@@surprisinglyblank2392 Asta got a lot of work. (I want to say he was the Bark Ruffalo of his time, but I don't actually know how much work Lilliput gets.)
It is extremely rare for a TH-cam reactor to have the brains to pick a relatively unknown masterpiece like this. My compliments on making such a smart choice of a movie to react to. I first became aware of it on TV about half a century ago and have the DVD. Most reactors are terrified at the idea of reacting to something that hasn't been reacted to at least 10 times before. This movie first made me aware of Irene Dunne and Ralph Bellamy. All of the leads are absolutely brilliant in this. I wish that other reactors would follow your example, but if I recommended that they react to a 1937 movie that's only be reacted to once before, I probably should have emergency medical personnel standing by to revive them.
Make Way for Tomorrow is an absolutely heartbreaking masterpiece that hardly anyone has seen. No stars, no music, no glamour but hinging on a great love story of a lifelong couple forced to seperate because of age & poverty. No wonder it wasn’t popular but it’s equally relevant for today and could easily be one of my top ten ever movie experiences. He won an Oscar for The Awful Truth but said “they gave me an Oscar for the wrong picture”.
Others have mentioned it, but My Favorite Wife shares some of the same story elements but with a twist. It's an absolute treat and stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne as well. Cary Grant's wife was lost in a shipwreck/at sea and now seven years later he is declaring her formally dead-so he can remarry but his 'dead' wife turns up on the day of his wedding, healthy and very much alive!
Now you know what the exchange in Bringing Up Baby was about, where Hepburn refers to Grant as "Jerry the nipper," and Grant responds "she's making all this up from films she's seen!" Which, of course, she is! 😂Perhaps the very first meta joke.
To see Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in an entirely different kind of movie, watch "Penny Serenade." A lot of people dismiss it as a "three hanky yarn," but I think it is sweet. I have used it to prove that a major male star DID allow himself to be shown crying in the 1940s. And I don't know much about football, but I have read a lot of books published in the early years of the 20th century and they often mention college football. According to Wikipedia college football developed in the middle of the 19th century. Robert Benchley was complaining in the early 1930s about the changing rules of football in his essay "How to Watch Football."
Heck, the King of Hollywood and man's man, Clark Gable, during the filming of "GWTW" didn't want to look unmasculine and cry (in 1939 or late 30s due to length of shooting/pre and post production) during Scarlett's accident and then miscarriage/illness, and he was so nervous about it that he refused to do so, but Olivia de Havilland talked with and convinced Gable to cry during that scene as he had essentially lost a child and almost his wife from his cruel words and emotional abuse so it would absolutely be appropriate to cry and have visible tears...Gable killed that scene and was still no less un-manly. Definitely earned his Oscar nomination.
Look Mia! That Dog who played Mr. Smith is a Wire Fox Terrier named Skippy, He is the same dog best known for the role of Asta from The Thin Man movie series and George from Bringing Up Baby.
Poor Ralph Bellamy! I realize that this came out before His Girl Friday, but I watched (and Mia watched) His Girl Friday first. It's the second time I've seen Ralph Bellamy be the love interest to Cary Grant's ex, he's also a bit of a mama's boy in both, and he ultimately loses out to Cary Grant in both. What type-casting for poor Ralph Bellamy.
Irene Dunne is an incredibly charming talent. I highly recommend ***** I Remember Mama *****, Love Affair (the original Affair to Remember), and Theodora Goes Wild. I hope you discover Dorothy McQuire at some point, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Spiral Staircase, The Enchanted Cottage, etc.. and Billy Wilders' Ninotchka starring Greta Garbo!!!
Not only the film that made Cary Grant a real star, but the one that established a recurring feature of his movie persona: he was always playing a divorced man. The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, North By Northwest ("I've got a mother, two ex-wives, and several bartenders dependent on me"). By the time he made Charade it was a running gag, as every time Audrey Hepburn learns he has a different name and asks him if there is a Mrs. Whatever, he always answers "Yes, but we're divorced."
Now you should check out their next film together, My Favorite Wife (1940), which was remade in 1963 as Move Over, Darling, starring Doris Day and James Garner.
As Olivia noted, it was to be remade with Marilyn. Dean Martin was the male lead. Something's Got to Give. It looked like it would have been fun! But MM was fired due to frequent absences. She was in negotiations with Fox to get the film back into production, but she died before anything was settled. Ten or so years ago, Fox pieced together what had been filmed and it's available on YT. It was then filmed a few months later using some of the same sets but an entirely different cast.
Nice reaction, but I was surprised that you didn’t mention the six Oscar nominations (including best picture, Dunne, Bellamy as supporting actor, and a win for McCarey as director). I often get this confused with “My Favorite Wife,” which is also outstanding, but I haven’t seen either movie in about 50 years. It’s hilarious how Bellamy plays a virtually identical role in “His Girl Friday,” also opposite Grant.
Glad you're back on Cary Grant. Hoping to see you do Holiday with Cary and Katharine soon. I've scoured TH-cam and can't find anyone reacting to that classic. You could be the first.
@@RenfrewPrume That does make it difficult to describe to people when you try to recommend it, but I think that's part of why those who know it love it so much:. It's too heartfelt to be a screwball comedy, too funny to be called a drama. I guess it's a romantic comedy, but I can't think of a romantic comedy that feels or unfolds the way that Holiday does. It's unique, its own genre.
Haven't seen this movie since I was a child, Cary Grant being one of my favorite Golden Age of Hollywood Actors. 'The Awful Truth' was pre-Bringing up baby and The Philadelphia Story in style. Irene Dunne had certain inflections in the way she spoke and mannerisms in her scenes with (Cary Grant) similar to Katherine Hepburn. Cary and Irene had great chemistry in this movie. Cary and Irene were paired again, in the movie Penny Serenade in 1941. Also, the set design along with the 1930's style of dressing was so classy and captivating. People were so neat and clean, with class and style, back in the days.
