Twentieth Century
by Howard Hawks
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carole Lombard, John Barrymore, Ralph Forbes, Roscoe Karns, Walter ConnollyDirector: Howard Hawks
Brand: Sony
Producer: Howard Hawks
Producer: Harry Cohn
Writer: Ben Hecht
Writer: Charles Bruce Millholland
Writer: Charles MacArthur
Writer: Gene Fowler
Writer: Preston Sturges
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language); German (Original Language); Japanese (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of Twentieth Century
Movie Review: Fantastic film looks like a VHS transfer to DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
On top of that there are no extras. The film itself is quite good, being one of the first screwball comedies. Popular later in the 30's because the manic pace of the comedy could make up for the lack of realism due to the imposition of the production code in mid-1934, this film is one of the rare screwball comedies made before the code began to be enforced. John Barrymore shows that besides being a great serious actor he was terrific at physical comedy as well. He even manages to comically jab at some of his own serious performances, such as when Carole Lombard calls him "Svengali", a part which he played in an earlier Warner Brothers film. Carole Lombard hasn't quite reached the peak of her powers yet though, and she comes off as overacting. I just can't figure where some of her screaming is coming from and what or who exactly it is supposed to be directed at.
There is some great comic support in the person of Walter Connally whom Barrymore's Oscar Jaffe is constantly firing and rehiring. The best light touch is in the person of fellow passenger on the "Twentieth Century", Matthew Clark. He goes around the train putting up signs that say "Repent the end is at hand" and also likes writing large checks for which he has no cash reserves. He ends up figuring into the final plot twist in a big way.
One odd thing that has come up in other films from the 30's that also comes up in this one is that apparently people could be arrested and jailed for bad debts. At the height of the depression, credit was very hard to come by and you would basically have to lie to get into debt and be unable to repay, thus the criminal offense. Very different from today's situation.
At any rate, I own this one and after seeing the much clearer presentation on TCM several times, I feel somewhat taken by my purchase. Apparently the good people at TCM could be bothered to present a much clearer transfer than the film's rightful owner, Sony, ended up selling to the public. That is a shame.
Summary of Twentieth Century
Carole Lombard and John Barrymore star in this all-time classic screwball comedy based on the Charles MacArthur-Ben Hecht Broadway hit and directed by Howard Hawks. It's the story of a maniacal Broadway director (Barrymore) who transforms shopgirl Carole Lombard from a talented amateur to a smashing Great White Way success adored by public and press.Screwball comedy was practically invented by this classic Howard Hawks picture, a breathless farce with not an ounce of sentimentality. John Barrymore, in magnificent form, plays egomaniacal Broadway producer Oscar Jaffe, who molds his latest prot?g?, Mildred Plotka, into elegant thee-a-tuh star Lily Garland (Carole Lombard). The last hour of the picture has Oscar and Lily, now on the outs, battling each other on the Chicago-to-New York train. These two marvelous creatures are quintessential Hawks characters, figures of pure style who can't exist without the adrenaline and spark so amply supplied by the Hecht-MacArthur script. Hawks's giddyup pacing anticipates Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday, and his deployment of character actors (notably Walter Connolly and Roscoe Karns, as Jaffe's long-suffering, oft-fired flunkies) is sublime. Barrymore and Lombard take it at full speed, grand and horrid and silly and probably meant for each other. --Robert Horton
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