Rating: 
Summary: A classic masterpiece with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.
Review: Divorce is hardly a funny issue, but trying to mess up the ex-spouse's new relationship has hundreds of endless opportunities for laughs! Grant and Dunne are a perfect pair in this great comedy of separation and revenge. The scene of Irene Dunne's prospective husband and future mother in law seeing two men rushing out of her bedroom (her ex-husband Grant and also a current boyfriend) was a sidesplitting moment in itself! It's interesting to note there are two items in this movie that were used one year later in the Grant-Hepburn film "Bringing Up Baby". The dog in "Awful Truth" is the same one in "Bringing Up Baby". In front of Cary Grant's future wife, Irene Dunne claims he has a drinking problem and calls him Jerry the Nipper. Katherine Hepburn used the same nickname for him in "Bringing Up Baby". If you like classic comedies of distrust and/or paybacks, "The Awful Truth" is a film for you!
Rating: 
Summary: "Things are different except in a different way."
Review: Cary Grant is the master of the screwball comedy. You need only to take a look at "Bringing Up Baby (1938) and "His Girl Friday" (1940) in addition to "The Awful Truth" (1937) for all the proof you need to support this point. That being said, it's fascinating to see him almost be upstaged by his dog, Mr. Smith in this film. Yet, thankfully, Grant has more than his fair share of great scenes to keep from being totally overshadowed. Grant and Irene Dunne play Jerry and Lucy Warriner, a spirited married couple who each are masters of the verbal quip. After a spat leads them to divorce each other, both Jerry and Lucy pair up with new ill-suited partners to make the other jealous, he with an unsophisticated nightclub singer (Joyce Compton) and an infamous socialite (Molly Lamont), and she with an oilman neighbor from Oklahoma (Ralph Bellamy). In best screwball comedy fashion, comedic disaster springs forth every time Jerry and Lucy are within earshot of each other. Whether it be on the dance floor, on police motorcycles, or in the courtroom, the two leads can't resist making the other look like a fool. Dunne is more than up to the task of keeping pace with Grant and brings a charm and radiance to her part. She's hilarious in the tickling scene when Bellamy reads her a poem and when she's passing herself off as Jerry's sister. Grant of course is money in the bank as usual. While "The Awful Truth" is not the standard in the screwball comedy genre, it is still an entertaining watch. You just have to see that dog in action.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie. Lousy DVD.
Review: This is one of the best screwball comedies, but Columbia has released an awful print of the film. There are even frames missing from the DVD. Not only does Columbia overcharge for their products, but they release hideous looking prints. The VHS video is better quality than this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: BAD, BUT NOT AWFUL TRANSFER OF THIS SCREWBALL CLASSIC!
Review: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne are a husband and wife who divorce on a whim and then regret the decision. Neither are willing to admit this, of course. So when Dunne gets herself involved with resident screwball guy-on-the-side, Ralph Belamy, Grant does everything in his power to submarine the relationship. This is perhaps the finest, most tightly realized example of what the British call "comedic farce". We, in North America have come to affectionately know this style of film making as the "classic screwball" and in "The Awful Truth" the formula works so incredibly well, I suddenly found myself starved for more great comedies like this one.
Columbia has given us a print of the film that, although riddled with scratches, tears, duped quality master print segments and fading is, nevertheless, free of all the digital anomolies that were present on their "Talk of the Town" DVD transfer released just a few weeks before. Yes, this film is dated, and yes, there are portions of the picture in which fine detail is practically non-existant, and yes, Columbia should have done a much better job on this classic film than they have for this DVD release. But it just doesn't look quite so bad as their other recent efforts from their B&W catalogue library. And although this disc has a long way to go before it starts winning any awards, the print, if not pristine, is nevertheless represented by a generally good gray scale that does not diminish the comedic elements of the story. LET THE BUYER BEWARE: I don't think this is a great DVD or even an adequate one. It is, however, an outstanding movie!
*Aside: There are no extras and although the print claims to be remastered in hi-def, this is a mute point since the original camera negative is badly worn, hence the over all quality will not be improved by hi-def mastering. Do not base your decision to buy this disc by what you read from the back of Columbia's packaging! You'll be bitterly disappointed.
