You are out of your continental mind!

Last night, I made brilliant plans to get started on my new project. I pulled my Busby Berkeley collection off of my shelves, settled down in front of the tv... and got completely distracted by Errol Flynn in The Prince and the Pauper, which happened to be airing on TCM. Oh, Errol!


He really is not in the movie very much, which is kind of sad because he is (in my opinion) the best part of it. It turned out to be a good thing for me, though, because I was able to get through the special features on The Gold Diggers of 1933. The documentary on 42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage was particularly interesting. I highly recommend it. I'd already watched the FDR documentary for class. Anyway, this is hardly fascinating so I will skip ahead to my movies count-up:


#20 The Awful Truth (1937)



The basic plot is as follows: when Jerry Warriner (Cary Grant) suspects his wife, Lucy (Irene Dunne) has had an affair, the couple decides to get a divorce. Only two problems remain: who gets the dog, Mr. Smith? and are they really still in love with each other? When Lucy gets custody of the dog and her aunt (Cecil Cunningham) pushes Lucy into the arms of Texan Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), both problems seem inclined to be solved. However, Jerry is determined to prove to Lucy that Dan isn't right for her and when Jerry gets himself engaged to a wealthy heiress (Molly Lamont), Lucy is determined to return the favor.

I'm really quite terrible at nutshelling. I always want to include all the details because they're all important! For those of you who have not seen the movie, I highly recommend it. Grant and Dunne have delightful chemistry and they are hilarious to watch together. I think Irene Dunne is completely adorable in this movie. For years, I didn't consider her a comedic actress because I associated her with Penny Serenade, I Remember Mama, and what I used to consider the more serious parts of Roberta (although I've lately realized that there really are no serious parts to Roberta). But she has a wonderful talent for comedy. And Cary Grant, well, he's one of my favorite actors of all time. Even when he's being frustrating, he's still loveable ("Hello, Twinkletoes").

Here are a couple of my favorite scenes from the film that I found on YouTube. There are sadly few clips from the film online but I chose these two because you get to see Jerry messing up Lucy's romance and Lucy messing up Jerry's. Here's the first one and then here's the second.