Had a chance to catch "The Awful Truth" the other night for maybe the third time over the years. The 1937 screwball comedy with Irene Dunne, Cary Grant and Ralph Bellamy (aces-high-larious as the Oklahoma oil man) still delights and would make a fine Thanksgiving weekend entertainment, although it's definitely not children's fare. We often assume that all "old movies" should be rated G for their lack of nudity, bad language, etc., etc., but the subject matter--in this case, infidelity/divorce among the black-tie-and-cocktails set--isn't for kids, even when leavened with witty dialogue (which also isn't really for most kids). Have some fun and watch a bona fide "adult" comedy.
Dunne and Grant are practically overwhelming in their glamorous vitality--particularly from a distance of, gee, 70 years. They almost appear to be a different species entirely, especially from the vantage point of "Gate D" at Giants Stadium in New York, about which I posted yesterday, where hundreds of "men" routinely gather to chant obscenities at passing "women," urging them to expose female body parts.
The New York Times interviewed one 23-year-old from the Bronx who was "on a first date" at the football stadium after she "flashed" the chanting hordes and then "took a bow." Quote: "I don't care," she said after being told that video clips of previous incidents, taken on cellphones. ended up online. "I love my body and I like what I have, so let everybody share it."
Well, that's certainly the pornographic cultural message this little gal has been getting from MTV, Hollywood, jeans ads, etc. since she was born. A zillion years ago in 1937 such a 23-year-old from the Bronx would likely have been in thrall to the screen image of Irene Dunne--along with Myrna Loy, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo and more--which fit easily into more or less traditional forms of comportment (quaint word), even in a high-life screwball comedy. In other words, Miss Bronx, 1937, wouldn't pull up her shirt, not on her life. Ms. Bronx 2007 lets everybody share it.
And never the two shall meet.
But don't miss the movie.