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Cinema Scope with Andy Nelson takes you on a captivating journey through the ever-evolving landscape of film. Moreover, it offers a unique and engaging perspective on the art of cinema.
Welcome back to cinemascope where we continue our wild and witty exploration of the most side splitting sub genres in film history. I'm Andy Nelson, your ever enthusiastic host. And today, we're thrilled to have a special guest join us for a bonus episode dedicated to the uproarious world of screwball comedies. Joining me for this bonus episode is professor Gregoire Alboo, film professor and author of Hollywood screwball comedy 19 34 to 1945, Sex, Love, and Democratic Ideals. How are you?
Grégoire Halbout:I'm fine, thanks. Thanks for having me.
Andy Nelson:I am thrilled to have you, you know, in this bonus episode talking about more screwball comedy because if there's one thing I learned about watching all of these, you just can't get enough. They're just so much fun.
Grégoire Halbout:No. That was nice to hear and say.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Yeah. Before we dig into the movies, let's just kind of talk a little bit about you and, your passion for this subgenre of film. How did screwball comedy how did it kind of, like, enter your life? And why really has it become kind of this key part of it as you've continued studying and writing about it?
Grégoire Halbout:Knowing that I'm French living in France, it it all happened by accident in the 19 eighties when, I was not yet toying with the idea of, doing a PhD on, Hollywood comedy, but my generation, in in in the late seventies and in the 19 eighties was, very much into old movies, cinema history and American movies. And and, it also comes from your female parents and and my father was, that generation. He was in his early twenties after World War 2 and France had been completely, how shall I say, deprived of, Hollywood production during the occupation during the war. And all those movies arrived. You know, it's the Andre Bazin also kind of approach, all these this school of the Cailler du Cinema.
Grégoire Halbout:And so he was really talking a lot about Citizen Kane and all those movies. And then by accident, on the left bank in Paris, in the Latin Quarter, for those who know Paris a little bit, there was this huge movement of indie, movie theaters, playing, showing most of the Bergman movies, of course, but also the Hollywood classics. And they would have some special runs of American comedy and screwball comedy, but no one was using the word, scribble comedy at that time. And then I, I think I'd still have all the flyers. And so, oh, yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:Yeah. Yeah. And then I little by little because I was I was still in between university and and, before hitting the the job market. And, I I I watched as many as I could, and then I realized also that these movies were the same ones as the ones I saw with my grandmother on French national state TV on Sunday afternoons. So you see, it's it's yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:Yeah. Yeah. It was they were played as a sort of cheap library catalog, kind of, back catalog movies. And then, 2 books or 3 books, were published or I happened to bump into, these books. The the the first two ones were from Wes Gering when I I was going to the States, rather there are there often and he wrote those 2 books about scribble comedy.
Grégoire Halbout:So it helped put a name on a series of film. And the other one which completely changed my life, I think. It's a bit tacky to say so, but it it has, a meaning was, Pursuits of Happiness, by, Stanley Cavell, which was published, I think, in 1981 and came here across the pond in in specialized book shops around 1985, 1986. And it really, really changed, my vision of cinema, also my vision of that genre. And I think Cavell was very important to that time because he he paved the way, being a philosopher.
Grégoire Halbout:And maybe we can talk about his work, later on. But being a philosopher, he was really transdisciplinary in his approach of, of cinema. And that's the essence of film studies. And in those years, film studies were, taking off, in in in France. So that that was the the beginning of it.
Grégoire Halbout:And then I dropped out. I dropped out. And, I started a, normal career, which was completely not normal. And I spent more than 25 years with, in the media industry and entertainment industry. And I've I've been with, I was I've been with, big, big, big, corporations like Disney or Nickelodeon on the ancillary business side and consumer products.
Grégoire Halbout:But still, it's this idea of looking at things, the narrative, the storytelling things. So I would say that mass market storytelling has been my, red thread. Even before then, 15 years ago, going back to academia when I finished my thesis.
Andy Nelson:Interesting. That's it's fascinating how and then you kind of find your way back into this side of things with studying and writing about it as well. And just, you know, following up on that, the, Cavelle book that you're talking about, Pursuits of Happiness, that's really about the comedy of remarriage, which is very much, a part of kind of screwball comedy. When we, like you said, there's certainly some, some films that we're gonna be talking about today that can certainly fit into that. Now we are gonna this is a bonus episode.
Andy Nelson:We're gonna be talking about some films. Initially, we talked about discussing 5 films. You came, to me with 7 options and said, you know you know, pull out whichever ones you want. And I I don't know. Maybe it was the easy route.
Andy Nelson:Maybe I just wanted to talk about more of these movies. But I said, let's just do all 7 of them. So here we are discussing 7 screwball comedies. We're gonna be talking about Elliot Nugent's 3 cornered moon, Tay Garnett's Love is News, George Stevens' Vivacious Lady, Mitchell Leeson's Midnight, Wesley Ruggles' Too Many Husbands, Jack Conway's Love is Love Crazy, and Alfred Hitchcock's mister and missus Smith. Little change in, pace for Hitchcock coming to that one.
Andy Nelson:Before we dig into the movies proper, I just wanted to get a sense from you what is it about this particular set of films that drew you to pick them? Because it's you know? And I know we already had a conversation with some of the big ones, like Bring a Baby, It Happened 1 Night, things like that. But what is it about these ones that that drew you to them?
Grégoire Halbout:Maybe because I'm not talking, about them that much these days. So and and and also, you know, when you when you tackle such a a big genre because my corpus or the films that I've seen, is up to something like 140. I mean, from the main period. The classic, Hollywood period. But what, was very important to me is I was not a film historian or or a film scholar at the beginning, and I did a lot of history, political sciences.
Grégoire Halbout:And I found that, what is interesting in, in, in, in, in a film genre and especially in America, it's the power of the movies to to communicate socially, the social function of movies. And when you address, a bunch of films, of course, everybody is talking about the main ones with a kind of author or tourist approach. And and the big names like Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges. And it's it's normal because that's the easiest way. And what I found interesting when you try to to find a sort of rationale of of thread between all those movies is to really, look into what are considered the the minor ones or, directors that have been considered wrongly, I think, as secondary directors like Tegharnett or Mitchell, Leysen.
Grégoire Halbout:And, that's what my colleagues or even the people who who talk to me about the book appreciate is that, it revives, all the the not b movies. You you can't call them b movies necessarily, but movies that that are not associated necessarily with a sort of a brand name. And that's something I found interesting because we're talking mass market here, culture, mainstream culture.
Andy Nelson:Right. Right. Right. Yeah. I think that's, a fair way to kind of describe it.
Andy Nelson:I mean, you're right. These this list of directors other than Hitchcock, I I don't think, well, in George Stevens, but I feel like when I think of George Stevens, it's kind of a different direction of George Stevens films. But I don't think I that these directors are ones that readily come to mind as to, like, the big name directors that you often think of. But that being said, it's like all of them are bringing interesting things to these films, and they're absolutely still worth checking out. And I think to some extent, it's good to look at some of these lesser known films because, yeah, they might be harder to track down these days.
Andy Nelson:But, you know, at the same time, if you get more people watching them and talking about them, hopefully, they will, it'll spur studios on to realize that these are ones that should be more accessible via streaming, things like that.
Grégoire Halbout:These guys were, very interesting because they're they're like craftsmen. We we we've heard so many things about either, the hatred of, altruism, which today I think is really too much. And also the idea of only a pantheon of authors could be considered. And all these guys did their classes during, the silent era. And they were all professionals and experts in in one of several areas of of, movie making, like being chief photographer, like script writing, gag men and so forth.
Grégoire Halbout:And this is something that you can trace, or track down in unknown or, overlooked movies.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Absolutely. Well, let's start, walking through these. We'll talk about the movies and then a little bit how they fit into screwball comedy. So first up is 3 cornered Moon from 1933, again, directed by Elliot Nugent.
Andy Nelson:The eccentric Rimpelgar family finds themselves in a financial predicament when their wealthy mother loses all their money in the stock market crash. The 3 adult children, Kenneth, Douglas, and Elizabeth, must now navigate their new reality while dealing with their own romantic entanglements and the antics of their mother's new boyfriend, a Penny Alicia charming writer. As the family struggles to adjust to their changing circumstances, they find themselves in a series of comical situations that challenge their relationships and individual aspirations. Claudette Colbert and Richard Arlen lead an ensemble cast in this early proto screwball comedy that showcases the genre's trademark wit and absurdity. So proto screwball, 1933.
Andy Nelson:This is kind of coming in even before, like, the films, in 1934, like 20th century and It Happened 1 night that are kind of looked at as the the starting place for, screwball comedy. So I guess let's start the conversation with this one coming in at 1933 as kind of this, as I said, proto screwball comedy. It's it's early and it's kind of setting up what we're going to start seeing in these films.
Grégoire Halbout:Yes. I I find it interesting. Many people, I mean, cinema scholars talk about that that movie as a sort of landmark or a pivotal, movie. And I I find it interesting. It's it's a it's a tiny, short, little comedy.