Irene Dunne is such an all around actress as a comedic actress and serious. She was a classic operatic singer, Grant and Dunne did a movie called Penny Serenade. A dramatic movie. Irene Dunne was also brilliantly funny and serious in Life With Father as was William Powell.
I can't remember who said it (I don't think it was Grant) but an actor who worked with her said that when Irene Dunne walked into a room, men would unconsciously straighten their ties. She was nicknamed the First Lady of Hollywood.
Three Women ruled Columbia Pictures during the 1930s - Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth and Irene Dunne. This movie will give you a glimpse on brilliant she was in the movie with the perfect cast.
Irene Dunne's performance in this classic reminds me of Jean Arthur. Check out Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) (with Gary Cooper), Easy Living (1937) (with Ray Milland), You Can't Take It with You (1938) (with James Stewart), and Only Angels Have Wings (1939) (with Cary Grant) for a few tastes of her in screwball comedies. Also for more from Irene Dunne, I Remember Mama (1948), but bring some tissue because you might need it for that one.
"I am a great teacher, not a great lover." "That's right, Armand. No one could ever accuse you of being a great lover." Fun Fact: Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006. What Script Fact: Much of the film was improvised by director Leo McCarey and the cast during filming each day. Automobile Enthusiast Fact: Lucy's (Irene Dunne) car is a 1936 Packard 120 convertible coupe. The original cost was around $1,000 (nearly $21,000 in 2023). In 2023, in excellent condition, this car could be worth more than $120,000. Hot Take Fact: For a critical scene in which Mr. Smith (Asta, played by Skippy) is to leap into Jerry Warriner's arms, a white rubber mouse (one of the dog's favorite toys) was placed in Cary Grant's breast pocket. But whenever Grant held his arms open, the dog would dodge him at the last moment. It took several days to get the shot. Dog Wangler Fact: The dog playing Mr. Smith, originally named Skippy, was most popular for its role in The Thin Man (1934) and its sequels as Asta. On those movie sets, he was notorious for trying to bite the actors. Even in this film, there's a scene where Cary Grants is trying to play with the dog, and the dog very obviously snaps and growls at him.
My favorite comedy from this era is "The Twentieth Century" directed by Howard Hawks with John Barrymore and Carole Lombard as the sparring couple (as a couple of egomaniacs) , but "The Awful Truth" would definitely be in my top 10.
Seconded! I know I mentioned that I was born in the wrong era, which I do believe! I just would want to live in a similar time as that minus the bigotry! Other than that, it was a glamorous time!!
The effective beginning of North American football was when in 1874 Harvard (US) played McGill (Canada). This was a two-game series between the Harvard Crimson and the McGill Redmen held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 14th and 15th of May 1874. With the first game being played under the Harvard's "Boston rules", the second one was the first rugby-style football game played in the United States. It used three periods or "games" and ended in a scoreless tie. The two North American rule systems developed separately on either side of the border after that.
You mentioned "Make Way For Tomorrow" but didn't see that you have reacted to it. It's such a bittersweet story, so I hope you do it some day. Another would be "The Enchanted Cottage".
My great-grandfather played on the first football team for the University of Colorado in 1890. The first year they played rugby rules (and they lost every game). The second year they played Harvard rules which became the rules for American football (they won most of their games with an Episcopal priest acting as a coach). Great movie review as always, of one of my favorite Cary Grant movies.
You're the best reactor on TH-cam because you really do choose the absolute classics. If you love Cary Grant like I do check out 'Gunga Din' (1939) made a couple of years after this.
Excellent review and reaction, Mia! 🙌 That “Class of 92” comment blew my mind for a moment there, I guess it can be hard to believe that there are now movies and videos from more or less a century ago which - naturally - referred to the 1890s as the 90s! 😝 Just shows what a relatively narrow era of human history has been captured on recorded media so far, and how we’ll probably have to adjust the nomenclature of years and decades accordingly as this gradually broadens 😝
Love your reaction to one of my favorite movies! I wanted to mention that the film Leo McCarey made that flopped, "Make Way For Tomorrow" is considered by many critics nowadays to be a truly great film. I concur. Maybe one of the reasons it failed at the time is because the subject matter, about an older couple who get into financial trouble and basically have nowhere to go, is tough to watch, emotionally. You might not want to react to it but I suggest watching, it is a great film. Hope My Favorite Wife will be on your list to react to! Wonderful film! 💓
Love this film, but one thing always puzzled me. The scene with Cary, discussing Irene and Ralph's upcoming marriage (sarcastic about his ex-wife moving to Tulsa with mama's boy Ralph) is almost exactly like the scene in His Girl Friday where Cary mocks ex-wife Rosalind Russell's upcoming marriage and moving to Albany with mama's boy Bellamy. I believe His Girl Friday came after this film, so I wonder if there was any mention of the writers ripping off this scene. Also- Please react to Penny Serenade with Grant and Dunne. Cary was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance, mostly for notable scene that is sure to make you cry!
"His Girl Friday" was a reworking of a famous stage play, "The Front Page" (1928) by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. An earlier version, closer to the play, was made in 1932.
I know the history of His Girl Friday. But the original was 2 men, so obviously the subplot with a divorced wife and therefore this conversation was not in the play.@@RenfrewPrume
I first saw this movie a few weeks ago and thought it was hilarious! “If things get dull you can always go to Tulsa for the weekend!” 😂Cary Grant and Irene Dunne had great chemistry. I enjoyed it more than My Favorite Wife. Great review!
Irene Dunne is brilliant in _Show Boat._ I much prefer the 1936 version to the '51 Grayson/Keel film. The '36 also has wonderful performances by Helen Morgan and the great Paul Robeson.
