Hepburn + Grant = movie magic

The holiday season may be long gone, but anytime is a good time to watch "Holiday," the distinctively different screwball comedy/drama that kicked off CineVerse's new "Sophisticated Screwballs" series last night. We came away with these conclusions about the flick:

WHAT ARE IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS SHARED BY SCREWBALL COMEDIES? WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES THAT MAKE THEM “SCREWBALL”?

• Farcical stories and situations—where the film pokes fun at stereotypical characters, such as fatcat filthy rich fathers and spoiled rotten daughters (“My Man Godfrey”)
• Fast pacing in the humor and repartee, direction, editing and dialogue delivery (“His Girl Friday”)
• Physical humor, including slapstick (“Bringing Up Baby”), pratfalls (“The Lady Eve”) and sight gags (“To Be Or Not To Be”), are often used to elicit major laughs and make dignified characters look ridiculous
• A plot centered on courtship and marriage (“The Philadelphia Story”) or remarriage (“The Awful Truth”)
• Themes highlighting the differences between upper and lower socioeconomic classes, with many of the settings taking place among the high society but involving a likeable male love interest from the other side of the tracks (“Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” and “It Happened One Night”)
• The female lead is often strong-willed, determined and sometimes tomboyish, commonly depicted as stronger and even smarter than her male counterpart (“Bringing Up Baby”, “The Lady Eve”)
• A story involving a mistaken identity, misunderstanding, keeping of an important secret, occasionally involving cross-dressing or masquerading (“Some Like it Hot” and “Bringing Up Baby”
• A classic battles of the sexes between a man and a woman, with the male lead’s masculinity often challenged by a strong female love interest (“The Awful Truth”)
• Colorful supporting characters with quirky personalities (Barry Fitzgerald’s gardener in “Bringing Up Baby”, Mischa Auer’s protégé Carlo in “My Man Godfrey”)
• Often, there’s a secondary character (such as a third wheel male suitor) who is more prim, proper and boring (Ralph Bellamy in “His Girl Friday” and “The Awful Truth”)
• The golden period of screwball comedies was between 1934 and 1944, bookended somewhat between “It Happened One Night” and “Miracle of Morgan’s Creek”

WHAT GAVE RISE TO THE SCREWBALL COMEDY SUBGENRE IN THE 1930S AND 1940S?

• The format was borne from the major studios’ wish to sidestep censorship problems they might run into from the Hays Code that prohibited depictions of sexuality. To be able to depict risqué themes and situations, moviemakers had to be more subtle, discrete. For example, to convey sexual tension, verbal sparring and physical comedy between men and women was used. You also get some coded sexual language, such as “The first thing father will want to know is, how are you fixed?”
• This subgenre also took root during the heights of the Great Depression, when weary audiences wanted to escape to the movies and laugh at the foibles and problems of the idle rich and be entertained by stories of lower class underdogs finding love and money.
• The 1930s was the second decade after women were allowed to vote, so women moviegoers appreciated female characters who are given more prominence and power in these stories.
• Many East Coast/New York writers headed to Hollywood to screenwrite, leading to more witty, urbane, sophisticated dialogue

“HOLIDAY” IS TYPICALLY CATEGORIZED IN THE SCREWBALL COMEDY SUBGENRE. HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM MANY OTHER SCREWBALL COMEDIES, HOWEVER?

• It can be more dramatic and less comedic at times; tonally, it shifts between being a comedy, a romance, a social message type picture, and a light drama.
• Arguably, it plays as more of a classic comedic romantic triangle film than a traditional screwball comedy that showcases a battle of the sexes or a comeuppance of the rich.
• Cary Grant’s character appears just as strong, if not stronger, than Hepburn’s strong female character.
• The characters in this film aren’t as stereotypical as many of the exaggerated personalities we see in typical screwball comedies; these folks are a bit more nuanced and well-rounded; consider, for example, how Julia is fairly likeable, at least until she reveals that she highly values money later in the picture.

OTHER FILMS BY GEORGE CUKOR

• Little Women (1933)
• Dinner at Eight (1933)
• David Copperfield (1935)
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• Gaslight (1944)
• Adam's Rib (1949)
• Born Yesterday (1950)
• A Star Is Born (1954)
• My Fair Lady (1964)