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: Nothing awful about the Awful Truth
Review: In 1937 Cary Grant was already a Hollywood Giant... a dynamic actor and a genuine Star. But in the "Awful Truth," Irene Dunn took him to school. Yes, Mr. Grant was as charismatic as usual, delivering his lines marvelously, perfect in comedic timing, and demonstrating great physical humor. Throughout most of the movie, Grant and Dunne sparred on relatively equal terms, each earning a fair share of the proliferus laughter generated by their antics. However, at the last hearty chuckle, it was clear that Dunne had been toying with Grant throughout. No, this is not a spoiler and has nothing to do with the storyline, but rather an evaluation of their performances. Despite the magnificence of his, her's was better. Irene Dunne was simply phenomenal, deserving her nomination for "Best Actress." She was funny, charming, exuberant, conniving, manipulative, and intriguing. The movie was slow to find it's footing and much time was wasted as Grant and Dunn, in the slower portions, are not on camera together and thus unable to "duel." But as the plot unfolds the momentum builds to a final crescendo and the mutual magic of these fine comedic artists delivers cascade upon cascade of laughter. The director Lee McCarey, earning his Best Director Oscar, toyed with both the relatively new "Hayes Code" and the censors, implying with sensitivity and subtlety, a physical aspect of love and infatuation that was unnecessarily suppressed in movies for decades. The witty "doublespeak" dialog at the end was fascinating as each of these protagonists explained the situation in self-contradictory fashions and yet their meanings were unmistakable. Yes, there is a predictable plot but the witty words and scrappy schemes are pleasant surprises.
Rating:
Summary: Decent movie, Bad release.
Review: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne star in this very funny Screwball comedy directed by Leo McCarey who won the oscar for Best Director. The film was released in 1937 and was nominated for 6 Academy Awards. The story of it is basically, Jerry and Lucy (Cary Grant and Irene Dunne) are a married couple who decide to get a divorce, since they both suspect they are cheating. Lucy finds herself getting engaged to a rich millionaire, named Daniel (Ralph Bellamy, in yet another great role). Jerry and Lucy even try to decide in a court, who is going to get custody over their dog, Mr Smith (Yes, the dog!). Lucy wins, while Jerry gets visiting rights, to see Mr. Smith. This keeps the two seeing each other, and you can guess how it turns out in the end. The movie is very fast moving, extremely funny, and you will see why it was so successful on its release. The print on this DVD is not really very good and the sound is not great either, (You might like to compare it to Columbia's other poor effort for the DVD of 'Holiday') but it is worth buying and still very watchable, I am not trying to say it isn't. They just could have done better with it. It has a total lack of extras also. Even though it has a slightly poor release that could have been a lot better, I would still recommend this brilliant film which I am sure anybody will enjoy. PLEASE NOTE: I own the Region 2 release, which, appears to be no different to this anyways. The comparison to the bad print on the DVD of 'Holiday', also refers to the Region 2 release.
Rating:
Summary: Awfully good movie - awfully bad dvd transfer
Review: The Awful Truth is a great movie with Irene Dunn stealing the show from a still great Cary Grant. My big disappointment was with the quality of the transfer to DVD. I never thought the VHS was too good from the standpoint of picture and audio quality, and the DVD is a big improvement, but come on guys. Is that the best master tape you could make the transfer from. The back of the DVD states "Digitally mastered audio and video", and "Mastered in High Definition", whatever that means. It's still a great movie, but we admirers of old black and whites sure to get played for suckers with some of these old classics.
Rating:
Summary: Good!
Review: I think The Awful Truth is a good movie and I would add the DVD to my collection but to be honest I enjoyed My Favorite Wife better. Now I'm not putting The Awful Truth down, I liked it but just not as much as My Favorite Wife. If you like snappy witty dialogue than you will probably like this movie. I recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Fun Cary Grant/Irene Dunne Comedy
Review: While not Cary Grant's best, and not even the best pairing between Grant & Dunne (that would be either Penny Serenade or My Favorite Wife), The Awful Truth is still an enjoyable screwball comedy. Sure, it's light and predictable, but it's enjoyable, nonetheless. If you're a fan of Cary Grant, or classic comedies, you'll enjoy this.
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