22:02 Ralph Bellamay usually played the same character the nice guy who never got the girl. A movie he played against type was "Lady on a Train." 1944 A Deana Durbin Mystery comedy. Any movie with Durbin is worth a watch especially when she sings.
@@ASmiffff Deana Durbin is hardly known today, but she had great comedic talent that was only matched by her voice. One reason she's not known is she did not give any interviews after she left Hollywood. It is a shame.
@@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344 She had genuine star quality. I respect that she walked away from Hollywood on her own terms and just enjoyed the rest of her life.
@@ASmiffff I also respect her decision, but also feel that there is a loss to film history. We as film buffs can no longer get her insights and anecdotes.
My Favorite Wife and Penny Serenade are 2 more with Cary & Irene Dunn. I love them even more than this one! And the movie 'Leatherheads' is about the start of football - George Clooney, John Krasinski, and Renee Zellweiger star.
This was a great film, I've watched it a number of times. Cary & Irene had great chemistry. They were in several films together. She had a long career, was a beautiful lady.
Love all ot Cary Grant and grew up on these 30s to early 70s masterpieces due to my aunt and my grandpa who grew up during the Depression and loved Laurel and Hardy or swashbuckling films with one of his favorites, Errol Flynn, in films like "Captain Blood," etc. My aunt was/is really the classic movie film buff who started my education on these from her own knowledge, reading film wnd cinema books or specific actors biographies, and good taste as well as introducing me to TCM channel and listening to th4 late great Robert Osborne's commentary of trivia and background information about the films/actors/directors, etc. This is one of my favorite of all time and Top 10 overall. Normally, Mia's commentary and observations are on point but not today. She completely misjudged the wise, knowing, sarcastic Aunt Patsy and other nuances or just more obvious things or quotes like "Jerry the Nipper" which Kate Hepburn used in "BUB" where he says "Constable, she's making this up from th4 motion pictures she's seen." That Dunne was trying to be more trashy and gauche new money, emulating Dixie Belle Lee when she was pretending to be the sister. Another great quote besides the "If you should ever get bored, you can always go over to Tulsa for the weekend," is "Nobody move! I've lost my purse!"...which in the movie is so tunny as these people are generationally old money people who wouldn't need her few dollars, besides the fact that she just insulted them by saying something so rude. This was nominated for quite a few Oscars, and Leo McCarey won Best Director. Personally, I'd have to say that "BUB" is the first, true screwball comedy and not the more romantic comedies that get mistaken as screwball like "IHON" and "TAT"...which at least the latter had some screwball elements but nothing on the all out zany "BUB" level.
If you haven't seen it before, I recommend you watch "My Favorite Wife" (1940) starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. This film was RKO's second-biggest hit of 1940 after "Kitty Foyle." A remake of "My Favorite Wife" titled "Something's Got To Give" starring Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin was started in 1962, but was never finished due to Marilyn Monroe's death on August 4, 1962. The remake was overhauled in 1963 and titled "Move Over, Darling" starring Doris Day and James Garner. At the 21st Golden Globe Awards, Doris Day was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical for her role in "Move Over, Darling," but she lost to Shirley MacLaine in "Irma la Douce."
A Howard Hawks screwball comedy with Cary Grant and Marylin Monroe (supporting role) and Ginger Rogers called Monkey Business 1952. Silly movie but some of Cary’s best physical comedy.
You wondered about divorce in 1937…That’s the year my parents and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor married. She was twice-divorced and he had to give up being King to marry her. Do see EDWARD AND MRS SIMPSON mini series for a brilliant telling of their love story. Can’t recommend it highly enough. Thank you for noticing the balloons, a charming detail I had missed. Surely mimicking champagne.
Football goes back a ways. They used to wear leather helmets and it was more brutal. There's a movie about how it used to be with George Clooney and John Krasinski called "Leatherheads."
Irene Dunne was also in _Love Affair,_ which was later remade as _An Affair to Remember_ with Cary Grant. I'm not sure whether you've done either of those.
For some reason I never "got," this movie. I like Dunne and Grant. "My Favorite Wife," 1940 is always funny to me. I should watch "The Awful Truth," again.
i didnt know they had two previous versions of this movie!! and it's one of my favourite movies ever! i'll try to find the other two so i can watch them, but i'm quite sure this will still be my fave. irene and cary were perfect in this, love how they have such great chemistry and comedy timing. oh, and this dog reminds me of asta (the thin man series)... is it possible to be the same dog?
@@MoviesWithMia Remember the charming old gentleman whose company Richard Gere was going to buy and break up, but then at the end he decides to go into partnership with instead? That was Ralph Bellamy. He had a long and amazingly varied career. After making his fame as the guy who doesn't get the girl in screwball comedies in the 1930's and 40's, he found stardom again in the 1950's and 60's as the defining portrayer of Franklin D. Roosevelt when he played FDR on stage and screen in "Sunrise at Campobello." Then in the 1980's he had another memorable role as one of the two brothers (Don Ameche was the other) who make the bet that has Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd switch lives in "Trading Places." Pretty Woman was his last major role in a 60 year career!
@@MoviesWithMia And here's the thing Mia, Ralph Bellamy, Richard Gere and Julia Roberts did a dinner scene together. Which means that Julia Roberts is only 1 degree of separation from Cary Grant!
And where was the "Ralph Bellamy is SO handsome!" when he appeared onscreen in Rosemary's Baby, as Dr. Sapirstein, Satan's obstetrician. And when The Red Shoes??
Hi Mia, I'd love to see you react to one of Greta Garbo's movies! It's a pity that she seems to be almost forgotten by the younger generation, even though she was one of the world's biggest movie stars, with a face and charisma like no other. Her best films are Anna Karenina, Camille, Queen Christina and her only comedy, Ninotchka. The first three are period pieces, with Anna Karenina based upon a classic Russian novel, Camille upon the French play La dame aux camélias, and Queen Christina upon the life of the historical 17th century Swedish queen of the same name. Ninotchka by famous filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch is a political satire/comedy in a contemporary setting. Garbo's very mysterious and fascinating face and her intense expressions make watching her movies an experience like no other. Try!
