Screwball comedy
Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristics similar to film noir, distinguished by a female character who dominates the relationship with the male central character, whose masculinity is challenged, and the two engaging in a humorous battle of the sexes.
The genre also featured romantic attachments between members of different social classes, as in It Happened One Night and My Man Godfrey.
What sets the screwball comedy apart from the generic romantic comedy is that "screwball comedy puts the emphasis on a funny spoofing of love, while the more traditional romantic comedy ultimately accents love." Other elements of the screwball comedy include fast-paced, overlapping repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, physical battle of the sexes, disguise and masquerade, and plot lines involving courtship and marriage. Some comic plays are also described as screwball comedies.
Name
Screwball comedy gets its name from the screwball, a type of breaking pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball that moves in the opposite direction from all other breaking pitches. These features of the screwball pitch also describe the dynamics between the lead characters in screwball comedy films. According to Gehring :Still, screwball comedy probably drew its name from the term's entertainingly unorthodox use in the national pastime. Before the term's application in 1930s film criticism, "screwball" had been used in baseball to describe both an oddball player and "any pitched ball that moves in an unusual or unexpected way." Obviously, these characteristics also describe performers in screwball comedy films, from oddball Carole Lombard to the unusual or unexpected movement of Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. As with the crazy period antics in baseball, screwball comedy uses nutty behavior as a prism through which to view a topsy-turvy period in American history.
History
Screwball comedy has proved to be a popular and enduring film genre. Three-Cornered Moon, starring Claudette Colbert, is often credited as the first true screwball, though Bombshell starring Jean Harlow followed it in the same year. Although many film scholars agree that its classic period had effectively ended by 1942, elements of the genre have persisted or have been paid homage to in later films. Other film scholars argue that the screwball comedy lives on.During the Great Depression, there was a general demand for films with a strong social class critique and hopeful, escapist-oriented themes. The screwball format arose largely due to the major film studios' desire to avoid censorship by the increasingly enforced Hays Code. Filmmakers resorted to handling these elements covertly to incorporate prohibited risqué elements into their plots. The verbal sparring between the sexes served as a stand-in for physical and sexual tension. Though some film scholars, such as William K. Everson, argue that "screwball comedies were not so much rebelling against the Production Code as they were attacking – and ridiculing – the dull, lifeless respectability that the Code insisted on for family viewing."
The screwball comedy has close links with the theatrical genre of farce, and some comic plays are also described as screwball comedies. Other genres with which screwball comedy is associated include slapstick, situation comedy, romantic comedy and bedroom farce.
Characteristics
Films that are definitive of the genre usually feature farcical situations, a combination of slapstick and fast-paced repartee, and show the struggle between economic classes. They also generally feature a self-confident and often stubborn central female protagonist and a plot involving courtship, marriage, or remarriage. These traits can be seen in both It Happened One Night and My Man Godfrey. The film critic Andrew Sarris has defined the screwball comedy as "a sex comedy without the sex."Like farce, screwball comedies often involve masquerades and disguises in which a character or characters resort to secrecy. Sometimes screwball comedies feature male characters cross-dressing, further contributing to elements of masquerade, Love Crazy, I Was a Male War Bride, and Some Like It Hot ). At first, the couple seems mismatched and even hostile to each other, but eventually overcome their differences amusingly or entertainingly, leading to romance. Often, this mismatch comes about when the man is of a lower social class than the woman. The woman often plans the final romantic union from the outset, and the man is seemingly oblivious to this. In Bringing Up Baby, the woman tells a third party: "He's the man I'm going to marry. He doesn't know it, but I am."
File:The-Lady-Eve.jpg|thumb|In The Lady Eve, Jean passes herself off as an upper-class woman.
These pictures also offered a cultural escape valve: a safe battleground to explore serious issues such as class under a comedic and non-threatening framework. Class issues are a strong component of screwball comedies: the upper class is represented as idle, pampered, and having difficulty coping with the real world. By contrast, when lower-class people attempt to pass themselves off as upper class or otherwise insinuate themselves into high society, they can do so with relative ease. Some critics believe that the portrayal of the upper class in It Happened One Night was brought about by the Great Depression, and the financially struggling moviegoing public's desire to see the upper class taught a lesson in humanity.
Another common element of the screwball comedy is fast-talking, witty repartee, such as in You [Can't Take It with You (film)|You Can't Take It with You] and His Girl Friday. This stylistic device did not originate in the genre: it is also found in many of the old Hollywood cycles, including gangster films and traditional romantic comedies.
