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.
Up Next in Comedies
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Tampopo
Directed by Juzo Itami • 1985 • Japan
Starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji YakushoThe tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous "ramen western" by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an ente...
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The Daytrippers
Directed by Greg Mottola • 1996 • United States
Starring Parker Posey, Hope Davis, Liev SchreiberWith its droll humor and bittersweet emotional heft, the feature debut of writer-director Greg Mottola announced the arrival of an unassumingly sharp-witted new talent on the 1990s indie film scene....
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Amarcord
Directed by Federico Fellini • 1973 • France, Italy
This carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the fascist period, the most personal film from Federico Fellini, satirizes the director's youth and turns daily life into a circus of social rituals, adolescent desires, male fantasies, an...