@@MoviesWithMia Oh most definitely. It's definitely dated in some aspects but it's funny and very entertaining. I'll only say one thing to keep in mind. Jungle Red.
You should reviw "Project Blue Sky" main character jesica lane is the wofe of a military officer who is assigned to the start of underground testing of nuclear weapons. 1994 movies based in 1960. Jessica is a marilyn type with a unstable emotions who has to fight for her husbands freedom after being set up in a messed up way bu the military. You would love it she won a oascar for her role.
Interestingly, Ralph Bellamy played a very similar role in the 1940 film His Girl Friday starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Highly recommend, another great screwball comedy.
I been watching this movie for about three days now. It is a very good movie. I think I originally watched it right after "Bringing Up Baby," and was disappointed. "The Awful Truth," is funny but not as funny as the former. The odd part to me about "The Awful Truth," and Bring Up Baby, is that the latter borrowed and themes, bits and outright direct reference to "The Awful Truth." It's almost the same movie except Grant's character in "Bringing Up Baby," is not pretentious but absent minded, Jerry the Nipper is a direct reference, the purse scene, the top hat scene.
Make Way For Tomorrow is a beautiful movie, but it's about growing old, still not a subject to draw a big audience, so not surprising that it was such a box-office flop.
@@HuntingViolets Absolutely! I first saw it in a college film class. In the years since when I've brought it up even to people I know are movie buffs I rarely find anyone else who has even heard of it.
@@DanielOrme I had to have a friend tape it off of TCM for me to watch, but that tape is long gone now. It was hard to get, at least at the time, but I think I read about it in _Romantic Comedy_ by James Harvey (I could be misremembering this). It deserves to be more widely seen.
The ties between this and Bringing Up Baby are too blatant to be accidental. Cary is about to marry Barbara VANCE, the madcap heiress. Hepburn did that role for laughs in BUB, where she was named Susan VANCE. WHen Dunne is sabotaging Cary's engagement, she refers to him,as Jerry The Nipper; in BUB Hepburn, trying to pass herself off as a gun kill, refers to Cary in the adjoining cell as the leader of the Leopard Gang. His real name, she says, is...Jerry The Nipper!! At that point, Cary breaks the fourth wall (kinda) and says, "Constable, she's making all that up from motion pictures she's seen!" nodding to The Awful Truth. Me, I'd take Hepburn over Dunne any day. Apparently she could have been a stunt woman due to her physical fearlessness. Cary was a skilled athlete but he did NOT want to be in the same zip code as the Leopard.
Mia, you're channel is wonderful. Glad you've discovered this particular irreplaceable film. But. Why are you not at times in hysterics? This film is sidesplitting. C'mon.
My Favorite Wife would be a great bookend to this.
True.
Yes, much happier than Penny Serenade.
@@BeeWhistler Also worth watching.
Yes! Good call!
This is also the dog who played Asta in the Thin Man movies and George in _Bringing Up Baby._
I thought he looked familiar! I wasn't sure if it was the same dog or if that was just a popular dog breed at the time.
@@surprisinglyblank2392 Asta got a lot of work. (I want to say he was the Bark Ruffalo of his time, but I don't actually know how much work Lilliput gets.)
It is extremely rare for a TH-cam reactor to have the brains to pick a relatively unknown masterpiece like this. My compliments on making such a smart choice of a movie to react to. I first became aware of it on TV about half a century ago and have the DVD. Most reactors are terrified at the idea of reacting to something that hasn't been reacted to at least 10 times before. This movie first made me aware of Irene Dunne and Ralph Bellamy. All of the leads are absolutely brilliant in this.
I wish that other reactors would follow your example, but if I recommended that they react to a 1937 movie that's only be reacted to once before, I probably should have emergency medical personnel standing by to revive them.
Make Way for Tomorrow is an absolutely heartbreaking masterpiece that hardly anyone has seen. No stars, no music, no glamour but hinging on a great love story of a lifelong couple forced to seperate because of age & poverty. No wonder it wasn’t popular but it’s equally relevant for today and could easily be one of my top ten ever movie experiences.
He won an Oscar for The Awful Truth but said “they gave me an Oscar for the wrong picture”.
Others have mentioned it, but My Favorite Wife shares some of the same story elements but with a twist. It's an absolute treat and stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne as well. Cary Grant's wife was lost in a shipwreck/at sea and now seven years later he is declaring her formally dead-so he can remarry but his 'dead' wife turns up on the day of his wedding, healthy and very much alive!
Now you know what the exchange in Bringing Up Baby was about, where Hepburn refers to Grant as "Jerry the nipper," and Grant responds "she's making all this up from films she's seen!" Which, of course, she is! 😂Perhaps the very first meta joke.
To see Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in an entirely different kind of movie, watch "Penny Serenade." A lot of people dismiss it as a "three hanky yarn," but I think it is sweet. I have used it to prove that a major male star DID allow himself to be shown crying in the 1940s.
And I don't know much about football, but I have read a lot of books published in the early years of the 20th century and they often mention college football. According to Wikipedia college football developed in the middle of the 19th century. Robert Benchley was complaining in the early 1930s about the changing rules of football in his essay "How to Watch Football."
Heck, the King of Hollywood and man's man, Clark Gable, during the filming of "GWTW" didn't want to look unmasculine and cry (in 1939 or late 30s due to length of shooting/pre and post production) during Scarlett's accident and then miscarriage/illness, and he was so nervous about it that he refused to do so, but Olivia de Havilland talked with and convinced Gable to cry during that scene as he had essentially lost a child and almost his wife from his cruel words and emotional abuse so it would absolutely be appropriate to cry and have visible tears...Gable killed that scene and was still no less un-manly. Definitely earned his Oscar nomination.