Screwball comedies also tend to contain ridiculous, farcical situations, such as in Bringing Up Baby, where a couple must take care of a pet leopard during much of the film. Slapstick elements are also frequently present, such as the numerous pratfalls Henry Fonda takes in The Lady Eve.
One subgenre of screwball is known as the comedy of remarriage, in which characters divorce and then remarry one another, His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story ). Some scholars point to this frequent device as evidence of the shift in the American moral code, as it showed freer attitudes toward divorce
Another subgenre of screwball comedy is the woman chasing a man who is oblivious to or uninterested in her. Examples include Barbara Stanwyck chasing Henry Fonda ; Sonja Henie chasing John Payne ; Marion Davies chasing Antonio Moreno ; Marion Davies chasing Bing Crosby ; and Carole Lombard chasing William Powell.
The philosopher Stanley Cavell has noted that many classic screwball comedies turn on an interlude in the state of Connecticut. In Christmas in Connecticut, the action moves to Connecticut and remains there for the duration of the film. New York City is also featured in a lot of screwball comedies, which critics have noted may be because of the economic diversity of the city and the ability to contrast different social classes during the Great Depression. The screwball comedies It Happened One Night and The Palm Beach Story also feature characters traveling to and from Florida by train. Trains, another staple of screwball comedies and romantic comedies from the era, are also featured prominently in Design for Living, Twentieth Century and Vivacious Lady.
Examples from the classic period
Other films from this period in other genres incorporate elements of the screwball comedy. For example, Alfred Hitchcock's thriller The 39 Steps features the gimmick of a young couple who finds themselves handcuffed together and who eventually, almost despite themselves, fall in love with one another, and Woody Van Dyke's detective comedy The Thin Man, which portrays a witty, urbane couple who trade barbs as they solve mysteries together. Some of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals of the 1930s also feature screwball comedy plots, such as The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, and Carefree, which costars Ralph Bellamy. The Eddie Cantor musicals Whoopee! and Roman Scandals, and slapstick road movies such as Six of a Kind include screwball elements. Some of the Joe E. Brown comedies also fall into this category, particularly Broadminded and Earthworm Tractors. Screwball comedies such as The Philadelphia Story and Ball of Fire also received musical remakes, High Society and A Song is Born.
Actors and actresses featured in or associated with screwball comedy:
- Jean Arthur
- Fred Astaire
- Ralph Bellamy
- Constance Bennett
- Eric Blore
- Jack Carson
- Charles Coburn
- Claudette Colbert
- Gary Cooper
- Marion Davies
- William Demarest
- Melvyn Douglas
- Irene Dunne
- Kay Francis
- Clark Gable
- Cary Grant
- Jean Harlow
- Katharine Hepburn
- Edward Everett Horton
- Harold Lloyd
- Carole Lombard
- Myrna Loy
- Fred MacMurray
- Fredric March
- Joel McCrea
- Ray Milland
- William Powell
- Tyrone Power
- Ginger Rogers
- Rosalind Russell
- Barbara Stanwyck
- James Stewart
- Lloyd Bacon
- Frank Capra
- George Cukor
- Michael Curtiz
- Tay Garnett
- Alexander Hall
- Howard Hawks
- Garson Kanin
- Gregory La Cava
- Mitchell Leisen
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Leo McCarey
- Norman Z. McLeod
- Wesley Ruggles
- William A. Seiter
- George Stevens
- Preston Sturges
- Richard Thorpe
- W. S. Van Dyke
- James Whale
- Billy Wilder
Later examples
Later films thought to have revived elements of the classic era screwball comedies include:Champagne for Caesar, Richard WhorfThe Mating Season, d. Mitchell Leisen- Monkey Business, d. Howard HawksHow to Marry a Millionaire, d. Jean NegulescoLet's Do It Again, d. Alexander Hall, musical remake of The Awful Truth Living It Up, d. Norman Taurog, remake of Nothing Sacred Three for the Show, d. H. C. Potter, musical remake of Too Many HusbandsThe Seven Year Itch, d. Billy Wilder
