Theodora Goes Wild

One of the great Irene Dunne comedies of the thirties!
This is one of my favorite movies. Sheltered, sweet Theodora, a girl from a "nice" family in a small Eastern town, writes a torrid romance under a pseudonym. Unfortunately, her aunts and the Ladies Auxillary decide the book must be banned and send poor Theodora to battle the evil publisher. While in New York at her publisher's, Theodora meets up with Melvyn Douglas, her book's illustrator. He guesses that Theo is not the vamp her book portrays her to be. He follows her back to her small town and tosses world upside down.

This movie is sweet, witty and very funny without being maudlin in the best style of the thirties. It was up for an Oscar and lost against very steep competition. If you like "My Favorite Wife" or other screwball comedies buy this movie. And as good as Irene Dunne is, Melvyn Douglas is even funnier.

A DUNNE DEAL
One of the great underrated comedies of the 1930's!! It's shocking to realize this movie was made two years after the Hays Office clamped down on the studios because this picture has got everything a pre-code film could want - gags about illegitmate babies, prematrial sex, adulterous husbands, prudish (yet titilated) old biddies, etc. and who should star in this picture but one of the screen's most famous "ladies" Miss Irene Dunne!!! Her wholesome presence undoubtably got many a gag on screen that would have never passed muster in a Mae West or Jean Harlow picture (Irene even gives the back of her hair a Mae West-like pat as she snaps out one quip!)

Irene plays a rather repressed youthful spinster who lives with her two maiden aunts in a ultra-conservative and self-righteous New England town who somehow writes the best selling "dirty novel" of the year under a psuedonymn (just how this innocent lamb concocted such a book is never quite explained). While in New York with her...

Sweetly Screwball
I first saw "Theodora Goes Wild" about 25 years ago, on "The Late Late Show", and was hooked. Not only is this film very funny, but it also has a sweet intimacy to it that endeared it to my heart. Irene Dunne, an extremely talented lady, had moved from tearjerkers like "Back Street" and "Magnificent Obsession" to this, her first "screwball" comedy. Her co-star was the talented and underrated Melvyn Douglas. Add to this a wonderful supporting cast, which includes Thomas Mitchell and the ever-fey Spring Byington, and an adorable dog named "Jake". The film isn't as manic as other screwball comedies, such as "Bringing up Baby" or "The Awful Truth", but is very charming in its intimacy. Ms. Dunne, ever the lovely lady (who could also be a "dame"), was an extremely versatile actress, and possessed a beautiful singing voice (She was the star of James Whale's production of "Showboat", by the...

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