It's a tearjerker for sure, but particularly of note because Grant was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.
@@saucermcfly I thought all the actors did a beautiful job!
This is one of my favourite classic comedies.
Ralph Bellamy was so young there. Great actor.
"Jerry the Nipper" was reused in _Bringing Up Baby._
Can't believe she didn't mention and catch that....
Look Mia! That Dog who played Mr. Smith is a Wire Fox Terrier named Skippy, He is the same dog best known for the role of Asta from The Thin Man movie series and George from Bringing Up Baby.
I knew Mr. Smith looked familiar 🥰 my favorite little classic movie pup 🐶
Poor Ralph Bellamy! I realize that this came out before His Girl Friday, but I watched (and Mia watched) His Girl Friday first. It's the second time I've seen Ralph Bellamy be the love interest to Cary Grant's ex, he's also a bit of a mama's boy in both, and he ultimately loses out to Cary Grant in both. What type-casting for poor Ralph Bellamy.
And very specific too it's almost a gag on its own.
Irene Dunne is an incredibly charming talent. I highly recommend ***** I Remember Mama *****, Love Affair (the original Affair to Remember), and Theodora Goes Wild. I hope you discover Dorothy McQuire at some point, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Spiral Staircase, The Enchanted Cottage, etc.. and Billy Wilders' Ninotchka starring Greta Garbo!!!
Ninotchka!
I concur with everything you said!
I absolutely love Irene Dunne.
Nearly anything from Billy Wilder!!
Not only the film that made Cary Grant a real star, but the one that established a recurring feature of his movie persona: he was always playing a divorced man. The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, North By Northwest ("I've got a mother, two ex-wives, and several bartenders dependent on me"). By the time he made Charade it was a running gag, as every time Audrey Hepburn learns he has a different name and asks him if there is a Mrs. Whatever, he always answers "Yes, but we're divorced."
Now you should check out their next film together, My Favorite Wife (1940), which was remade in 1963 as Move Over, Darling, starring Doris Day and James Garner.
They tried to remake it with Marilyn Monroe too.
As Olivia noted, it was to be remade with Marilyn. Dean Martin was the male lead. Something's Got to Give. It looked like it would have been fun! But MM was fired due to frequent absences. She was in negotiations with Fox to get the film back into production, but she died before anything was settled. Ten or so years ago, Fox pieced together what had been filmed and it's available on YT. It was then filmed a few months later using some of the same sets but an entirely different cast.
Nice reaction, but I was surprised that you didn’t mention the six Oscar nominations (including best picture, Dunne, Bellamy as supporting actor, and a win for McCarey as director). I often get this confused with “My Favorite Wife,” which is also outstanding, but I haven’t seen either movie in about 50 years. It’s hilarious how Bellamy plays a virtually identical role in “His Girl Friday,” also opposite Grant.
The Mr. Smith custody battle is legendary. Love this one to death!
Great film. It won the Academy Award for Best Directing.
Glad you're back on Cary Grant. Hoping to see you do Holiday with Cary and Katharine soon. I've scoured TH-cam and can't find anyone reacting to that classic.
You could be the first.
"Holiday" is my Favorite Movie Ever! I'd love a Mia reaction. Please???
"Holiday" is one of my favorites from the Golden Age of Hollywood, but it is hard to characterize: romance-comedy-drama?
@@RenfrewPrume I'm going with Romantic Dramady.
I love that movie. And shout out to Lew Ayres, whose supporting role was brilliantly performed.
@@RenfrewPrume That does make it difficult to describe to people when you try to recommend it, but I think that's part of why those who know it love it so much:. It's too heartfelt to be a screwball comedy, too funny to be called a drama. I guess it's a romantic comedy, but I can't think of a romantic comedy that feels or unfolds the way that Holiday does. It's unique, its own genre.
Haven't seen this movie since I was a child, Cary Grant being one of my favorite Golden Age of Hollywood Actors. 'The Awful Truth' was pre-Bringing up baby and The Philadelphia Story in style. Irene Dunne had certain inflections in the way she spoke and mannerisms in her scenes with (Cary Grant) similar to Katherine Hepburn. Cary and Irene had great chemistry in this movie. Cary and Irene were paired again, in the movie Penny Serenade in 1941. Also, the set design along with the 1930's style of dressing was so classy and captivating. People were so neat and clean, with class and style, back in the days.
Hooray for the almost forgotten but always fabulous Irene Dunne ❤
Irene Dunne is such an all around actress as a comedic actress and serious. She was a classic operatic singer, Grant and Dunne did a movie called Penny Serenade. A dramatic movie. Irene Dunne was also brilliantly funny and serious in Life With Father as was William Powell.
Speaking of _Life with Father,_ she was also Mama in _I Remember Mama -- they make a great double feature.
I can't remember who said it (I don't think it was Grant) but an actor who worked with her said that when Irene Dunne walked into a room, men would unconsciously straighten their ties. She was nicknamed the First Lady of Hollywood.
Three Women ruled Columbia Pictures during the 1930s - Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth and Irene Dunne. This movie will give you a glimpse on brilliant she was in the movie with the perfect cast.
Ralph Bellamy was the perfect comic foil in this and His Girl Friday. He was also great as Randolph Duke in Trading Places.
I've seen this movie so many times over the years and the song "Gone With The Wind" (the nightclub version, with the wind effects) STILL breaks me up!
Irene Dunne's performance in this classic reminds me of Jean Arthur. Check out Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) (with Gary Cooper), Easy Living (1937) (with Ray Milland), You Can't Take It with You (1938) (with James Stewart), and Only Angels Have Wings (1939) (with Cary Grant) for a few tastes of her in screwball comedies. Also for more from Irene Dunne, I Remember Mama (1948), but bring some tissue because you might need it for that one.