Grégoire Halbout:You can find some very, very nice versions, very well restored. I think they like they always did, they they took the tapes from the UCLA library or any kind of library. And, the digital version is is extremely good. And what is fascinating in that movie that it's it's like a sort of theatrical comedy, but it's the the the use of camera movement. It's such a swift movement, tracking shots using the camera angles.
Grégoire Halbout:It it really gives, this kind of future screwball movement to to the comedy, which is, I I I watched it again for this conversation. And I was it's the where the first thing that, struck me. And, the second thing is that it's it's a a crisis, a depression movie, or what what some other people called, the New Deal comedies. So it it's, it paves the way to, the the Mime and Godfrey movies. You you you you've you've touched on that, but also, the Lady Eve, Joy of Living, especially through the the the the portrayal of a a completely crazy dysfunctional family.
Grégoire Halbout:Family is is a zoo place. And that's what lots of people have said about, my man, Godfrey, but that's exactly what what what is here. So we we have already, all the ingredients, the components of screwball coming in. You've got this this madcap family with a scatterbrained mother, Mary Boleyn. She's absolutely, fantastic.
Grégoire Halbout:She really brings with her, all her, stage, persona and, and she plays like a theater actress, but it's very well. It's it it fits very well into the the movie. And she's representing the faulty generation because that's what the comedy of those days was always trying to to project. There is a a generation that is responsible for the crisis. And and these guys are the parents.
Grégoire Halbout:Not even the grandparents, the parents. Which is very interesting in terms of genealogy in in in those movie.
Andy Nelson:Which you could also I guess you could also again, my man Godfrey, same thing with the father in that family.
Grégoire Halbout:Yeah. And the father is hopeless. He's not he's not a sort of bad businessman like, missus, Rimpelkar in in that movie, but he's completely the family is out of control. Yeah. He's the zoo guardian with no clues.
Grégoire Halbout:And, and it's very, very comforting supposedly for an audience, middle class or a middle class audience to watch those tycoons losing it. So that's part also of the movie magic. It's it's making, making situations understandable or, acceptable. And then there is the central, character, the the the heroine, which is played by, Cluet Colbert. And she has already all the, how shall I say the the the the the even the typecasting elements of what she will she will play afterwards.
Grégoire Halbout:She's, matter of fact, ready to work because when the family is completely broke because of this stupid 3 cornered moon mine in which the mother has invested a tremendous amount of money, she's she's the first one to go and work in a factory as a factory girl. And and then, well, we're in the context of the, post Me Too movement. And in the movie, sexual harassment is so gross and so obvious. And I thought, okay, I completely missed that when I when I wrote the book. Completely overlooked it.
Grégoire Halbout:So it's interesting how the context in which you you watch a movie influences your, your appreciation of it. And, and it's all it's filmed in a rather kind of, rather close-up, medium close-up, when this this, full man is really, crowding, Elizabeth, the poor girl and asking her to meet him after work.
Andy Nelson:Well, I mean, it's your point about that is pretty interesting because I think it speaks to the nature of the the the comedy element of the story where Elizabeth having come from this rich life, she is not going to accept that. Right? And so she leaves and is just fine. Like, I'll figure something else out. And that's the comedy.
Andy Nelson:That's what we're getting in the screwball comedy. But in the drama story, that we're not getting here, she would be somebody who isn't able to just walk away from the job, but may have to stay there and suffer that type of denigration from her the foreman and and just live that life. So it's interesting. Like, you can see how screwball comedy uses that to kind of put her into a situation that she recognizes as wrong and is able to walk away from. And I I I think that's an interesting kind of, separation that you would find in the different genres.
Grégoire Halbout:Right. Right. And it's it's very limited in time, of course, because it's it's it's it's only a matter of a of a decade. And and there's also, a correspond or a correspondence. A link that could be drawn with easy living, and the Jane Arthur character because she's really, really bullied at work.
Grégoire Halbout:She works for this, association newspaper, boy scout, thing, and and she's really, really, treated very badly, but she also walk away. So they they they are fierce. They are fierce. Whatever is or or a hand across the table with, Lombard in it. They're fierce.
Grégoire Halbout:They want to be independent. Certainly frustrated. But, no nonsense American young women or young American women. And, what else do we have in that movie? Yes.
Grégoire Halbout:And she says, she she picks up, a professional. He's he's a doctor. It's he's their their lodger. And she says, I'm fed up with talking. I want facts.
Grégoire Halbout:I want the real world, which is exactly the the propaganda of of screwball comedy. And if you look at the the the sociology of the characters in screwball comedy, the positive heroes are never politicians, bankers, financiers, or, yes, businessmen. They're they're all they're they're always, failures. The the right ones are professionals. They are reporters, and journalists, doctors, lawyers.
Andy Nelson:Scientists, professors.
Grégoire Halbout:Exactly. So and and and that's already in the, in in in the loop. And money is at the center of, the conversation. Bad money and good money.
Andy Nelson:Right. Right. Right. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:So bad money comes from how can I say this? It's really simplifying things, but from speculation and Wall Street, for instance. And good money comes from the money you earn or the money you share with others. So that's also, all these movies have have, for a long time, they've been considered, especially in Europe, as a sort of, American propaganda, lolling audience into social acceptance. But it's it's I think it's more, controversial than than that.
Grégoire Halbout:It's it's the idea that the money you make, the money you make with your heart and your mind is the good money because it it it helps everyone. It helps build the country. It's not only a speculation. And and I think that's that's, already in in that movie. And then there there is the the the thing that and that's what I'm thinking of Cavell as I speak now, but it's it's a bit far fetched.
Grégoire Halbout:But you already acknowledge, the role of the savior couple. The savior couple is the one that is made of this very matter of fact, independent, eccentric to a degree girl and, her mate who who is a responsible, ethical, professional. And they represent the renewal, the America the democratic renewal. So that's the the other thing. And then there is this huge, gymnastic in the movie.
Grégoire Halbout:I'd I'd have you noticed the boys are running all the time? There's heckle. And, it it's a bit new. It it's like taking the slapstick culture into social comedy and sometimes it's dog comedy.
Andy Nelson:They're they were very much like younger boys put into the bodies of older men or or or young young men. Right? Like, they they they sometimes behaved like they were, you know, 12 years old or something like that.
Grégoire Halbout:That's what all, almost all, screwball, heroes do. We we we're gonna see that in Too Many Husbands.
Andy Nelson:Right. You start getting that kind of that childish behavior sometimes that plays really well. And, you know, also translates to the idea of, like, the whole Looney Tunes aspect, that cartoonish aspect that you get with the characters.
Grégoire Halbout:And and the influence he has in cartoons at that time and all that that, inspiration. And then there's also something else that I found a bit like a Capraisk or it's this, montage sequence, towards the beginning of the movie, which is a bit like a documentary with all those, close ups on signposts and placards, like, breadline at 2:2 PM, no help wanted, I want work. All these very dramatic declarations. So it's it's also, a little bit like in my man Godfrey or Easy Living or, It Happened 1 Nights where you in which you you you can you can witness these social vignettes, throughout the movies, which will disappear, I would say, later on.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. You you start just reveling, I guess, in the the fun of the movie, and you're not necessarily getting as much of the social commentary. Let's shift to our next film. This is Love is News. This film, again, directed by, Taye Garnett, 1937.
Andy Nelson:Steve Layton, a newspaper reporter, is assigned to cover the story of Tony Gateson, a wealthy heiress who has just returned from Europe. To get an exclusive interview, Steve resorts to unorthodox methods leading to a series of misunderstandings and a false engagement announcement. As Steve and Tony navigate the ensuing ensuing media frenzy and their own growing attraction, they find themselves embroiled in a com comedic battle of wits. Tyrone Power and Loretta Young star in this lively screwball comedy that satirizes the sensationalist sensationalistic nature of the news industry and the blurred lines between the public and private life. You you were just talking about, you know, having reporters as your protagonists.
Andy Nelson:Here, we have Steve, the newspaper reporter who, you know, stoops to some pretty, low methods to kind of convince Tony that he is actually not a reporter, but to get this story from her. And then, of course, she turns the tables on him in the most delightful of ways. This was a lot of fun. And, you know, I thought it was interesting because I think here we're seeing the media's obsession with celebrity and also scandals. And I think in some way, I guess you could say if we're kind of continuing the social commentary, it might not necessarily be about everything going on with the depression, but it's another angle of commentary that we're looking at as far as how people fawn over celebrity and, what reporters will do, essentially tabloid journalism.
Andy Nelson:You know?
Grégoire Halbout:How did how did you find the, the Loretta Young character, the the the heiress, the Timken heiress?
Andy Nelson:You know, I really enjoyed her in the film, and I thought I thought she played it well, and I thought I thought that there's that that line where she learns her lesson, I suppose, but at the same time, like, I genuine I genuinely liked her because of the way that she was, you know, smart to play the media against, you know, against this reporter. And I just I enjoyed that element of her character.
