their generation, check out Hitchcock. If you want to own the films, find the Criterion versions (many of them are being re-released on Blu-Ray).  The transfers are wonderful, and they usually clean up the sound a bit--but while the picture may be wonderful, many times the sound quality is what lags.

Do you have a favorite Hitchcock film?  Maybe a modern day film or director equivalent?