I’m so glad you finally reacted to this!!!!
"I am a great teacher, not a great lover."
"That's right, Armand. No one could ever accuse you of being a great lover."
Fun Fact: Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.
What Script Fact: Much of the film was improvised by director Leo McCarey and the cast during filming each day.
Automobile Enthusiast Fact: Lucy's (Irene Dunne) car is a 1936 Packard 120 convertible coupe. The original cost was around $1,000 (nearly $21,000 in 2023). In 2023, in excellent condition, this car could be worth more than $120,000.
Hot Take Fact: For a critical scene in which Mr. Smith (Asta, played by Skippy) is to leap into Jerry Warriner's arms, a white rubber mouse (one of the dog's favorite toys) was placed in Cary Grant's breast pocket. But whenever Grant held his arms open, the dog would dodge him at the last moment. It took several days to get the shot.
Dog Wangler Fact: The dog playing Mr. Smith, originally named Skippy, was most popular for its role in The Thin Man (1934) and its sequels as Asta. On those movie sets, he was notorious for trying to bite the actors. Even in this film, there's a scene where Cary Grants is trying to play with the dog, and the dog very obviously snaps and growls at him.
"I am not a man, I am Beddini!"
Fred and Ginger!
My favorite comedy from this era is "The Twentieth Century" directed by Howard Hawks with John Barrymore and Carole Lombard as the sparring couple (as a couple of egomaniacs) , but "The Awful Truth" would definitely be in my top 10.
This one reminds me of "We're No Angels' in the sense that no matter how laugh out loud these films may or may not be their charm shines through.
I know what you mean about the elegant clothes. I don’t want to live in that era but I sure want the clothes to come back
Seconded! I know I mentioned that I was born in the wrong era, which I do believe! I just would want to live in a similar time as that minus the bigotry! Other than that, it was a glamorous time!!
Irene Dunne had the best laugh!
The effective beginning of North American football was when in 1874 Harvard (US) played McGill (Canada). This was a two-game series between the Harvard Crimson and the McGill Redmen held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 14th and 15th of May 1874. With the first game being played under the Harvard's "Boston rules", the second one was the first rugby-style football game played in the United States. It used three periods or "games" and ended in a scoreless tie. The two North American rule systems developed separately on either side of the border after that.
In the 30's the Eggnog they are talking about is an alcoholic cocktail. No holiday needed, enjoy it year round.
You mentioned "Make Way For Tomorrow" but didn't see that you have reacted to it. It's such a bittersweet story, so I hope you do it some day.
Another would be "The Enchanted Cottage".
30:19 The man is Robert Warwick. He was Police Commissioner Stevens in "Doctor X." 1932. A two-strip Technicolor horror film.
32:57 The "Car and Top hat," was a theme in "Bringing Up Baby."
My great-grandfather played on the first football team for the University of Colorado in 1890. The first year they played rugby rules (and they lost every game). The second year they played Harvard rules which became the rules for American football (they won most of their games with an Episcopal priest acting as a coach). Great movie review as always, of one of my favorite Cary Grant movies.
You're the best reactor on TH-cam because you really do choose the absolute classics. If you love Cary Grant like I do check out 'Gunga Din' (1939) made a couple of years after this.
Excellent review and reaction, Mia! 🙌
That “Class of 92” comment blew my mind for a moment there, I guess it can be hard to believe that there are now movies and videos from more or less a century ago which - naturally - referred to the 1890s as the 90s! 😝
Just shows what a relatively narrow era of human history has been captured on recorded media so far, and how we’ll probably have to adjust the nomenclature of years and decades accordingly as this gradually broadens 😝
32:24 "The Purse," was a theme in "Bringing Up Baby."
26:31 In "Bringing Up Baby," Katherine Hepburn characters last name was Vance, Susan Vance.
Love your reaction to one of my favorite movies! I wanted to mention that the film Leo McCarey made that flopped, "Make Way For Tomorrow" is considered by many critics nowadays to be a truly great film. I concur. Maybe one of the reasons it failed at the time is because the subject matter, about an older couple who get into financial trouble and basically have nowhere to go, is tough to watch, emotionally. You might not want to react to it but I suggest watching, it is a great film. Hope My Favorite Wife will be on your list to react to! Wonderful film! 💓
Love this film, but one thing always puzzled me. The scene with Cary, discussing Irene and Ralph's upcoming marriage (sarcastic about his ex-wife moving to Tulsa with mama's boy Ralph) is almost exactly like the scene in His Girl Friday where Cary mocks ex-wife Rosalind Russell's upcoming marriage and moving to Albany with mama's boy Bellamy. I believe His Girl Friday came after this film, so I wonder if there was any mention of the writers ripping off this scene. Also- Please react to Penny Serenade with Grant and Dunne. Cary was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance, mostly for notable scene that is sure to make you cry!
"His Girl Friday" was a reworking of a famous stage play, "The Front Page" (1928) by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. An earlier version, closer to the play, was made in 1932.
I know the history of His Girl Friday. But the original was 2 men, so obviously the subplot with a divorced wife and therefore this conversation was not in the play.@@RenfrewPrume
I first saw this movie a few weeks ago and thought it was hilarious! “If things get dull you can always go to Tulsa for the weekend!” 😂Cary Grant and Irene Dunne had great chemistry. I enjoyed it more than My Favorite Wife. Great review!
Always great when Mia uploads!
Wow this made my day 😁
One of my favorite movies... Well, anyone with Irene Dunne.
I completely forgot what the movie was about until Mr. Smith showed up. Good reaction!
I highly recommend this 1940 movie called "The Thief of Bagdad"!
Seconded. It’s so fun and really beautiful.
Irene Dunne's tour de force is I Remember Mama.
