Icons Of Screwball Comedy Collection – Volume One (My Sister Eileen/If You Could Only Cook/Too Many Husbands/She Wouldn’t Say Yes) + Volume Two (Theodora Goes Wild/A Night To Remember/The Doctor Takes A Wife/Together Again/Sony DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Films: B-

 

 

When Columbia Pictures was not a major studio, but a “little sister” that could, they became known for their comedies the way Universal did for Horror films, but the TV sitcom crossed over into that legacy.  However, those shows (sometimes great, other times formulaic) usually leaned more to their radio series forerunners than any feature films.  However, one exception to this was the Screwball Comedy category.  The studio stunned the industry when it won the top Oscar categories (picture, script, actor, actress, director) for It Happened One Night and also made serious showings even before that with classics like Twentieth Century in the 1930s.  Now comes two DVD sets (eight films in all) dubbed the Icons Of Screwball Comedy Collection.

 

The sets contain some interesting films, including a hit that people still talk about, many that are still imitated and an underrated gem overdue for rediscovery.  The films include:

 

My Sister Eileen (1942) has Janet Blair and Rosalind Russell as two sisters who do not look alike, with Eileen (Blair) considered the more attractive of the two.  They eventually live together in a subbasement apartment where the bared opening has no window glass or curtains (think early Laverne & Shirley) in a pretty good film about beauty, status and moving ahead.  Too bad it seems like they took one giant step backwards.  Brain Aherne, George Tobias, Grant Mitchell and Gordon Jones also star.

 

If You Could Only Cook (1935) pairs Jean Arthur and Herbert Marshall as a cook (Arthur) who gets a future love to be butler in a decent film that can be uneven, but is worth seeing.  Lionel Stander is also here and the film has aged well enough.

 

Too Many Husbands (1940) brings Arthur back as a widow who marries Melvyn Douglas, until her supposed dead husband Fred MacMurray comes back and turns out to be very alive.  Now, she does not know who to keep!  Edgar Buchanan also stars ion this decent entry, with chemistry saving it from some of its obvious point.

 

She Wouldn’t Say Yes (1945) beings Russell back in this mixed affair about psychiatry and the fallout of WWII that has too many problems to be ignored, but a few good moments just the same.  Lee Bowman, Harry Davenport and Percy Kilbride also star, but also look out for Arthur Q. Bryan (the original voice of Elmer Fudd) and Darren McGavin in an early role.

 

Theodora Goes Wild (1936) Dunne plays a book author who has written a feminist book, but has recently married, sending her life and the world of publishing into turmoil.  Melvyn Douglas also stars in this really funny and surprisingly enduring film.

 

A Night To Remember (1943) is not the British classic by Roy Ward Baker about The Titanic, but an underrated comedy gem that crosses gangsters, mystery and even the idea of a haunted house in a very smart tale of a couple (Loretta Young and Brian Aherne) moving into “a house that needs some work” and finding out they are not alone.  Gale Sondergaard shows up and Sidney Toler practically sends up his work as Charlie Chan.  Terrific and a must-see for serious film fans.

 

The Doctor Takes A Wife (1940) has Young as a writer pretending to be married to Ray Milland until complications ensue.  It can be uneven and sometimes predictable, but Milland is in rare form and the script is smart.

 

Together Again (1944) is hardly last and not least as Irene Dunne plays a town major who is arrested in the raid of a seedy nightclub, but she manages to figure out ways to hide it… at least for the moment.  Not helping things are meeting Charles Boyer as a sculptor and hey, she’s married!  Another gem worth rediscovering.

 

 

The 1.33 X 1 black and white image on all films have really good Black levels and sometimes demo quality shots, but other times, the footage shows its age and a little restoration may still be needed in spots.  However, they look far better than previous copies that have been in circulation for years (when that was even the case) and are very watchable overall.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono can also show its age throughout, but is on the clean side considering the age of the material.  It made me want to see Blu-ray versions of all of them.

 

Extras include trailers for all the films on their respective discs.  The first set adds the 1946 short Ain’t Love Cookoo, while the second set has the color Columbia animated short Mad Hatter, an amusing piece in the Screwball mode.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo