Rating: 
Summary: An almost perfect movie
Review: Cary Grant is the epitome of what a movie star should be and this movie and his pairing with the charming Irene Dunne (they also play together in the equally charming "My Favorite Wife"!) is smart, fast, and laugh out loud funny. Amazing at how current the humor remains. Poor Ralph Bellamy never has a chance, but he's gives it a good try! Cary Grant is absolutely gorgeous in this movie!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: this movie is the best i have seen , a great comedy , the ending is awsome, but am not going to spoil it now, gona let you find out for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: One of the quintessential screwball comedies
Review: There are a few great films that never go out of style and seem impervious to time, and this is one of them. Unlike some pre-WW II comedies that are still a delight but nonetheless feel like they come from another era, THE AWFUL TRUTH seems almost as if it could have been made a decade ago. Part of the reason for this was the enormous amount of improvisation that Leo McCarey managed to get out of his performers. Many of the best moments in this film were made up on the spot. As a result, the film retains a wonderful feel of spontaneity and naturalness that few films from the period can match. Apart from the great direction by McCarey, much of the credit has to go to Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. Unbelievably, this was Cary Grant's first great performance as a comedic leading man. In fact, although Grant was a familiar face from his appearance in Mae West's SHE DONE HIM WRONG (a film he personally detested), he was not really an A-list performer. Early in 1937 he had starred with Constance Bennett in TOPPER as a mischievous but fun loving ghost. It was the first great indication that he possessed first rate abilities as a comic, and led to his casting in THE AWFUL TRUTH. After this, however, he managed to go on to star in an extraordinary string of comedies, arguably the greatest group of comedic roles by any one actor in the history of film. I have never been a big Irene Dunne fan. I always feel uncomfortable with her oversized teeth and enormous smile. But she absolutely shines in this film. If she and Cary don't generate the kind of chemistry he would with Katherine Hepburn, they still manage to set up some absolutely marvelous comic scenes. My favorite scenes in the film are those that include Ralph Bellamy, one of the great also-rans in the history of film. In both this film and three years later in MY GIRL FRIDAY, Cary Grant makes him the butt of a string of truly funny jokes. The best in this one comes when Cary with his girlfriend meet his ex-wife Irene in a nightclub with her new fiancé Ralph, playing an Oklahoma oil millionaire. As the two explain to Grant how they plan on moving to Oklahoma City. Cary sticks a knife in by expressing amazement that a woman who is addicted to life in New York City expects to find contentment in Oklahoma, and then twists it by evilly consoling her with the suggestion that on weekends they can take a trip to Tulsa. The dog who plays the Jack Russell Terrier "Mr. Smith," was probably in more great movies than any dog in film history. He not only played Asta in the first three Thin Man movies but also played a year after this film in the hysterically funny BRINGING UP BABY (as "George," the dog who steals the bone and buries it somewhere), and in one of the Topper films.
Rating:
Summary: "There's nothing less logical than the truth..."
Review: A hilarious farce starring Grant as the husband and Dunne as his spouse in the process of divorce. But when Dunne gets a new cotton pickin' bo from Oklahoma,hilariously played by Ralph Bellamy, Jerry(Grant) decides he wants Lucy(Dunne)back, and gets revenge by getting engaged to an aristocratic Molly Lamont. Each of them trying desperately to destroy the other's plans for marriage, they finally call a truce and(inevitably)kiss and make up.
Rating:
Summary: The Awful Truth
Review: The Awful Truth has got to be one of the funniest movies ever made. The main stars in this 1937 hit comedy are Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, two actors who never got the recognition that they deserved in the Hollywood awards department. I have watched this movie at least 75 times and laugh until I cry everytime. The casting in this movie is perfect, the timing is perfect, the style and the class. This is a "must see" for all ages. I wish they still made movies like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant screwballs.
Review: Why is it that best "screwball" comedies are rarely "screwy"? *The Awful Truth* relies more on character and witty conversation than it does on slapstick (of which, in fact, there's remarkably little). The movie's about a pair of bored New York elites (Cary Grant and Irene Dunne) with an open marriage who decide to give divorce a chance after one mutual infidelity too many. Dunne's very sincere in her protestations to Grant that nothing happened between her and her musician friend, but we remain unconvinced. Grant, meanwhile, tells his wife that he's going to vacation in Florida, but instead stays in town somewhere else in order to better pursue extramarital opportunities. (How did all this get past the Hays Office?!) While they wait for their divorce papers, each partner tries on different hats: Dunne attempts to amuse herself with a vacationing Oklahoma tycoon (poor Ralph Bellamy in another third-wheel role); Grant has perhaps a better time of it with an unimaginably wealthy heiress. It requires their pet dog, Mr. Smith, to bring these lechers back together. It is to be hoped that they can finally expend their lechery on each other -- the movie's last sequence in the honeymooner's cabin, one of the great romantic sequences in all of film, seems to indicate that this will be so. *The Awful Truth* belongs in any serious film-lover's library.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Screwball Comedy