One of my all time favourite movies. Such clever dialogue!
The first college football game was played between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869.
41:31 Way back when Service Academy football was extremely popular i.e., Army vs Navy.
Irene Dunne is brilliant in _Show Boat._ I much prefer the 1936 version to the '51 Grayson/Keel film. The '36 also has wonderful performances by Helen Morgan and the great Paul Robeson.
I agree, and my late father agreed
22:02 Ralph Bellamay usually played the same character the nice guy who never got the girl. A movie he played against type was "Lady on a Train." 1944 A Deana Durbin Mystery comedy. Any movie with Durbin is worth a watch especially when she sings.
His Butler's Sister is my favourite but I love Deanna Durbin's films.
@@ASmiffff Deana Durbin is hardly known today, but she had great comedic talent that was only matched by her voice.
One reason she's not known is she did not give any interviews after she left Hollywood. It is a shame.
@@jackasswhiskyandpintobeans9344 She had genuine star quality. I respect that she walked away from Hollywood on her own terms and just enjoyed the rest of her life.
@@ASmiffff I also respect her decision, but also feel that there is a loss to film history. We as film buffs can no longer get her insights and anecdotes.
My Favorite Wife and Penny Serenade are 2 more with Cary & Irene Dunn. I love them even more than this one! And the movie 'Leatherheads' is about the start of football - George Clooney, John Krasinski, and Renee Zellweiger star.
@13:55 the change in scenes was trying to convey a time continuation. No time lost between his conversation with his mother and hers with her aunt.
Like conversations that were happening between the two different parties at the same time yet cutting back and forth between them.
Same dog as in "The Thin Man".
This was a great film, I've watched it a number of times. Cary & Irene had great chemistry. They were in several films together. She had a long career, was a beautiful lady.
Love all ot Cary Grant and grew up on these 30s to early 70s masterpieces due to my aunt and my grandpa who grew up during the Depression and loved Laurel and Hardy or swashbuckling films with one of his favorites, Errol Flynn, in films like "Captain Blood," etc. My aunt was/is really the classic movie film buff who started my education on these from her own knowledge, reading film wnd cinema books or specific actors biographies, and good taste as well as introducing me to TCM channel and listening to th4 late great Robert Osborne's commentary of trivia and background information about the films/actors/directors, etc.
This is one of my favorite of all time and Top 10 overall. Normally, Mia's commentary and observations are on point but not today. She completely misjudged the wise, knowing, sarcastic Aunt Patsy and other nuances or just more obvious things or quotes like "Jerry the Nipper" which Kate Hepburn used in "BUB" where he says "Constable, she's making this up from th4 motion pictures she's seen." That Dunne was trying to be more trashy and gauche new money, emulating Dixie Belle Lee when she was pretending to be the sister. Another great quote besides the "If you should ever get bored, you can always go over to Tulsa for the weekend," is "Nobody move! I've lost my purse!"...which in the movie is so tunny as these people are generationally old money people who wouldn't need her few dollars, besides the fact that she just insulted them by saying something so rude.
This was nominated for quite a few Oscars, and Leo McCarey won Best Director.
Personally, I'd have to say that "BUB" is the first, true screwball comedy and not the more romantic comedies that get mistaken as screwball like "IHON" and "TAT"...which at least the latter had some screwball elements but nothing on the all out zany "BUB" level.
If you haven't seen it before, I recommend you watch "My Favorite Wife" (1940) starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. This film was RKO's second-biggest hit of 1940 after "Kitty Foyle."
A remake of "My Favorite Wife" titled "Something's Got To Give" starring Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin was started in 1962, but was never finished due to Marilyn Monroe's death on August 4, 1962.
The remake was overhauled in 1963 and titled "Move Over, Darling" starring Doris Day and James Garner. At the 21st Golden Globe Awards, Doris Day was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical for her role in "Move Over, Darling," but she lost to Shirley MacLaine in "Irma la Douce."
A Howard Hawks screwball comedy with Cary Grant and Marylin Monroe (supporting role) and Ginger Rogers called Monkey Business 1952. Silly movie but some of Cary’s best physical comedy.
Mia you should do an MWM intro where your face is surrounded by an MWM crest and you "meow" and wink at the camera!
I like the your creativity 😁
you keep watching my favourite old movies
You wondered about divorce in 1937…That’s the year my parents and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor married. She was twice-divorced and he had to give up being King to marry her. Do see EDWARD AND MRS SIMPSON mini series for a brilliant telling of their love story. Can’t recommend it highly enough.
Thank you for noticing the balloons, a charming detail I had missed. Surely mimicking champagne.
I've always liked this movie. I'd love to see a reaction to Mr. Lucky (1943), with Cary Grant.
Football goes back a ways. They used to wear leather helmets and it was more brutal. There's a movie about how it used to be with George Clooney and John Krasinski called "Leatherheads."
Random Harvest
Yes!!! My favorite movie! 💖💖💖
Irene Dunne was also in _Love Affair,_ which was later remade as _An Affair to Remember_ with Cary Grant. I'm not sure whether you've done either of those.
One of my top 5 movies!
11:52 We got long horns, short horns, and shoe horns. 🥸
For some reason I never "got," this movie. I like Dunne and Grant. "My Favorite Wife," 1940 is always funny to me. I should watch "The Awful Truth," again.
10:27 Asta was a Cue-T-pie.
best comedy with Irene Dunn is the Women. Jam packed with witty dialogue and only women in the cast
"Make Way For Tomorrow" was Leo McCarey's preferred film, according to "From Beneath the Hollywood Sign." It's depressing, but worth a view.
I love this movie!
i didnt know they had two previous versions of this movie!! and it's one of my favourite movies ever! i'll try to find the other two so i can watch them, but i'm quite sure this will still be my fave. irene and cary were perfect in this, love how they have such great chemistry and comedy timing.
oh, and this dog reminds me of asta (the thin man series)... is it possible to be the same dog?