Grégoire Halbout:And and well, the the reason why I suggested that, movie is, because do you know if the reasons are sometimes rather sentimental or emotional? Otherwise, you're not interested in cinema. Is that I love, Loretta Young. And I think she's, she's a one wonderful comedian, not only actress, but comedian. And, I highly recommend another one, which is entitled The Doctor Takes A Wife where she plays a feminist and she's absolutely, wonderful.
Grégoire Halbout:The script is a bit has some faults, but, from a character perspective and, acting technique, she's she's wonderful. In this film, what is also interesting is this idea of film genre. Comedy is, an open and evolving genre, which makes it much more difficult than Western or musicals, for instance. So it's always a matter of tone inflection. So hence, the, screwball style, but also what they include in the plot to make it a little bit, new, innovative for a very savvy audience because people would go to the movies 3 times a week in in in those days, at least in America.
Grégoire Halbout:So here you've got 2 things. There is this mini cycle of the duo, Loretta Young and Tyrone Hauer by Fox. They played 3 movies in a row in 1937. So you can imagine the yeah. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:The the production rhythm and but also the kind of flexibility of that medium. When something's working clicks, then you make another movie and, with the same actors. And the other thing is that it's a very interesting, newspaper picture. Yeah. That really was invented by, Hollywood, I would say in in in in that way.
Grégoire Halbout:So it's, it intersects the newspaper picture with the role of the press, like you said, about intimacy, but also the guardian of democracy and, the battle of the sexes with this very incongruous pair, which is the inverted fairy tale because, the how shall I say? The the lower social class one is, the man and the the prince is, is in fact the princess and she manages the whole story, like you said, turning around over the table.
Andy Nelson:And you also get the the love triangle, essentially. It's not completely a love triangle, but still George Sanders is in the story as the man she is supposed to be with. Right? And and that's kind of part of his reason to be kind of pursuing her to kind of, like, figure all this out. But the way that she really has no interest in the George Sanders character, I think is an interesting element that we're getting here because unlike, you know, something like bringing up baby where, okay, you could argue that that Cary Grant isn't actually interested in his wife that he, you know, or that the woman that is his fiancee, but they're they are actually engaged in everything.
Andy Nelson:Like, there is this sense that, you know, they're talking marriage and all of this sort of stuff. Whereas here, I kinda get the sense from the beginning that Loretta Young really has no interest in George Sanders' character.
Grégoire Halbout:Well, because it's a screwball comedy, she can't.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. No. Absolutely right.
Grégoire Halbout:And, and the guy is is typical of these third party who are there to promote, the American couple. Because the guy is a bloody French and he's a bloody aristocrat. So he represents the old world. Everything, you know. And, so family money is and he's broke.
Grégoire Halbout:He's broke. So, and and and there had been so many examples of rich heiresses coming over to Europe to, help families on the wane, let's say, and and and and make prestigious marriages. But, in Hollywood fiction, the old world is something to be completely disregarded. And, so it's it's it's and he has no moral, of course, because he comes from the old world As opposed to Steve, the journalist who is so, how shall I say, ethical, pure, reliable under his kind of bullish, air. He will burnt.
Grégoire Halbout:He burns, the letters, the intimate letters between the heirs and the counts because he doesn't want his newspaper to use it. And he protects her intimacy. So it's also a very interesting, a little bit black and white, but a interesting way of giving confidence again in the media and the press because the press and the media were very much at stake in in in in the 19 thirties. So, and also the the production code was very, very careful not to, how shall I say, not to criticize or to, represent in a derogator derogatory way, the media. But what I think that is interesting when you when you take a newspaper picture as an example, just the title, Love is News.
Grégoire Halbout:So love, which is an intimate topic becomes, public concern. And it's it's exactly where we stand today. It's this kind of now obsession of individual rights over the collective project. And this idea that individual rights, the individual is something that is prominent in society and it's at the basis of the democratic project. This can be debated in all directions, but that that's very interesting.
Grégoire Halbout:And and the film is really about publicizing intimacy. Yeah. And with all the contradictions because at the very beginning when she figures out that, he framed her when he goes on on on board the plane and he pretends to be somebody else than a journalist. So she decides to retaliate and she does. And so she she announces she has she has a sort of press, briefing and she she announces to the whole press except his newspaper.
Grégoire Halbout:So he is he is in the in in a in a big big situation with his own chief editor because he's lost, the scoop. She announces that she's going to marry him and she's going to give him a sort of a dowry. I don't know how to call that. A 1,000,000 diaries. So 1,000,000 is outrageous in 1937.
Andy Nelson:Oh, yeah. Crazy.
Grégoire Halbout:A family of 4 could live on 10000 a year. So, wow. We're really into kind of, utopia. And it's it's all about so she it's it's this contradiction between, I'm going to make a public freak of you, the journalist, so that you learn your lesson Because she's a public freak and she has no intimacy. And at the same time, all the movie is about publicizing the romance, the correct romance between the incongruous pair, the blend the social blending that they symbolize, the heiress and, the virtuous, reporter.
Grégoire Halbout:And all this is going to be witnessed, acknowledged, legitimized by the press. And by a press, like you said, a press that's able to move from a tabloid perspective, this this, New York express, into a more, thoughtful or respectful, medium. And the final scene sequence, rather, is absolutely fascinating, and I highly recommend it. Just the movie just for the, the final scene when she goes to this this this coffee shop where he he regroups with his, coworkers, friends, from from the different newsrooms. And she comes to to really tell him that they have to make up, let's say.
Grégoire Halbout:And and by the way, spoilers must be authorized when you talk movies. Right. And well, yes. She she wants to apologize for what she she she's done to him. Well, it's complicated.
Grégoire Halbout:We can't go into all the details. And then he rushes outside of the cafe and starts walking very fast towards we don't know where. And then she follows him. And there is this absolutely wonderful, backwards and lateral tracking shot with very little editing. I think there's only 2 shots for about almost 40, 50 seconds.
Grégoire Halbout:And then there's the crowd around them, and she's running after him. And she's really telling him that he needs to reconsider her. And they end up in this drugstore where he wants to make a phone call. So they're like goods, in in the showcase and they kiss and make up. And everybody outside, all the people on on the street applaud and and just rush onto the window to to see them from, to see them closer.
Grégoire Halbout:And and that's exactly, what publicity is about and screwball comedy is about. Love or marriage needs to be, negotiated as a, accepted compromise, self mutual respect, mutual recognition. And then all this kind of, informal contract has to take place through a public declaration, which is the case we're on we're, on on a New York street, and with a public witnessing. Whatever is the and that's what happens, for instance, in, When Harry Met Sally. The final reconciliation is at New Year's Eve, with everybody around in this huge party.
Grégoire Halbout:It's a it gets something a sort of a social acknowledgment. And also the promise that it can happen to everyone watching that scene. So, it's very interesting, this intimacy thing. And that's a topic I'm working on today. This contradiction between, protecting your intimacy, your privacy, and, needing the public gaze to make your intimacy accepted.
Andy Nelson:Well and you didn't even mention that the that part of the reason that he walks out to go down to that drugstore is so that he can call his editor to kind of announce everything. Right? And so that that ties exactly into what you were just saying that that's exactly on his mind too even though we don't necessarily know. Like, they play it like he's walking out in a huff or something like that, but it's really to go call his editor and tell him the good news.
Grégoire Halbout:And and having the the scoop and the the the front page news. And so every every everything is well that ends well. But here again, the press is is there to, it's like a sort of a good fairy, like, Stanley Cavell, would say. The press is like another space, another character. Everything that the couple does, betrayal, making up, everything is, echoed by the press.
Grégoire Halbout:And it's also a form of ellipse in in in the in in the story with all these, inserts with the, with the the the front pages. And then, in the end, the press is not only an actor but also, how can how can I say, a seal with with with the the printing of the news of, the fact that that love story on those, terms is the right one for a modern society? Well, I'm pushing it a bit, here. And and that's what is is is is fascinating here, the role of the press, and the press is everywhere in those, and it still is today in Rom Com always.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. In this film, you know, Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, I mean, you said that they had performed in a number of movies together. How often did they end up appearing in screwball comedy?
Andy Nelson:Because I feel like this is the only time I've I mean, I haven't seen as many screwball comedies as probably you have, but I don't feel like they were faces that I'm used to seeing in the screwball comedies. But I I loved them here. I thought they were fantastic in it.
Grégoire Halbout:He did only those 3 with her screwball romantic comedy, whatever you want to call them. And then, she did a few other ones until the early forties. She, she played in, there was a, a murder mystery that was not very funny, but a bit like something happening in the dark. I forgot the name. I should I should remember that.
Grégoire Halbout:She also, played in The Doctor Takes A Wife. And that's really a scribble comedy with, Ray Milland. And she did another couple of, of them. So she was more like in the sort of, typical career of the time playing in every single genre, but she was more like comedy and melodrama.
Andy Nelson:Like, I feel like Don Ameche, who is, the editor, his editor in this, I feel like I see him pop up in these more often. Like, you know, yeah, he's very, very much a a face that just, I think, works well for these sorts of stories.
