The screwball comedy took hold of culture in 1934 with the back-to-back-to-back premieres of Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night, W.S. Van Dyke’s The Thin Man, and Mark Sandrich’s The Gay Divorcee. Arriving in theaters to widespread acclaim, these films ushered in a new genre into mainstream cinema. Howard Hawks’s Twentieth Century also premiered in 1934. It was poorly received by audiences and critics alike. This screwball, adapted from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s 1932 Broadway hit, charts the tempestuous romantic relationship between the egomaniacal theater director Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) and his ingénue-turned-established-actress Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard), renamed “Lily Garland” at Jaffe’s behest. Around the time of the film’s release, Variety noted that “general audience appeal” was “doubtful” due to a lack of sympathetic characters.
“The sorrows of life are the joys of art,” Jaffe tells Garland before they fall into each other’s arms backstage during the opening night of their first collaboration, a resounding success. Read sincerely or not, this line reflects much of what makes Twentieth Century an outstanding examination of the blurred lines between life and art. Years after Garland has left Jaffe, their roles have reversed: she is a thriving Hollywood star, while his career has torpedoed to the point that he disguises himself and boards the 20th Century Limited train from Chicago to New York to avoid debt collectors. Here, the former lovers meet again, purely by chance.
Barrymore’s frenzied performance sends Twentieth Century’s energy beyond the rafters. Jaffe spends much of the film’s runtime shouting, with his finger pointing accusingly in one of his many assistant’s faces. Lombard, not yet known for her comedic talents at that time, not only matched Barrymore’s feverish pitch, but also injected her own unique wildness into the dynamic role of a former lingerie model turned career woman. She is both calculating and madcap. At the apex of an argument regarding whether or not Garland will return to star in one of Jaffe’s future productions, Lombard’s choice to pointedly kick her feet at Barrymore after he calls her a “vulgar little shop girl” is just one of many examples of two fiery performers learning from each other at their peak. Lombard and Barrymore’s characters are not particularly virtuous, but their explosive chemistry is far more inspired than that of any recent romantic comedy.
Twentieth Century screens tonight, April 19, at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the series “The Lady at 100: Columbia Classics from the Locarno Film Festival.”