Yes it’s the same dog 🥰 and YES! Watch the other two, then come back and tell me which one you liked the best!!
And Ralph Bellamy was in Pretty Woman.
NO WAY! When? I haven’t seen that film in a long time!!
@@MoviesWithMia Remember the charming old gentleman whose company Richard Gere was going to buy and break up, but then at the end he decides to go into partnership with instead? That was Ralph Bellamy. He had a long and amazingly varied career. After making his fame as the guy who doesn't get the girl in screwball comedies in the 1930's and 40's, he found stardom again in the 1950's and 60's as the defining portrayer of Franklin D. Roosevelt when he played FDR on stage and screen in "Sunrise at Campobello." Then in the 1980's he had another memorable role as one of the two brothers (Don Ameche was the other) who make the bet that has Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd switch lives in "Trading Places." Pretty Woman was his last major role in a 60 year career!
@@MoviesWithMia And here's the thing Mia, Ralph Bellamy, Richard Gere and Julia Roberts did a dinner scene together. Which means that Julia Roberts is only 1 degree of separation from Cary Grant!
One of my fav moves of all time! SO funny! Cary abd Irene at the heught of theur game!
And where was the "Ralph Bellamy is SO handsome!" when he appeared onscreen in Rosemary's Baby, as Dr. Sapirstein, Satan's obstetrician.
And when The Red Shoes??
Oh, great. I love _A Streetcar Named Desire._
Hi Mia, I'd love to see you react to one of Greta Garbo's movies! It's a pity that she seems to be almost forgotten by the younger generation, even though she was one of the world's biggest movie stars, with a face and charisma like no other. Her best films are Anna Karenina, Camille, Queen Christina and her only comedy, Ninotchka. The first three are period pieces, with Anna Karenina based upon a classic Russian novel, Camille upon the French play La dame aux camélias, and Queen Christina upon the life of the historical 17th century Swedish queen of the same name. Ninotchka by famous filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch is a political satire/comedy in a contemporary setting. Garbo's very mysterious and fascinating face and her intense expressions make watching her movies an experience like no other. Try!
Have you watched The Women from 1939 yet? The first all female cast?
No, but I NEED TO!!!!
@@MoviesWithMia Oh most definitely. It's definitely dated in some aspects but it's funny and very entertaining.
I'll only say one thing to keep in mind. Jungle Red.
I really recommend you to watch the Hitchcock film "strangers on a train"
A condender for the greatest comedy ever made 😂
I concur
@@MoviesWithMia Cary Grant said that Irene Dunne was his favourite co-star
You should reviw "Project Blue Sky" main character jesica lane is the wofe of a military officer who is assigned to the start of underground testing of nuclear weapons. 1994 movies based in 1960. Jessica is a marilyn type with a unstable emotions who has to fight for her husbands freedom after being set up in a messed up way bu the military. You would love it she won a oascar for her role.
Please react to The Blessed Event! It's very 30s and hilarious, you will love it!
Interestingly, Ralph Bellamy played a very similar role in the 1940 film His Girl Friday starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Highly recommend, another great screwball comedy.
"Funnily" is a word.
Ralph Bellamy is always getting his girl taken: twice by Cary Grant and once by Fred Astaire.
I been watching this movie for about three days now. It is a very good movie. I think I originally watched it right after "Bringing Up Baby," and was disappointed. "The Awful Truth," is funny but not as funny as the former. The odd part to me about "The Awful Truth," and Bring Up Baby, is that the latter borrowed and themes, bits and outright direct reference to "The Awful Truth." It's almost the same movie except Grant's character in "Bringing Up Baby," is not pretentious but absent minded, Jerry the Nipper is a direct reference, the purse scene, the top hat scene.
_Make Way for Tomorrow_ is so good. You should check it out.
Make Way For Tomorrow is a beautiful movie, but it's about growing old, still not a subject to draw a big audience, so not surprising that it was such a box-office flop.
@@DanielOrme It's not surprising, but it is still well worth watching now.
@@HuntingViolets Absolutely! I first saw it in a college film class. In the years since when I've brought it up even to people I know are movie buffs I rarely find anyone else who has even heard of it.
@@DanielOrme I had to have a friend tape it off of TCM for me to watch, but that tape is long gone now. It was hard to get, at least at the time, but I think I read about it in _Romantic Comedy_ by James Harvey (I could be misremembering this). It deserves to be more widely seen.
❤ try the movie Hollywood Hotel❤❤ it’s really old but it’s a great movie with some great music❤❤
Nice background, by the way.
The ties between this and Bringing Up Baby are too blatant to be accidental.
Cary is about to marry Barbara VANCE, the madcap heiress. Hepburn did that role for laughs in BUB, where she was named Susan VANCE.
WHen Dunne is sabotaging Cary's engagement, she refers to him,as Jerry The Nipper; in BUB Hepburn, trying to pass herself off as a gun kill, refers to Cary in the adjoining cell as the leader of the Leopard Gang. His real name, she says, is...Jerry The Nipper!!
At that point, Cary breaks the fourth wall (kinda) and says, "Constable, she's making all that up from motion pictures she's seen!" nodding to The Awful Truth.
Me, I'd take Hepburn over Dunne any day. Apparently she could have been a stunt woman due to her physical fearlessness. Cary was a skilled athlete but he did NOT want to be in the same zip code as the Leopard.
❤🎉
The Awful Truth does remind me of My Favorite Wife.
Mia, you're channel is wonderful. Glad you've discovered this particular irreplaceable film. But. Why are you not at times in hysterics? This film is sidesplitting. C'mon.
She sings well, though.
She had a lovely voice and sang in many of her movies. Of course she was in the 1936 "Showboat."
Where did you buy the awful truth poster from thats behind you??????