Grégoire Halbout:He's like, Ralph Bellamy or, Edward Arnold. They are the typical, supporting characters. And it's part also of there there's a lot there's quite a lot of, typecasting with these guys. And it's also the part of this, familiarity, shared culture that you the studios, the production shares with the audience because you just like you did or like I did, we recognize that kind of typical, character. Oh, yes.
Grégoire Halbout:And that's him again. And that creates this this, but we need to be surprised always. So Oh, yes.
Andy Nelson:Well, to the point, like, the next film we're talking about, you know, vivacious lady directed by, George Stevens. Jimmy Stewart isn't necessarily always somebody who I think of in com like, this sort of screwball comedy. Like, I think of him more like romantic comedy or or westerns or I mean, he's in he's also in a big variety of films, but screwball comedy, I feel like I haven't seen quite as many, films of him in that particular genre, and maybe I just haven't seen them yet. But this film, Peter Morgan, a botany professor, impulsively marries nightclub singer, Francie, during a trip to New York. Upon returning home, Peter must find a way to break the news to his conservative family, including his disapproving father, the university president.
Andy Nelson:As Francie tries to win over Peter's family and adapts to the academic world, the couple faces a series of hilarious misunderstandings and cultural clashes. Ginger Rogers and James Stewart deliver charming performances in this delightful screwball comedy that explores the challenges of merging 2 vastly different worlds. Yeah. So, again, Jimmy Stewart, Ginger Rogers, you know, she is always somebody who I enjoy seeing. I think Bachelor Mother maybe my favorite film of hers.
Andy Nelson:Just love that one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But I had never seen this one before, and it was just incredibly charming, and I loved watching them as a couple. I mean, as far as this film goes, you know, now we're moving into kind of we talked about, like, the different roles.
Andy Nelson:The last one we had the reporter. Here, we've got the professor. How does this kind of exemplify the world of screwball comedy and and the the genre's explorations here of class and cultural difference differences between a professor and a nightclub singer.
Grégoire Halbout:It does, but maybe I'll I'll we can maybe go back to that right after, what I think is the most important, point in the in in the movie. And, Billy Wilder used to call that the UFF. You you you know the expression UFF? It's the unfinished fuck film. So, excuse my French.
Grégoire Halbout:And the fact that it's, again, a clash of social classes and culture makes it even more vivid, shall I say. It it's the idea and it's all related with the idea of the home, the house. It's it's rather, subtle and interesting. This couple, he's he's complete it's a sex introvert, basically. And and screwball comedy is very much about that, which is rather new to talk about mass masculine anxieties and only in that way.
Grégoire Halbout:No, lady character in the genre is, how shall I say, they're always oversexed or asking for better sexual satisfaction like in My Favorite Wife. And so, should we call that a feminist kind of expression? I don't know because it's before, the era of feminism. But it's still very much, flirting with the idea of, gender, equalization to stay safe and on the safe side. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:And then he is, he belongs to academia. His father is the dean of a faculty in in a sort of a provincial town, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. So province, academia, dean, very old fashioned, representing the past world, the world that we want to to to leave, to to go forward in in a modern kind of America.
Andy Nelson:Charles Coburn is always perfect in that sort
Grégoire Halbout:of role. Yeah. Or a crook.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Oh, you're right.
Grégoire Halbout:And then comes Ginger Rogers with her persona and and she's the RKO star, in in terms of comedy. So when you look at at the the the, the breakdown of stars in studios, she She's really, with RKO. I can't remember if she had, exclusive contracts, but she's she's mostly, working with them. And of course, it's love at first sight thing, completely, unlikely. They're married right after the first, meeting.
Grégoire Halbout:And of course, they, and they take the train to that provincial town or city and they need to make it, which means consummates the marriage. And the problem here is that there is, a a double issue. He's a sex introvert, and strangely enough, he works on the reproduction of a certain type of plants. So the sexuality of non speaking elements of the earth. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:And he's completely subdued like his mother in front of his father who is a terrorist. It's really an an idea of a kind of idea of castration. If we were were to use a psychoanalytical kind of, glossary to become to become a man and and also to speak, to externalize his, his desire. And they can't find access to a room because he's he hasn't the guts to tell his father he's now married with a showgirl. And she's very much like a showgirl with a dyed hair and everything.
Grégoire Halbout:And she's she's so very much the all American girl and and nothing is a is is an obstacle for her. She she manages to do everything she wants and she's very she's very patient and the more patient she is, the more strange Jimmy Stewart's, look. So it's a very much like a sort of a a binary film and world. It's the world of show business, the perdition the city of perdition versus, the virtuous, botanist. It is the real life of the world versus, academia and intellectuals.
Grégoire Halbout:And Hollywood doesn't like intellectuals, ever. Intellectuals, that means, the think tank in Washington, around Roosevelt. It means those guys who are not in in the actions. So that's always something that Hollywood, struggles with. And, so it's, the new generation versus the old one, and the father the the the the son has to kill the father.
Grégoire Halbout:So, basically and that that's at the at the core of any kind of, comedy, the the the scene x. And and they can't, consummate because they can't have the room for that. And what is interesting is that this movie is it's a George Stevens movie. So, George Stevens used to film a lot, Ginger Rogers in her musicals, also for RKO. And what is interesting is, the the question is not anymore when are we going to make it, but where?
Andy Nelson:Because because she's she's put up, since she can't stay with him, she has to stay in this little, as kind of like a short term apartment sort of place, but it's only for women. And he's not allowed to go up to a room in particular windows of time. And so
Grégoire Halbout:Because there's a signpost on the receptionist desk that says, gentlemen, not allow it upstairs after 6 PM. And the receptionist is Franklin Pangborn who is, specialized in those very, very rigid, obnoxious
Andy Nelson:Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:Kind kind of roles. And he He's perfect in it. Yeah. And here, there's a du Gwenton. And that's the the other reason why I I suggested that movie because here, Hollywood is really submitted to a rather strict, self censorship system with all the the the the the cleansing or at the monitoring of all contents at content at every stage of the production by the production code administration.
Grégoire Halbout:And here, the movie. So we're in 1938. There's a 4 year, how shall I say, experience build build up of how to work with the new administration. So they know what what to do about, censorship, how to fight and so forth. And here, the film is very is very reflexive and and is calling to to, the audience's intelligence.
Grégoire Halbout:And the film says, these regulations are stupid. Look. Why should should they make it after 6 PM? And, and and so it's a it's a direct hint to that.
Andy Nelson:Well, I mean, he even calls the film Vivacious Lady. Like, the title itself is very suggestive right out the gate.
Grégoire Halbout:Exactly. And then it's doubled by another kind of, which is typical of screwball comedies. It's the, do you say fold away bed?
Andy Nelson:Yeah. I I guess I'm not sure what those are called. But, yeah, fold away bed. I think that may that makes sense.
Grégoire Halbout:So he manages to to work his way to, the the the the conjugal beds, but then there's a huge and and she's waiting for him, eagerly waiting for him. And then there's a huge problem with the door just like in, My Favorite Wife or The Awful Truth at at the end of the of the movie. And so, each time there's some wind or the door, bangs, then the bed goes, goes down and there is a risk that the receptionist can hear everything. And so they're never going to to to make it because even the bed doesn't work, and and and it's not ready to to welcome them. And that's really and and this movement, which is very kind it's a ninyuendo, is very interesting because we we we we acknowledge, in in that scene the very, how shall I say, the essence of the screwball style, which is how to represent, suggest, forbidden, desires, acts.
Grégoire Halbout:So it can be interpreted as a sexual desire or also more, abruptly as a sexual intercourse That cannot be, displayed on screen, of course, not even suggested. And and and the whole, sequence is very, very funny, very well played with lots of reaction shots because everyone, Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart, are on each part of a of a wall, of a partition. So it it it helps the camera to or the editing to really cut into pieces this this this desire. And yeah. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:And you really meet the the the the production code administration's expectations which is good taste, good taste. I think they certainly found because in the correspondence that I read it, between the studio and the PCA, they never mentioned that scene ever. So and even after the movie was, was produced. So it means that they certainly, found it tasteful enough
Andy Nelson:Tasteful enough. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:For, the morality of the audience that always needs to be protected and and so forth.
Andy Nelson:Well and they were still able to slip in. I mean, you got the the innuendo of trains, which often ends up becoming something that they would use when a train goes into a tunnel, for example, in in one of these films made during the production code. There's very much the sexual innuendo there. But here, you also, at the very end of the film, when they finally have their moment to themselves and they're able to consummate, their marriage. You've got the train whistle, but it's like a wolf whistle.
Andy Nelson:It's very much, like, much more sexualized at the end of the film and to the point where it's very, very funny. So they still, even there, were able to kind of slip something in that, the production code, I guess, also found okay enough.
Grégoire Halbout:And and it's it's generally accepted because, like, in Too Many Husbands, because it's at the at the very end of the movie. So nothing was gonna happen and nothing is shown. So that that will be accepted. And also there's the second principle, at the end of the movie. It's the compensating moral values because they are married anyway and the family has regrouped.
Grégoire Halbout:This this clash between the father and all the rest of the family has been mended. The the gap, has been bridged. So, society can work, as a whole. Though, they are on the run and this is what screwball comedy is about. We're not sure that they will have a home, a kind of classic home, ever.
