The Awful Truth (1937)

I first watched The Awful Truth a few years ago. It was one of those films that I had heard about but just never sat down to watch it, didn't really strike my interest, but mostly because I had never watched anything with Irene Dunne before. Up to that point, I was surprised at how few screwball comedies I had watched so I sat down and watched it, and I was pleasantly surprised and amused. I loved, I still love The Awful Truth, for Cary Grant--how could I have dismissed one of his films?!--and most of all for Dunne, whom I had never seen on screen before.

This film makes me laugh every time; again, it's not a Preston Sturges kind of funny but the premise is ridiculous fun, plus the performances make it memorable. So many films back then and today go on and on about two people getting together: they clash, sparks fly, they fall in love. It Happened One Night follows that formula. It's an interesting premise because it offers an interesting story. Of course, after a while it gets old when you see the same thing over and over again. The Awful Truth turns it inside out even before Sturges got a chance to--although he took it to perfection--with The Palm Beach Story. Here we have a couple that is already married, but from the beginning of the film they are each doing their own thing, married but not really acting like it. Are they even being faithful to one another? Well, this question is what sets off the story and they proceed to get a divorce. The film follows their hilarious divorce and dog-custody battle, and of course their eventual reunion.

Grant is great as Jerry Warriner; no one is better cast as the screwball hero than Grant. He plays the screwiness to its utmost best while remaining likable all the same, you're perfectly fine with the hilarity of it all. I think a lot of it is in the way he delivers his lines as well as his facial expressions. A great scene is when Jerry, Lucy, and Dan are all sitting at a table at a restaurant, and Dixie Belle Lee--Jerry's "date"--gets up to sing a "My Dreams Are Gone With the Wind" and Dixie's dress goes flying up throughout the number. All their shocked and uncomfortable faces are hilarious, and then Jerry turns to them both and says, "I just met her," but he does so with the right comedic timing. What Grant does is that he's able to act like a child, even though he's a grown adult, but he still keep his sexiness and desirability all the same. You still want Jerry to end up with Lucy.

Dunne as Lucy Warriner is divine and an equal match. I often thought that Katharine Hepburn was a great match for him in the films they did together, but Dunne brings it to another level. Dunne has a way of remaining cool, calm, and collected while still being funny. She raises those eyebrows of hers so innocently, or flutters her eyelids, even though she knows what she's up to. And they really are little things she does that make the character, like at the recital scene after Jerry falls off the chair, she finishes her song and her final phrasing but ends it with a perfect laugh on pitch. It's great! Makes you laugh along even more. I think Dunne's portrayal actually adds to Lucy in that she seems to always be in control. Dunne never takes Lucy to screwiness extremes, except maybe with her Lola impersonation, but even then she was in control because she was trying to get Jerry back. With Lucy, Dunne shows that she can play the sophisticated girl that Jerry wants, but with a twist that keeps things interesting.

I have to say, I also love Asta. Was he Skippy still then? The great thing about this divorce is that instead of having the couple fight over a child, which could've turned out weird, especially considering how child custody battles do turn out, the divorce boils down to the custody of Mr Smith. The lovable and talented Mr Smith. It's great that he's used in the film in a way that allows both Jerry and Lucy to act bonkers. Jerry demands visitation rights and then shows up while Lucy entertains Dan. So Jerry decides to do a duet with Mr Smith, a great scene. I think Mr Smith is just a lot of fun in this film and it seems like everyone liked him as well.

There's so much to say about the film--Ralph Bellamy, Cecil Cunningham--but the one thing that always kind of throws me off is the ending. It just slows down completely and it's so quiet. I want it to be loud and funnier, I guess. Or maybe just more teasing, more subtext. I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's that I want to laugh along with Dunne in the end, and I never quite do. Eventually, though, with the cuckoo clock chiming again, I do laugh and the film ends. But this is minor really compared to the entire film.

The Awful Truth is always a pleasure to watch because I have so much fun doing so. Leo McCarey does a fine job of directing his actors and working with the script in order to get the best performances in each scene. And considering there's a dog too, it doesn't seem like it was as easy a shoot as it could've been. With wonderful acting and a different but funny premise, this film is really one of the stand-outs of the genre.