Forgotten Screwball Comedies

Screwball comedies make up a romantic comedy film genre that started in the mid-1930's and peaked in the early 1940's. But this genre continues in some movies today. In 1934, the Hollywood Production Code started to be rigidly applied to films. This code severely tighten restrictions on the showing of sex, violence, and racial equality in movies. Screwball comedies were developed partially to evade the restrictions on sex. One critic defined a screwball comedy as a "sex comedy without the sex." In this study group, we will discuss comedies that were more obscure, but just as funny. Films being considered are: The Awful Truth (McCarey, 1937), Ball of Fire (Hawks, 1941), Cluny Brown (Lubitsch, 1946), The Devil and Miss Jones (Wood, 1941), Duck Soup (McCarey, 1933), Easy Living (Leisen, 1937), The Great McGinty (Sturges, 1940), Hail the Conquering Hero (Sturges, 1944), The In-Laws (Hiller, 1979), Libeled Lady (Conway, 1936), The Man Who Came to Dinner (Keighley, 1942), Midnight (Leisen, 1939), Unfaithfully Yours (Sturges, 1948) and What's Up Doc (Bogdanovich, 1972). Some films will be watched at home via streaming and others viewed in the study group. Join us as we study and discuss screwball comedies and gain a greater appreciation of their contribution to the film industry and world-wide entertainment.