Grégoire Halbout:So that's also the the these kind of, you know, endings with a question mark.
Andy Nelson:Will will this end up actually working out? Who knows? But at the moment, everything is fine. Let's talk about our next film, Mitchell Leeson's Midnight, which, you know, I had heard about because, you know, just 1939, big year of, you know, Hollywood's great year and all that sort of thing. So I'd heard of this film.
Andy Nelson:I only just watched it for this, and I have to say it was probably my favorite on the list of films that you had picked. I just completely adored this film. In this film, Yves Peabody, a penniless American showgirl stranded in Paris, finds herself caught up in a web of mistaken identities and romantic entanglements when she poses as a Hungarian countess to gain entry into high society. As Yves navigates the luxurious world of the Parisian elite, she becomes involved with a wealthy aristocrat, his wife, and a charming taxi driver, all while trying to maintain her false identity. Claudette Colbert and Donna Michi star in this sparkling screwball comedy that showcases the genre's trade trademark wit, sophistication, and romantic complications.
Andy Nelson:Just a fantastic film. Really loved it. How does this, for you, like, work in the world of screwball comedy?
Grégoire Halbout:Can I ask you something before we Yeah, please? Quickly? What is it that you liked in particular in that movie?
Andy Nelson:I think it was the characters and the situation that they find themselves in, you know, when they end up at the aristocratic estate and they're hanging out there. I think there was this element that you end up getting with Eve along with, John Barrymore's character, Georges, as he kind of has worked out this whole deal to kind of have her continue flirting with this guy who is kind of becoming his wife's lover. So but but he's more drawn now to Colbert than Mary Astor, his wife. And so just like that machination that he puts into play, I just found so fun in watching how she just totally, like, yeah, this sure. I'll absolutely do that.
Andy Nelson:For all this money, why not? And then just the way Don Ameci enters the picture and then also kind of continues this game of playing this this Hungarian count. Like, I don't know. It just it was so funny and just the setup of the story, I think, worked really well with these actors playing it. You you say that, like, you don't not you you don't like this film as much.
Grégoire Halbout:It's a difficult film.
Andy Nelson:Okay. Interesting.
Grégoire Halbout:Well, it's difficult because, I watched it another time for this conversation and I really enjoyed it. But that's But I've always struggled with, all the, I'm looking for the word. It's it's very much European vaudeville. And comedy is a story of fools and liars. So it's all about, quid pro quo, mistaken identities, lies and with some some swifts in in the situation.
Grégoire Halbout:Next, next minute, they're going to pretend that they are another person like taxi driver or a or a baron or and it's it's it's very that's why comedy is difficult to work on because of the pace, the rhythm, the tempo, and because of the, amount of details. But that put aside, I think it's a little jewel. Yeah. And, it's Mitch Leysen at its best at his best. He really knows what he's doing.
Grégoire Halbout:He's Mitch Layson is is certainly one of the the kings of Paramount's comedies, I would say. So here we're back into the kind of, autoraced approach. And and he had a, he he he had a very if I think this this was a book by Wes Gearing. I don't remember if he if he wrote a book about toilet Colbert, did he? Or another author.
Andy Nelson:I don't know.
Grégoire Halbout:But there was a very, very good relationship between Mitch Layson and Claudette Colbert. And it shows in in every kind of movie they do, together. And he he also was a very good, judge of, the rhythm of a script and the number of gags and, how turning the table around, without any notice.
Andy Nelson:And and we should just mention, I mean, this was Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's script. So I mean,
Grégoire Halbout:it's really
Andy Nelson:have, yeah, that that sensibility.
Grégoire Halbout:But they struggled. They fought. Because, the 2 writers with
Andy Nelson:with with Leysen? Or who was
Grégoire Halbout:The other way around.
Andy Nelson:Oh, okay.
Grégoire Halbout:Because, Mitch Leysen had had some good experience of screwball comedy in 39 already. And he, he didn't like the script as being too complicated, too twisty, too and so he really amended it a lot. And he included some gags or some some funny scenes. But that that's rather interesting in terms of, of relationship. And the role of the the director, in in the supposedly industrial and, stereotype kind of production.
Grégoire Halbout:The director has always had a very important role. Not not saying that the final cut was his, but the tone of the movie, the quality of the movie, the lighting, the rhythm of the script, especially where comedy is concerned is, isn't a director's, matter. Yeah. And why is it maybe the, epitome of screwball comedy? Because it has all the ingredients.
Grégoire Halbout:So it's like the screwball fairy tale. It starts with a meet cute at the railway station in Paris. Under the water, she is soaked with water. And this symbolism of water in comedy, like this kind of cleansing, changing instrument when you get into a river, when you lose your you change your clothes because they are soaked. When you get a bucket of water on the head, it's always a signal of, character, transformation and this is what is happening.
Grégoire Halbout:She is going to be transformed. We have the inverted fairy tale here also because she's called Eve, but he's eating the apple. Right. And, of course, you don't notice that when you watch the movie the first time. So it's always talking to the subconscious of, or the intelligence of the audience.
Grégoire Halbout:Then you also have, the wandering. That's a romcom, trait. But the couple, they don't stroll, but they drive through Paris several times. So that's the way the romance, unfolds. That's how they get to know each other.
Grégoire Halbout:That's how they conquer the public space because their love is going to be a model for everyone.
Andy Nelson:To the point where he brings on every other taxi driver in Paris to help track her down. Right? Like, they they kind of control that aspect of the world in this story.
Grégoire Halbout:And and that's also the idea of the the goodness of the not of the poor, but the goodness of the humble Yeah. People. A little bit like the Capra way, you know, in, Lionel Barrymore. You can't You can't
Andy Nelson:take it
Grégoire Halbout:with you. Yeah. Yeah. With the the the relationship with the neighbors, the community. So it's it's a bit this kind of, small town, the humble that is very much promoted by, by Hollywood, though it's Paris here.
Grégoire Halbout:Then we have, in terms of scruple style, we have, a hint to crime and punishment because this completely wacky judge says that, mental cruelty for the divorce because they take, it's it's a completely crazy situation. The the the the the the script is is really isn't time. And Yeah. And and the judge says, no. No.
Grégoire Halbout:No. Mental cruelty here is completely irrelevant. I can't accept that. But there is a very good Albanian law, and he explains that, with a proper instrument, a man is, allowed to to spank his wife for a certain amount of time. So this idea that love, attraction, getting along with one another is also something that is brutal, that needs, alteration.
Grégoire Halbout:And then they take the marriage to court. Yeah. Which is typical in the oath of truth. There is this discord scene. And court is a public place.
Grégoire Halbout:So it's a place where they're going to be unmasked in a very complicated way. It's the place where they will have to both of them acknowledge that they're in love with the other one. And that's one of the rules of romantic comedy. You the commitment, engagement needs to be public. Again, intimacy and publicity and there is this reconciliation room where the judge sends them.
Grégoire Halbout:It's unbelievable. There is
Andy Nelson:such a strange period of time as far as what they required.
Grégoire Halbout:Then there is this idea of, being unfaithful and love triangle with the evil third man like the one you mentioned in, Love is News which is this, Jacques Picot. Very rich. And and and again, bad money because he's his family and he's making tons of money with a very low quality champagne. That that that's something that the movie, emphasizes. It's it's and then at the end of the of the day, all is well that ends well because mister Flemarian who hired, the gold digger Clotet Colbert to, how shall I say, take help him take back his wife by seducing, her lover.
Grégoire Halbout:Everything is is is is Yeah.
Andy Nelson:He gets his wife back.
Grégoire Halbout:Yes. And and with how can I say no moral, afterthoughts about the fact that she's been playing around for some time
Andy Nelson:and
Grégoire Halbout:quite openly? So it's it's also it's it's both very moral and, and immoral. There's also another, narrative, stereotype. It's faking, craziness, faking mental illness. They all do that.
Grégoire Halbout:We'll see that maybe with one of the next movies. It's also the idea that love and screwball love is crazy. That the guy who wrote the article on screwball comedy, in the New York review of books It's got the best title ever. I'm so jealous. I should have entitled the books Fools in Love.
Grégoire Halbout:I mean, that's that's exactly what it's about. So Exactly, right. If you were to summarize scribble committee, it's Fools in Love. And this is what Midnight is about. It's cheating, lying, and being a fool.
Grégoire Halbout:It's fooling around. Yes. And then there's something that is, not specific to Midnight, but that is specific to any kind of comedy even, and I know people don't like when you make comparisons between Hollywood cinema and English theatre or French theatre, but it's very much the 18th century French theatre when you wear a mask and through the masks, lovers can immediately recognize the truth of the other. And it's like, the recognition of both hearts together through the mask. So that's typical of the and which is which is here what happens because she decides on an impulsion that she is Eve Czerny when she is, about to be caught, the first night at the reception where she's she's she's slipped, Yeah.
Andy Nelson:Which is the taxi driver's last name. Right?