- You're Never Too Young, d. Norman Taurog, musical remake of The Major and the MinorThe [Birds and the Bees (film)|The Birds and the Bees], d. Norman Taurog, a musical remake of The Lady Eve High Society, d. Charles Walters, musical remake of The Philadelphia Story You Can't Run Away from It d. Dick Powell, the second musical remake of It Happened One Night Bundle of Joy d. Norman Taurog, musical remake of Bachelor Mother Silk Stockings, d. Rouben Mamoulian, musical remake of Ninotchka
- My Man Godfrey, d. Henry Koster, remake of 1936 film of the same nameChalti Ka Naam Gaadi, d. Satyen BoseThe Girl Most Likely, d. Mitchell Leisen, a musical remake of Tom, Dick and HarryRock-A-Bye Baby, d. Frank Tashlin, a musical remake of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Bell, Book and Candle, d. Richard QuinePillow Talk, d. Michael GordonSome Like It Hot, d. Billy WilderThe Grass Is Greener, d. Stanley DonenLover Come Back, d. Delbert MannOne, Two, Three, d. Billy Wilder, which contains elements of Ninotchka, co-written by WilderCharade, d. Stanley DonenIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, d. Stanley KramerMove Over, Darling d. Michael Gordon, remake of My Favorite Wife Man's Favorite Sport?, d. Howard Hawks, homage to Bringing Up Baby, also directed by HawksSend Me No Flowers, d. Norman JewisonWhat's New Pussycat?, d. Clive DonnerWalk, Don't Run, d. Charles Walters, remake of The More the Merrier What's Up, Doc?, d. Peter BogdanovichFor Pete's Sake, d. Peter YatesFoul Play, d. Colin HigginsHeaven Can Wait, d. Warren Beatty and Buck HenryArthur, d. Steve GordonUnder the Rainbow d. Steve RashTo Be or Not to Be, d. Alan Johnson, remake of the 1942 film of the same namePoochakkoru Mookkuthi, d. Priyadarshan, based on Charles Dickens's play 'The Strange Gentleman'Unfaithfully Yours, d. Howard Zieff, a remake of the 1948 Preston Sturges film of the same nameUne Femme ou Deux, d. Daniel Vigne Desperately Seeking Susan, d. Susan SeidelmanSomething Wild, d. Jonathan DemmeOverboard, d. Garry MarshallRaising Arizona, d. Coen BrothersWho's That Girl d. James FoleySwitching Channels, d. Ted Kotcheff, a remake of His Girl Friday Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, d. Pedro AlmodóvarOscar d. John LandisSólo con tu pareja, d. Alfonso CuarónHousesitter, d. Frank OzThe Hudsucker Proxy, d. Joel CoenRadioland Murders, d. Mel Smith from story by George LucasFlirting with Disaster, d. David O. RussellRunaway Bride d. Garry Marshall Little Nicky, d. Steven BrillRat Race, d. Jerry ZuckerIntolerable Cruelty, d. Coen BrothersAnchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, d. Adam McKayI Heart Huckabees, d. David O. RussellMiss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, d. Bharat NalluriOur Idiot Brother, d. Jesse PeretzWhile We're Young, d. Noah BaumbachShe's Funny That Way, d. Peter BogdanovichMistress America, d. Noah BaumbachNight Owls, d. Charles HoodHail, Caesar!, d. Coen BrothersChongqing Hot Pot, d. Yang QingHit Man, d. Richard LinklaterAnora, d. Sean BakerSplitsville, d. Michael Angelo Covino
The Golmaal films, a series of Hindi-language Indian films, has been described as a screwball comedy franchise.
Screwball comedy elements in other media and genres
The screwball film tradition influenced television sitcom and comedy drama genres. Notable screwball couples in television have included Sam and Diane in Cheers, Maddie and David in Moonlighting, and List of [Northern Exposure characters|Joel and Maggie] in Northern Exposure. The comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls has been compared by scholars to the screwball comedy genre, particularly for its fast-paced repartee and emphasis on class divisions. Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has stated that repartee was inspired by the Spencer-Tracy films.In his 2008 production of the classic Beaumarchais comedy The [Marriage of Figaro (play)|The Marriage of Figaro], author William James Royce trimmed the five-act play down to three acts and labeled it a "classic screwball comedy". The playwright made Suzanne the central character, endowing her with all the feisty comedic strengths of her classic film counterparts. In his adaptation, entitled One Mad Day!, Royce underscored all of the elements of the classic screwball comedy, suggesting that Beaumarchais may have had a hand in the origins of the genre.
The plot of Corrupting Dr. Nice, a science fiction novel by John Kessel involving time travel, is modeled on films such as The Lady Eve and Bringing Up Baby.