Review: - The five stars are for the film itself not the dvd edition- This is one of those landmark films that really lives up to its well deserved fame, when one finally has the opportunity to watch it. Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, are perfectly matched as the ever-quarreling wife and husband, who, in spite of loving each other, for rather childish reasons, are granted a divorce, but before it's final, they have the chance to think it over one last time. Really hilarious scenes by the two leads and by the excellent supporting cast, especially Ralph Bellamy as Dunne's suitor, Cecil Cunnigham as the wisecracking Aunt Patsy and Esther Dale as Bellamy's mother. Nice bit by Joyce Compton too, as an "air-head" southern-accented, singer, who gives a very peculiar singing-act. Perfectly paced, at 91 minutes running time, there's no time left to breathe between scenes, so expertly tied to each other, that it's hard to believe it was filmed, as it was told by the actors, mostly unaware of what was going on. Apparently the only one who knew was master of comedy, director Leo McCarey, who won one an Academy Award for it. Now about the quality of the dvd edition, I must say that I bought this movie along with the dvd editions of "Talk of the Town" and "You Can't Take it with You", completely unaware of the absolutely negative customer reviews here at Amazon. As matter of fact, having watched this movie just last night, and still having not watched the other two, I was absolutely frightened of what I'd see (and what I still have to suffer!), upon reading all those negative reviews by Amazon customers, concerning these three classic films. Concerning "The Awful Truth", I must say that I feared even worse, because at least some portions of the movie are crisp and clean, but many others are very grainy, bad quality, faded, etc, so one wonders about the "digitally mastered" and the "remastered in high definition", as said on the back of the dvd case. It's one of dvd's I own, and I have almost 200, with the most "uneven" image quality I ever saw. It's really a pity that Sony-Columbia Classics, didn't treat this classics, the way they had treated the first classics they released on dvd, of which I own many, so I know waht I'm talking about: "It Happened One Night", "His Girl Friday", "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", "Gilda", "Only Angels Have Wings", "Angels Over Broadway", "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington"......especially considering the price of their editions....we all know, Warner releases are cheaper, and until today, their editions are of very good quality, indeed. So boooohhh for the people who released this editions, so unrespectfully to us classic film buffs, and for charging between U$ 25- 30, for something that shouldn't cost more than 11 bucks. Still I wonder: The laserdisc editions of these three classics, were as bad as the dvd editions? I don't believe so, 'cos most of the laserdisc editions of classics were of very high definition and quality....so, what happened with the dvd editions? How can it be that one Amazon customer says that the VHS editions of some of this films are better than the dvd ones? I remember watching a TV showing of "You Can't Take It with You"...and its quality was excellent....maybe the laserdisc was the source? Or those excellent copies belong to some other company?. Sony-Columbia owes an apology to its thousands of customers, and even more, they should release these three classic films, in the way they deserve, as their first aforementioned releases, and give the customers who had the bad luck of buying these bad quality dvd's, the right to exchange them for the really remastered-restored editions. Until then, we'll have to stick to these editions, 'cos it's all we have, besides recording a better version on TV.
Rating:
Summary: The Awful Truth
Review: This is Cary Grant's 29th film in six years. What a prolific guy!!! Also, this is a turning point in his career when we all find out that Cary is quite the comedian on the screen. This is his first role with Irene Dunne, the others being MY FAVORITE WIFE in 1940, and PENNY SERENADE in 1941. He was directed by Leo McCarey in two other pictures ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON in 1942 and AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER in 1957. This was quite a daring film to make in 1937, the subject of divorce, treated as a comedy. When Cary and Irene reported to Columbia Pictures, the script was only half finished and McCarey went through several changes, scrapping the original script shortly before shooting. Grant was dismayed at this and offered Harry Cohn, the studio head, $5,000.00 to get out of the film, offering to do another film for free. There was chaos on the set for many weeks and we can all see Cary's nervous tension reflected in his character of Jerry Warriner. Cary, of course, made the film, and it was nominated for six academy awards, including Best Picture, but lost to THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA. THE AWFUL TRUTH, is a love story about marital distrust. Jerry Warriner (Grant) and Lucy Warriner (Dunne) are married without children and they have become suspicious and tired of one another. Grant has taken a two-week vacation when he was supposed to go to Florida, but he was actually in his hometown playing cards with his friends. Lucy becoming bored because she has been left at home is on the town with her voice coach, both incidents perfectly innocent. However, it is perceived by each other that they are cheating and Lucy files for a divorce. She gets temporary custody of the dog, Mr. Smith, played so cutely by Asta of THE THIN MAN series with Nick and Nora Charles. Lucy meets a gentlemen, Daniel Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), who lives across the hall from the apartment she has rented with her Aunt Patsy. Daniel falls head over heels in love with her and pursues her. It is a comedy of errors that leads Jerry to start dating a socialite Barbara Vance (Molly LaMont). It is ironic to note that the socialite was named Barbara and Cary had not yet met the first Barbara in his life, Barbara Hutton, whom he meets in 1938 and marries on July 8, 1942. Lucy conjures up the funniest scenario in order to win her husband back, and of course all's well that ends well. This is the film where the real Cary Grant that we all know and love is born and the Grant that we see on the screen henceforth. This is hindsight, but what a shame that when Cary Grant started out he was not recognized sooner as a leading man because all the pictures he made in the beginning, he would have had the starring role!! As is always, Cary has developed the small undertones and comments and slights that he uses throughout his career. It is a pleasure to watch him develop into such a neat actor. No one else comes close!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed DVD viewer
Review: My favorite scene in the movie is when the characters are at the night club where Dixie Bell preforms "My Dreams are Gone With the Wind". Prior to the song Jerry invites himself and Dixie Bell to sit down with Lucy and Daniel. First Lucy and Jerry looks at each other, then at Dixie Bell, then at each other, then at Daniel, then at each other again. It's pretty funny. Unfortunately, the portion of the scene where they look at Dixie Bell has been removed from the DVD. Why would a DVD of a movie not have all the scenes of the original film? I was disappointed and will stick with watching the movie on tape.
Rating: 
Summary: LOVELY FILM - DREADFUL DVD TRANSFER
Review: Wonderful movie, completely misrepresented by Columbia as being digitally mastered and remastered in high definition. The print is dreadful - wandering back and forth, almost incessantly, from bad to worse. Avoid this.
Hold the studios accountable.
And wait for someone to release a decent print.
|