Grégoire Halbout:Exactly. And when he realizes that she's taken, his name, he says it must be it must be your unconscious.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. You you love me. Yeah. Right. Exactly.
Grégoire Halbout:It's both very coded, very complicated to to to see through and completely, obvious, and and that's what is about the mask. And the mask is is a figure that is always used in those, very challenged troubled times, dark times like here, the the the 19 thirties and the and the depression. And, where people had to move into other areas, reinvent themselves. And it's nothing but about America reinventing itself, I think.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:If you agree with that.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. I think that's an interesting way of kind of looking at it at this particular point in time with the view of these people trying to create new versions of themselves. Right? And is it for the money or will it be for love? And that kind of ends up being the the final crux of the film, which is
Grégoire Halbout:But the money is always, in it because Yeah. Together, they will make money. Good money.
Andy Nelson:Well, yeah. And she also walked off with quite a bit of money after helping, you know, the, Georges get his wife back. So, you know, they'll certainly have some money. And again, she's American,
Grégoire Halbout:and she's the one who leads the whole thing. She's the one who is no nonsense. She's the one who is adaptable. She can play roles, and she's much, much better than, the French. Adaptable.
Grégoire Halbout:She can play roles, and she's much much better than, the French or the Hungarian.
Andy Nelson:Well and like you said, this is very much a fairy tale. I mean, it's it's patterned after Cinderella in many aspects, you know, the mid the midwest that, you know, that whole thing. And so, yeah, of course, she's gonna end up.
Grégoire Halbout:And and and, for those who haven't watched the film, it's, John Barrymore as the good fairy is absolutely, he he he cracks he cracks me up, each time.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. He's so good in it. It's just a great movie. Let's, shift gears to 19 forties Too Many Husbands directed by Wesley Ruggles. Vicki Lowndes' first husband, Bill Cardew, is presumed dead after a boating accident.
Andy Nelson:After a year of mourning, Vicki marries Bill's best friend and business partner, Harry Lowndes. However, Bill unexpectedly returns very much alive, leading to a comedic love triangle as the 2 men compete for Vicki's affections. As Vicki struggles to choose between her 2 husbands, the trio find themselves in a series of hilarious situations that test their friendship and love. Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray, and Melvin Douglas star in this delightful screwball comedy that explores the complications of marriage and their enduring power of love. This is kind of a flip of My Favorite Wife, which, I thought was kind of fun to see.
Andy Nelson:We you know, in that film, it's, Cary Grant who has 2 wives, and here we have, Jean Arthur who has 2 husbands. But the stories play in in different ways, and I thought that was kind of interesting to see how, in this particular case, it's really about her trying to figure out, like, which one of you do I wanna stay with? You know? And I thought that was actually kind of a a fun twist on the story that definitely feels different than too many or than My Favorite Wife. This film, again, we're we're in the love triangle, subverting traditional romantic relationships.
Andy Nelson:How does this kind of, like, end up fitting into screwball comedy?
Grégoire Halbout:Because it's a scandal, institutionalized. And breaking the law, being made public. Basically, she finds out that she will have to deal with 2 husbands. She's had the opportunity to try another man while the first one was supposedly, killed in a shipwreck. And by the way, a World War 1 veteran hero.
Grégoire Halbout:So also the nation, etcetera. And then she decides that she's going to keep both, and that bigamy is the best solution for her. So this is absolutely asocial. It is something that is forbidden everywhere in in all, all Western, civilizations. So it's the opposite of my favorite wife which I struggled a lot with because I was trying if I may go back to my favorite wife just for a second.
Andy Nelson:Sure. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:Because I was really trying in when I read all the or went through, scanned through all the, production papers, the Paramount production papers. I thought I would find some comments about the characterization of Cary Grant. And Cary Grant is is very much it's it's so he he cross dresses. He is completely introvert. He doesn't manage to consummate the new marriage at the moment when the first wife is coming back from another shipwreck because everyone gets, into shipwrecks.
Andy Nelson:It was the period. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:And so he's very much into a sort of a Is he into women or not? What happened with the first one? Why did she leave? And and then why is there this, second, partner, Randolf Scott, who is there and who says that in the jungle, the law of the jungle is that you don't need to do a contract or go to court to sleep with your wife or your your your mate. You just grab her and proceed.
Grégoire Halbout:So that's what he says at the mid during the so too many husbands is, is the opposite. It's strong, highly sexualized, not sexualized, sexed, woman who has, like, Jean Arthur, the perfect, the little Ameri all American girl, all American woman, who in fact has a very very strong character and finds out that she needs 2 husbands and that the law is is not fitted to her life project.
Andy Nelson:She just loves them both.
Grégoire Halbout:Yeah. Exactly. And, so the whole movie is about and and and the approval process with the PCA was an agony because they were deleting every single acting indication or every scene scene indication or dialogue. And and, they were very careful that it it also plays with the spaces because it's in her house. There is her bedroom and the guest's bedroom.
Grégoire Halbout:And so she ends up, putting the 2 rivals like like children in those twin beds, twin bed bedrooms.
Andy Nelson:Exactly. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:And she puts them to bed and she she tucks them, up and and the whole thing while her her father, who has understood everything before we understood everything, slips into her bed, the father, to make sure that no one uses the bed for, so the PCA and society in general, let's say, figured out that it was more acceptable that a father would sleep in his daughter's bed than a husband. Yeah. So basically, this is very screwball. And it's the idea that, the screwball not in every movie, of course, but they are outlaws, and they reconfigure marriage the way they want it to be.
Andy Nelson:To the point where when she, you know, at one point gets fed up and calls the police, they all end up kind of communally lying together to the detectives to try to get away with it, you know?
Grégoire Halbout:Yes. But she's unmasked. And so she ends up, in front of the judge. And and then I I would have thought when I read all the correspondence again that the end of the movie, because here at the end of the movie is absolutely sensational, would be very much censored but it was not. But at at some, at some point, what is interesting, the the the last but one sequence, she says to the 22 men briefly, we've lost.
Grégoire Halbout:It's been taken out of our hands.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Right.
Grégoire Halbout:Right. And the judge has decided for our own lives, 1940. So I have only one legal husband and that's, and she names, him. And then she says, we have to conform. And then this this kind of cutaway and she leaves with her, legal husband but she throws a handkerchief on the floor.
Grégoire Halbout:Right. With a close-up on the, on the handkerchief which means, please young man follow me. And then there's an abrupt cut and the last sequence is in a nightclub. And let's just simplify things because we can't go into all the details. At some point, they dance the 3 of them together And that's called a threesome.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Pretty shocking to to see it end that way in a a way that's, like, you know, production code's safe, but you really understand what's going on here. That they're all still totally fine being in this relationship.
Grégoire Halbout:So one one of the 2 husbands is less enthusiastic than the other one.
Andy Nelson:The first husband. Right?
Grégoire Halbout:Yes. But still, he has to make do with that.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. He wants to make his wife happy.
Grégoire Halbout:Yeah. And the or himself. Yeah. And the and the whole sequence is very long, and it's filmed, exactly like a, dance number in a musical with very little cuts. But the camera is zooming on the couple.
Grégoire Halbout:So it's it's really a sex act. How shall I say? Metaphorized and that is filmed with a kind of very much of voyeurist approach. And then the final line, Jean Arthur, again, this kind of completely acceptable, perfect, wonderful, all American lady, says says we will have to do this often. Right.
Grégoire Halbout:So this is scruple. Yeah. This is really these outlaws.
Andy Nelson:Fantastic.
Grégoire Halbout:But the third film takes it to to the extreme, I would say, compared to to other ones. But it's, it's very interesting in terms of female characterization, male characterization, and the fact that modern marriage they are experiencing all sorts of things in the private sphere. Bigamy here is a very, very serious thing that are carried out into the public sphere for antagonism and or recognition. I don't know how to am I clear when I when I say that? That it's both provocation and, making it legitimate.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Right. Exactly. It's I mean, it's it is provocative because we're you know, of what they're implying here. But at the same time, yeah, they're saying, yeah.
Andy Nelson:That's fine. Let's do it.
Grégoire Halbout:And we are in 1940.
Andy Nelson:1940. Yeah. Pretty wild.
Grégoire Halbout:And and it's it's a marvel that the PCA allowed it at that even after the film was produced. As I still but it's it's Ginatha, the those two actors. She she she she seems to be not even, responsible for what she's doing. She's a sort of, she's got sort of a kind of aerial way of of of playing. So, all that must have countered at at at the time.
Grégoire Halbout:And it's so extreme that it it doesn't seem even possible.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Let's talk about Jack Conway's film, Love Crazy, pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy together who are, of course, fantastic in the Thin Man franchise. But this film is a different one. This is from 1941. Steve and Susan Ireland's 4th wedding anniversary takes a wild turn when a series of misunderstandings leads Susan to believe that Steve is having an affair with the attractive woman downstairs.
