The Awful Truth
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Movie Reviews of The Awful Truth
Movie Review: It's A Good Movie!
Summary: 4 Stars
I like Cary Grant and Irene Dunne and even though I prefer their movie My Favorite Wife I also liked Their movie The Awful Truth and I enjoyed the witty and snappy comments they kep throwing at each other!Movie Review: BAD, BUT NOT AWFUL TRANSFER OF THIS SCREWBALL CLASSIC!
Summary: 3 Stars
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne are a husband and wife who divorce on a whim and then regret the decision. Neither are willing to admit this, of course. So when Dunne gets herself involved with resident screwball guy-on-the-side, Ralph Belamy, Grant does everything in his power to submarine the relationship. This is perhaps the finest, most tightly realized example of what the British call "comedic farce". We, in North America have come to affectionately know this style of film making as the "classic screwball" and in "The Awful Truth" the formula works so incredibly well, I suddenly found myself starved for more great comedies like this one.Columbia has given us a print of the film that, although riddled with scratches, tears, duped quality master print segments and fading is, nevertheless, free of all the digital anomolies that were present on their "Talk of the Town" DVD transfer released just a few weeks before. Yes, this film is dated, and yes, there are portions of the picture in which fine detail is practically non-existant, and yes, Columbia should have done a much better job on this classic film than they have for this DVD release. But it just doesn't look quite so bad as their other recent efforts from their B&W catalogue library. And although this disc has a long way to go before it starts winning any awards, the print, if not pristine, is nevertheless represented by a generally good gray scale that does not diminish the comedic elements of the story. LET THE BUYER BEWARE: I don't think this is a great DVD or even an adequate one. It is, however, an outstanding movie!
*Aside: There are no extras and although the print claims to be remastered in hi-def, this is a mute point since the original camera negative is badly worn, hence the over all quality will not be improved by hi-def mastering. Do not base your decision to buy this disc by what you read from the back of Columbia's packaging! You'll be bitterly disappointed.
Movie Review: "Things are different except in a different way."
Summary: 3 Stars
Cary Grant is the master of the screwball comedy. You need only to take a look at "Bringing Up Baby (1938) and "His Girl Friday" (1940) in addition to "The Awful Truth" (1937) for all the proof you need to support this point. That being said, it's fascinating to see him almost be upstaged by his dog, Mr. Smith in this film. Yet, thankfully, Grant has more than his fair share of great scenes to keep from being totally overshadowed. Grant and Irene Dunne play Jerry and Lucy Warriner, a spirited married couple who each are masters of the verbal quip. After a spat leads them to divorce each other, both Jerry and Lucy pair up with new ill-suited partners to make the other jealous, he with an unsophisticated nightclub singer (Joyce Compton) and an infamous socialite (Molly Lamont), and she with an oilman neighbor from Oklahoma (Ralph Bellamy).
In best screwball comedy fashion, comedic disaster springs forth every time Jerry and Lucy are within earshot of each other. Whether it be on the dance floor, on police motorcycles, or in the courtroom, the two leads can't resist making the other look like a fool. Dunne is more than up to the task of keeping pace with Grant and brings a charm and radiance to her part. She's hilarious in the tickling scene when Bellamy reads her a poem and when she's passing herself off as Jerry's sister. Grant of course is money in the bank as usual. While "The Awful Truth" is not the standard in the screwball comedy genre, it is still an entertaining watch. You just have to see that dog in action.
Movie Review: Mr. and Mrs. North Go South
Summary: 3 Stars
I love most 30's screwball comedies and I adore Cary Grant, but this one didn't do anything for me. There are some genuinely funny moments, notably the performance of Dixie Lee, the nightclub singer and the dog, Mr. Smith is terrific...but mostly I found it much less sparkly and snappy than most of this genre.
Grant is always wonderful...a true Movie Star of his time....incredibly handsome, very funny, warm and always interesting. His facial expressions when Dixie Lee performs are almost worth watching the whole film. I don't much get Irene Dunn, but I guess she was popular at the time. All of the supporting cast are predictable but entertaining. If these folks had had a better script the film would have been really good, and perhaps, for the time, it was great.
For now, it's good for film students, diehard fans of Grant and Dunn and folks who long for the days of night clubbing in Manhattan. Screwball comedies are known for their witty dialogue and this didn't have that. I didn't see that much chemistry between the two leads, either and that's another essential ingredient. Mostly the plot is predictable from the opening scene and it plods on way too long. I guess that, in 1937, folks needed to escape from the depression and the longer they could stay in the fantasy world of the theatre, the better.
Movie Review: Awfully good movie - awfully bad dvd transfer
Summary: 3 Stars
The Awful Truth is a great movie with Irene Dunn stealing the show from a still great Cary Grant. My big disappointment was with the quality of the transfer to DVD. I never thought the VHS was too good from the standpoint of picture and audio quality, and the DVD is a big improvement, but come on guys. Is that the best master tape you could make the transfer from. The back of the DVD states "Digitally mastered audio and video", and "Mastered in High Definition", whatever that means. It's still a great movie, but we admirers of old black and whites sure to get played for suckers with some of these old classics.