Almost There: Cary Grant in "The Awful Truth"

by Cláudio Alves

Since last month, the Criterion Channel has hosted a curated collection of screwball comedies, spanning the subgenre's pre-Code genesis to its postwar decline. Among the many screwy delights, you'll find The Awful Truth, Leo McCarey's 1937 classic, and a Best Director Oscar winner to boot. Indeed, the movie was most beloved by the Academy, scoring five additional nominations, including for Picture, Actress, and Supporting Actor. According to contemporary publications, that last honor was a relative surprise, especially since the movie's leading man was left off the ballot altogether.

You would think a major star associated with such an awards juggernaut would have an easy time nabbing themselves a coattails nomination, but Cary Grant was out of luck in 1937. Well, when it comes to the AMPAS, he was often unfortunate, only ever getting their seal of approval in the early 40s with a couple of dips into melodrama-land. Though much of the star's legacy relies on comedies, Old Hollywood voters seemed perpetually unimpressed by Grant's funny business. In that regard, The Awful Truth stands out as his most egregious snub…

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1937: Olivia de Havilland in "It's Love I'm After"

The 1937 smackdown late tonight. Before each Smackdown Nick Taylor suggests alternates to Oscar's Supporting Actress ballot. 

First thing’s first, everyone should run to see It’s Love I’m After, a romantic farce that pulls liberally from the tropes of stage comedies while staying as fleet and entertaining as the best screwball films. If you’re a fan of above-the-title players Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Olivia de Havilland, relish in their easy camaraderie and shimmering star turns (and look out for Eric Blore’s put-upon, bird-imitating manservant, who steals the film every chance he gets). If you’re not a fan of these three, take heed! It’s Love I’m After gives these famous dramaturgists a ripe outlet for prime Hollywood farce way outside their most famous, legacy-defining role (All About Eve being the big exception). De Havilland in particular shines. I’ve never seen her flex her comedic chops like this, and she excels marvelously as an engaged socialite with a puppy-love celebrity crush that’s got her man increasingly anxious...

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"The Awful Truth" about Irene Dunne

by Baby Clyde

I adore Irene Dunne. Who doesn’t? She great in everything. She’s great AT everything. So why is she so little known these days? How can a woman who was an A List Movie star for 20 years during the Golden Age of Classic Hollywood be so little remembered? Obviously, she’s a big deal to Old Hollywood loving cinephiles but to the public at large she’s a more or less forgotten. I think this mainly comes down to the fact that she doesn’t really fit in anywhere. She was a Jack of all Trades and consequently isn’t specifically identified with one genre. In many ways her versatility was her downfall (in terms of staying in the public imagination).

She started in movies quite late. Born in 1898 she was already a fair bit older than most of her contemporaries when she headed West, after a successful if unspectacular Broadway career. Making her first film in 1930 she was an immediate hit. Her second film, 1931’s Cimarron, won the Best Picture Academy Award and she received the 1st of her five Best Actress nominations...

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Revisiting the original "A Star Is Born"

by Cláudio Alves

As the next Supporting Actress Smackdown approaches, The Film Experience is celebrating the cinematic year of 1937. It was then that Hollywood consolidated its favorite myth about itself. While the story model had been making the rounds for ages, both in gossip and on-screen (check out What Price Hollywood?), William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born is the first movie of its name. The tale of Norman Maine and Vicky Lester, his downfall and her rise to fame, would be told three more times to great effect, but one should never forget the original. Not when the movie is this pristine, written to formidable effect by a team that included the legendary Dorothy Parker and performed with utmost conviction by Fredric March and Janet Gaynor…

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1937: Lucille La Verne in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

The 1937 smackdown arrives on Sunday October 3rd. Before each Smackdown Nick Taylor suggests alternates to Oscar's Supporting Actress ballot. 

by Nick Taylor

The Evil Queen of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first character in any animated feature to speak on screen. Her voice is provided by Lucille La Verne, a storied theatre actress who’d gone on to have a wildly successful career in silent cinema, and who would ultimately give her final performance for this film. It’s about as iconic a farewell as one could hope for. Her rendering of the Queen is one of the many achievements that would make Snow White an instant classic, and Walt Disney Animation into a medium-defining juggernaut. With so much of The Queen’s impact derived from Snow White’s groundbreaking visual elements, there’s a degree to which the character would shine even without such a commanding voice. Yet, by the same token, La Verne’s contribution would flourish even in a less auspicious version of this tale, endowing her Evil Queen with a ruthless, unrepentant menace and villainous glee. Her look is immortal, but where would she be without her laugh?

It’s almost beside the point to offer any kind of plot summary on Snow White, but allow me a brief retelling...

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