Directed by Howard Hawks • 1934 • United States
Starring John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly
Carole Lombard established her genius for screwball comedy with this madcap classic, which practically set the template for the genre. Scripted by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (adapting their own Broadway play) and directed at breakneck pace by Howard Hawks, TWENTIETH CENTURY unfolds in large part aboard the titular train en route from Chicago to New York. Onboard are Lily Garland (Lombard), a shopgirl turned movie star, and down-on-his-luck Broadway producer Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore), Lily’s former lover and impresario, who will stop at nothing to convince her to star in his new show. Reunited by fate aboard the speeding locomotive, the pair match wits in a dazzling display of comic firepower.
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch • 1938 • United States
Starring Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Edward Everett Horton
The great Ernst Lubitsch lends his famously sophisticated touch to this whimsical farce about a spoiled American millionaire who uses his wealth to lure an attractive French aristocra...
Directed by Mitchell Leisen • 1937 • United States
Starring Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, Ray Milland
The madcap misunderstandings pile up in this Preston Sturges–penned screwball fairy tale that sparkles thanks to the light touch of director Mitchell Leisen. An effervescent Jean Arthur stars as t...
Directed by Lloyd Bacon • 1949 • United States
Starring Ray Milland, Jean Peters, Paul Douglas
Baseball goes screwball—and we don’t just mean the pitch—in this breezy sports comedy. Chemistry professor Vernon Simpson (Ray Milland) has virtually no money, so marriage to the daughter (Jean Peters)...