Andy Nelson:To win back Susan's affections, Steve pretends to be insane, leading to a madcap series of events that involve a straight jacket, a cross dressing disguise, and a rooftop chase. William Powell and Myrna Loy reunite in this uproarious screwball comedy that showcases their impeccable comedic timing and on screen chemistry. You're talking about playing crazy, a few movies ago. This is definitely a big part of this one as that's kind of what Steve ends up doing through a lot of this is posing as crazy in order to get through these situations, but it keeps getting worse and worse and worse as eventually he ends up in an institution. And then when he escapes, they say that he's a homicidal maniac and now all the police are after him.
Andy Nelson:And that leads, of course, to the fantastic bit where he puts on the disguise of the woman's outfit and poses as his own sister. This was a lot of fun. I had so much fun with this. I already am a big fan of the Thin Man films, and to see, Powell and Loy reunite in this way was just a blast.
Grégoire Halbout:It's MGM. So I thought it was interesting to talk about an MGM film. MGM is not a comedy studio, at that time, but still, they had some, cycles and solutions. And, the couple here is is one of them. Then, there is this kind of, screwball slash murder mystery investigation brand that they represent.
Grégoire Halbout:And it it's like not typecasting but, extending this conversation between the film and the audience, in taking them into another context. But still, with a very eccentric, male lead and the white clown being played by by the the woman. So that's also why I I picked it up. And, for the cross dressing. Craziness and cross dressing because that it tells a lot about the reflection, the representation of masculine anxieties, like we say today, already at that time.
Grégoire Halbout:And that's something typically, American. It's typical of the American humor, in comic books, the Thurber, drawings, the cartoons. So it's it's very much one of the, how shall I say, essential, elements of components of screwball comedy. There's a quid pro quo here because, he's not, cheating on his wife. But then it leads to this kind of completely, a slapstick, film.
Grégoire Halbout:And there's a lot of slapstick that is carried on by William Powell. It starts with the, the elevator scene when he's stuck in the elevator. And and there is this lovely picture book, published by Ed Sikoff, a few decades ago about scribble comedy with lovely, lovely pictures. I don't know if it's still available. And he has this full page dedicated to, that particular scene when he's stuck, mid mid mid mid, floor, and with a dog, with his head
Andy Nelson:pinched between the doors. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:So it's all about transitioning. Transitioning from a classic male role or character or state of mind into something that is closer to his wife. So again, I'm not sure that at that time we would have, said that about the movie. But what is interesting is that at some point, he tries to, to appear as crazy not to divorce his wife. She wants a divorce.
Grégoire Halbout:So he's put into an asylum. He, evades from the asylum. He is helped by his former girlfriend, the one that is, suspected to be his mistress. And while he's with her in the same building as his own apartment, he dresses as his own sister. This kind of unbelievable drag, act.
Grégoire Halbout:And especially Shaving
Andy Nelson:off his mustache, yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:Yes. And he so he's lost all the masculine attributes. The mustache, like you said, the hat, there's a screwball, very slapsy kind of scene with hats. And then he has this huge bosom. Lovely bosom.
Andy Nelson:Big balls of yarn which plays into a fantastic, gag with a record player. Exactly.
Grégoire Halbout:And then society, the the evil ones, a the police are, circling around the building because they they want to put him back into the asylums. So it's again modern marriage, modern modern couple versus society versus, let's say, the the established order. And he's with his wife and there is this gag when, because he he he he makes a mistake with a with a gesture, then he's got 2 fake, bosom and the, what what what's the word? The, I forgot how how you you say that. The the the wall,
Andy Nelson:The the the yarn, like, un
Grégoire Halbout:The yarn.
Andy Nelson:It unspools and unrolls.
Grégoire Halbout:Yes. Unravel. And so, all of a sudden, because of this failing anatomy and and as if he was naked, his wife who was his enemy becomes his ally. And they they regroup, and they I'm not talking about the end of the sex difference, but they are, on a common ground. And that's very, very, very I mean, it's MGM.
Grégoire Halbout:It's very bold. It's very, very cheeky. And of course, everything is well that will end well. But I I I find this this company, it's it's very much a, screwball comedy, with a a very strong, slapstick inflection. I would say much more than, Midnight.
Grégoire Halbout:I don't know if you agree with that.
Andy Nelson:Oh, yeah. This one very like, a lot of those slapstick antics. I think yeah. I mean, you get the playing crazy in that one, but I think it plays more as kind of character beats as everything. Like, when they're imagining when she tells the group that he's crazy, we just have to go along with him.
Andy Nelson:And and so he's saying, I'm a taxi driver. Oh, okay. Sure. Like, it's in the it's in the it's more of that kind of comedy in the dialogue and everything. Where here, you end up with a lot of just the slapstick comedy beats as he's trying to escape from the asylum, and he's hanging the hanging the the head of the asylum in the tree, using it as an example of how you get out so that he can escape.
Grégoire Halbout:Yes.
Andy Nelson:Right? Like like, you're getting all of these physical gags, and I think that's what this film really, plays with and and does exceptionally.
Grégoire Halbout:And and the the momentum, I mean, script wise, it's excellent because sometimes they have a sort of a dull moment in the middle or the end is a little bit tedious. But here, I mean, the the it escalate. It it rises up until this this last momentum, with the the unraveling, bosom, scene. And, yes, cross dressing, masculine transition, new mores, new times, gender equalization as well, but very funny, No moral. That's that's what is is so, refreshing with Skrubl Committee.
Grégoire Halbout:There is no, heavy societal message. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone is trying to do as much as one can as as you can. It's it's difficult.
Grégoire Halbout:You're not a single block like that. You can evolve into so many emotions and social roles, and, and that's allowed and recognized on the screen, I would say.
Andy Nelson:It's a lot of fun. I just really loved it. Let's talk about our last film here. This is Alfred Hitchcock's 1941 film, mister and missus Smith. Anne and David Smith, a happily married couple, discovered that their marriage is not legally valid due to a bureaucratic error.
Andy Nelson:Given the opportunity to reassess their relationship, David decides to take advantage of the situation and proposes a trial separation much to Anne's dismay. As the couple navigates their newfound single status and the complications that arise from their separation, they find themselves questioning the nature of love and commitment. Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery starred in this charming screwball comedy, a rare foray into the genre by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. We're getting this you know, you have this conversation early on when, you know, she there's this already this sense of their relationship painted from the beginning of the film. We start the film.
Andy Nelson:We don't know it, but they're basically mid fight refusing to like, he they won't leave the room until they they reconcile their differences. It's been 3 days now. His job is sending a courier to get him to sign documents and stuff because he just won't leave the room. They finally reconcile. We're getting the sense of kind of the the craziness of this relationship between the 2 of them.
Andy Nelson:And then, of course, once they reconcile as they're eating, she asks him, you know, if if you had it to do all over again, would you marry me? He's like, no. No. I guess not. You know, and that kind of that kind of sets things off in her mind of, like, wait a minute.
Andy Nelson:And then, of course, you have this whole thing where there's this error and they're not legally married, and then the decision, like, should they marry or not, and how that leads to kind of this antagonism between the 2 of them over the rest of the film. It was it was fun to see Alfred Hitchcock jumping into something that feels very different for him. It doesn't necessarily feel like a Hitchcock film, but maybe that's just because it's just such a different style. Although, Hitchcock can be very funny, and I think there's a lot of humor you see in his films throughout his, you know, his run and including, using sexual innuendo, when when necessary. But, yeah, what is it about this one that, why you had included it on the list?
Grégoire Halbout:It's a happy accident that it comes last because it's a sort of summary of, the reinvention of marriage by the Skruggl couple. And it's almost unbelievable the way it is so, vocal in the movie and so precisely stated. But just before we get into that, a little background about that movie, it was, Hitchcock's first American movie.
Andy Nelson:What would wait. He did Rebecca first. Right? Rebecca was the year before this. Right?
Grégoire Halbout:Wasn't it a British film?
Andy Nelson:I thought Rebecca was, his first with Selznick. Right? I I I I'm not gonna commit to that, but I I my my head was saying that it was Rebecca.
Grégoire Halbout:Well, we need to check our, or ask our friends, our our listeners to
Andy Nelson:Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:To send us emergency messages. But let's say it was one of his first, Hollywood movies and the studio RKO used for the the very first time in in the Hollywood history some qualitative pretest focus groups.
Andy Nelson:Oh, interesting.
Grégoire Halbout:First time. That's, Leo Handel who who was the did a break, groundbreaking research on the beginning of marketing in Hollywood. And, they usually they would have their sneak previews with cards and people would choose the the ending that they they prefer, just like Casablanca or other movies. Here it's a bit different. The marketing did the research and they had focus groups and they wanted to, gauge if putting the name of Hitchcock, Hitchcock's name on, all the promotion would be a plus for the movie because he was very famous, and and they wanted to assess that.
Grégoire Halbout:So that's one detail. It's it's quite interesting because making moving is a lot of craft, but it's also marketing. And it's a time when it's a pivotal moment. And also, Hitchcock was said to be so horrible during, the shooting that Carole Lombard, had a bull delivered to his place, to his, caravan. I don't know because she was, so that's,
Andy Nelson:Oh, my goodness.
Grégoire Halbout:Yeah. Because I don't think Hitchcock was very nice with his, women act with his actresses. And then, Carole Lombard in the movie, it's one of her last movies. I I think it's the one before To Be or Not to Be, The Lubitsch movie. And she's considered as a typical screwball heroine.
Grégoire Halbout:I personally find her a very, very much close to the kind of super slapstick, clownish kind of actress as opposed to Jane Arthur or Irene Dunne or, or others. She's really, how shall I say, taking the movie into the screwball, field, let's say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:And so the idea, what what is interesting is, of course, like you said, the the movie starts with, as a terrible scene, underway. And the bedroom is a battlefield. Yeah. It's a battlefield because it's a place not only where you make love, and they have to make love, obviously, several times before they allow one another to get out of the room. That's called makeup in bed.
Grégoire Halbout:But also they've been eating there for days and the servants were not allowed to clean the, to clear the room. And also they must have thrown lots of things at each other's.
Andy Nelson:It's a disaster, right?
Grégoire Halbout:It's a beast thing. That's what screwball is about. It's about fighting with each other and fighting, physically. That's what happens. And and Carole Lombard sort of, established the the the this kind of narrative, trope in 20th century because she's fighting all the time with, her impresario, John Barrymore.
Grégoire Halbout:That's one thing. But then it becomes more cerebral, more, theoretical because she's the one who finally decides that she will accept to go back to her husband who has changed his mind in terms of, let's have this kind of trial, apart. Because she says that not only he has to to propose again and let her know that he's still in love with her, but he has to reenact the constitution of the marriage. And they have, a private constitution with 7, 8 or 9 rules.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Right. Right. Right.
Grégoire Halbout:And they have to check that every month. And this is going to be reiterated for the rest of their conjugal life. And then when you watch that, when you listen to that, you're just thinking, okay, but there's a mar a prenuptial. There are rules that should suffice. No.
Grégoire Halbout:No. No. No. This is screwball marriage. Marriage is not a public thing.
Grégoire Halbout:It's redefined. It's an intimate matter and it has to be redefined by the partners. And and that's the model and that's Cavell insisted a lot on that. And, of course, it's it's very funny and she seems completely crazy, but he will comply with with her demands. And in fact, when you when you look back at at all those couples, they have no kids.
Andy Nelson:No. Yeah. Absolutely right.
Grégoire Halbout:And the whole thing is about to make it a simple thing to get along with one another, to accept the other, to discuss that, and to come up with terms acceptable for both. Be it a reconciliation kind of story or a first encounter story. And then the idea is that you have to renegotiate, all that. And this is going to take the place of a formal, union. And in that private contract, the couple and the family is no longer defined by the kids.
Grégoire Halbout:It's defined by the partners being together. And this is exactly what is modern marriage today. In France, we had that debate, heated debate about the same sex marriage a few years ago. And the legal approach to understand how, the law would change the definition of marriage, and it's the same in the US, is that marriage is no longer defined by the presence of a child. And so, paternity, but by 2 partners legally bound.
Grégoire Halbout:And then, the children, whoever are those partners, from where they are, they are, same sex, woman and and man, and then the children will be an addition to, the unit, let's say. And so, we're in 1941. We are in 1941 here. And it's I think it certainly was completely overlooked at that time. So it it can be considered as something like, female emancipation, women's emancipation, gender equalization, for sure.
Grégoire Halbout:But there's something stronger that is already, how shall I say, at work in those, in those comedies. Because otherwise, there's no reason why there's there are no children.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. It's it is setting up an interesting look at what is a relationship outside of, you know, what you would traditionally have seen as a relationship based on, I guess, religious views as far as, relationship and that the man was the center of the relationship and the woman was somebody who just took care of things, had the kids, took care of the house, all of that, but it was really like a man's world. And this genre, I think, certainly allowed for that shift, and you see that in as you're saying, in this comedy of this re essentially remarriage that we're getting here, in the words of Cavell.
Grégoire Halbout:And that changed after the war because after the war, the context was different.
Andy Nelson:Back to different. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:And it's it's the American dream again and in some very class in a classic way. There is this movie with Myrna Loy and Cary Grant, mister Blanding's dream house.
Andy Nelson:Yep. Builds a dream house. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:Yeah. They they they they they they have to go through an awful lot of issues and problems and things. But but the the the family is there, the 2 kids. I mean, it's like in my English textbooks when I was in in in secondary school, decades ago. It's it's it's very much a sort of very, classical representation again.
Grégoire Halbout:These 12 years, were really interesting in setting up some romcom standards and some of them were and that's understandable, certainly overlooked. Because they they they really, push the limits rather, rather far. If if you think of bigamy, as a public matter and something acceptable promoted by, high middle class, lady and marriage being something that is only, for the purpose of being happy together and that's it. In mister and missus Smith is is something very, very, very strong, intense, we would say today.
Andy Nelson:Well and it speaks to the nature of this particular subgenre and how it how it really kind of changed things. And then also how and I, you know, Wes and I certainly had a lengthy conversation about the the longevity of screwball comedy. And even though a lot of people look at it as like it ends when the war starts, you know, and you can see that. But at the same time, you can see all of the screwball elements and how they kind of continue through the decades and and, through to today. But you can definitely see, as we're talking about here, how the war really kind of shifted the viewpoint of the marriage and relationships and screwball comedies, romantic comedies, and how you it's funny because the production code was in place through all of this period with screwball comedies, but screwball comedies really push the bounds so much more than what happened once the war starts.
Grégoire Halbout:Because of that particular style, the innuendo, the way of playing, play on words, play on word with images. And, but I'm very struck by the fact that, over the past, let's say, 5 years, with the the shift of movie consumption from theaters, unfortunately, to streaming and, our hopes. So I'm I'm I'm checking as much as I can some recent, romcoms. And you can't say that this or that is a screwball committee because that would be, I think, a bit irrelevant. We're not at the same period in the same context.
Grégoire Halbout:But everybody makes reference, to screwball comedy. And there was, on Prime, there was this, romantic comedy called, it was called Red, White and Royal Blue completely, unlikely. And one of the, I attended a panel in Los Angeles this year and one of the secondary actresses, I think she's called Sara Shaie or something, she plays the president's assistant. And when she was asked how she got prepared for her role, she said and she's what, 35? And she said, well, I watched a lot of screwball comedies because that was a screwball role.
Grégoire Halbout:So it was a kind of semi professional, gathering or panel, but still, it's it's in the culture. It's it's in the the influence. And and the other one the other example is, and I'm not talking about masterpieces, of course, but there was on Netflix, 4 or 5 years ago, a movie called Love Guaranteed. And I mentioned that, in the book. And the ending is unbelievable.
Grégoire Halbout:It ends in court, of course. I think the lawyers, at at some point, I don't remember whose lawyer it is, but he she asks, the guy to publicly propose to, her client. And then, they exit the court and they're all together on the steps. And there's a reporter from a TV station ask commenting on the event and asking them to comment on this public, reconciliation and, happy event. So it's
Andy Nelson:It's right there. Yeah.
Grégoire Halbout:Yeah. So, it's everywhere. Yeah. And depending on the on the periods, in the in the 19 eighties, it was a a rather conservative kind of, state of mind for Hollywood, maybe after the seventies. And, the screwball style was certainly more, stifled.
Andy Nelson:Yeah. Well, regardless, it is a lot of fun. It's such a fun, subgenre to explore. The films are a blast. This is a great list of films to, to discuss and watch.
Andy Nelson:Gregoire, thank you so much for joining me here for this, special bonus episode. I really appreciate it.
Grégoire Halbout:My pleasure. Lovely conversation. Absolutely.
Andy Nelson:As far as, where people should track you down and and the, you know, your books and everything, do I just give a few quick plugs? Like, what's the name of your book? Where where should, like, people can go check it out at Amazon?
Grégoire Halbout:Thanks. The book is well, it's on Amazon. The book is called Hollywood's Crubble Committee, 1934, 1943. So here we have dates. Sex Love and Democratic ideals, and the publisher is Bloomsbury.
Andy Nelson:Excellent.
Grégoire Halbout:And you can find me on LinkedIn
Andy Nelson:if you want to ask questions also. Perfect. I'll have links for everything in the show notes, and, people can, check those out from there.
Grégoire Halbout:A big thank you, Andy.
Andy Nelson:Thank you so much. Next month, we'll embark on a laughter filled journey through the ever evolving landscape of the comedy genre. From the silent era's slapstick antics to the biting satire of modern times, we'll explore how comedy has masterfully tapped into the zeitgeist of every era, reflecting the hopes, fears, and absurdities of each generation. Join us as we examine how the humor of yesteryear can sometimes feel dated to modern audiences, revealing the changing values and sensibilities of our society while also uncovering the secret to comedy's enduring power, its ability to unite people across generations, cultures, and walks of life. Thanks for joining us on CinemaScope, part of the True Story FM Entertainment podcast network.
Andy Nelson:Music by Orcus, Randy Sharp, and I b y. Find us in the entire next real family of film podcast at true story dot f m. Follow us on social media at the next real, and please rate and review us if your podcast app allows. As we part ways, remember, your cinematic journey never ends. Stay curious.