Icons of Screwball Comedy, Vol. 2 (Theodora Goes Wild / Together Again / A Night to Remember / The Doctor Takes a Wife)

I have enjoyed all 4 of the movies on this disc. They are all good: Theodora Goes Wild, A Night To Remember, Together Again, The Doctor Takes A Wife. The reason I bought this was for "Theodora Goes Wild." It is by far the best of the four mainly because of the chemistry between Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas. This was Dunne's first comedy and she just shines in it. Also I like it because Melvyn Douglas is so young in it. When I was growing up Douglas was already playing older parts. I never considered him a "Matinee Idol" until I saw this movie. He is great in this. The other movies are your standard romantic comedies but the quality of the stars is above average. This was very reasonably priced. I consider it a very good buy.

Icons of Screwball Comedy - Volume 2 - Irene Dunne/Loretta YoungDocumentation1/2 Theodora Goes Wild bv Richard Boleslawski (1936, 94')Writers: Sidney Buchman (screenplay), Mary McCarthyCast: Irene Dunne, Melvyn Douglas and Thomas MitchellThe author of a scandalously racy best-selling book tries to hide her celebrityfrom her provincial small town neighbors who'd be scandalized if they knew.Ratings: 7.3/10 from 912 users - Reviews: 25 user | 19 critic2/2 Together Again by Charles Vidor (1944, 93')Writers: Virginia Van Upp & F. Hugh Herbert (screen play), and 2 more credits »Cast: Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer and Charles CoburnA prim and proper widow who has succeeded him as mayor of a provincial Vermont town hires a worldly New York sculptor for her husband's statue.Ratings: 6.9/10 from 208 users - Reviews: 9 user | 6 critic3/2 A Night to Remember by Richard Wallace (1942, 88')Writers: Richard Flournoy, Jack Henley, and 1 more creditCast: Loretta Young, Brian Aherne and Jeff DonnellA mystery writer and his newlywed wife move into a GreeenwichVillage apartment and find themselves with a corpse and a halfDozen red herrings.Ratings: 6.6/10 from 414 users - Reviews: 15 user | 7 critic4/2 The Doctor Takes a Wife by Alexander Hall (1940, 88')Writers: George Seaton & Ken Englund (screenplay), and 1 more credit »Cast: Loretta Young, Ray Milland and Reginald GardinerA best-selling author of women's issues and a medical academic find it is to their mutual advantage to falsely claim that they are married.Ratings: 6.9/10 from 336 users - Reviews: 10 user | 6 criticScrewball comedy has proven to be one of the most popular and enduring film genres. It first gained prominence in 1934 with It Happened One Night, which is often cited as being the first true screwball. Although many film scholars would agree that its classic period had effectively ended by 1942, elements of the genre have persisted, or have been paid homage, in contemporary film.145us Icons of Screwball Comedy - Volume 2 - 4/9/2012

My favourite of the four films is `Together Again` which stars Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. She is the small town mayor who goes to New York to see him, a sculptor. She wishes to have a statue made of her late husband. He manages to inveigle her into having dinner with him. She finds him more and more attractive as he manages to keep her completely off balance. Quite different from her normal business self.After the evening`s adventures she flees back to her home town. She explains to the statue committee that he wasn`t suitable for the job. As they leave, she is horrified to find him walking up the path to her front door. He has arrived to do the job, complete with all the necessary tools and equipment.From there, a whole lot of complications arise until finally, everything is sorted out.I found it a very funny film. It made me laugh out loud. The two stars are so charismatic and seem to be enjoying the change of pace from their previous appearances together.For sheer enjoyment I think it is worth its five stars.The other films are also funny but to my mind this is the best.

This review is for the SonyPictures / Columbia Pictures 2-DVD set, Icons of Screwball Comedy, Volume 2.This set has the same format as Icons of Screwball Comedy, Volume 1 -- which I reviewed on Amazon.com on January 29. 2015. Just as Volume 1 featured two classic comediennes -- Jean Arthur with two films on one DVD and Rosalind Russell with two films on the other -- so Volume 2 features two more classic comediennes -- Irene Dunne with two films on one DVD and Loretta Young with two films on the other.As was the case with Volume 1, the only special features are some of the original trailers and a cartoon. Three out of the four original trailers are presented, and a 7-minute Columbia Cartoon called "Mad Hatter." The cartoon is not particularly inspiring in animation, and barely has a plot, and is not funny (though it tries to be). I can think of no reason at all for including it in this collection, except that it is from the year 1940 -- the same year as *The Doctor Takes a Wife* on the same DVD. Obviously, you don't buy this DVD set for the special features. The chapter menus aren't particularly great, either -- only 12 chapters per movie, and the images are very small and hard to see even on a 30-inch TV screen. So with poor chapter menus and only minor special features, the main value of this collection is in the films themselves.The good news is that the picture and sound are great on all 4 films, and the films themselves are great, too. Irene Dunne can hold her own as a screwball comedienne with the best of them, and Loretta Young, while not quite as natural in the genre, is still pretty good. And while the Dunne/Young combination on paper might not be quite as good as the Arthur/Russell combination in Volume 1, when you consider these particular films, which are very good, Volume 2 is every bit as good as Volume 1.I bought the collection to get *Theodora Goes Wild*, and I wasn't disappointed. It is very funny, and Dunne is spectacular in it. Melvyn Douglas is good, too. The grudging voters on the IMDb give this film only a 7.3 out of 10, which is insane -- this is a *great* screwball comedy, worth at least 8 out of 10. And the other Dunne number, *Together Again*, with Charles Boyer, is almost as good. *The Doctor Takes a Wife* has Loretta Young shining as a sort of "kinder, gentler" Rosalind Russell type of independent woman, with Ray Milland turning in a comic performance which seems to start out a bit stiff and self-conscious, but ends up letter-perfect. No one can match Cary Grant at this genre, but Milland is a reasonable substitute. The fourth film in the collection, *A Night to Remember*, isn't in my view a screwball comedy at all -- there is no love/hate tension between the couple, which is the motor of screwball plots. Instead, Young and Brian Aherne are a happily married couple who take an apartment in a building in which there are all kinds of sinister goings-on, including ghostly somethings in the night and of course murder. It's part murder mystery and part comedy, and delightful in both respects. Brian Aherne shows a good comic touch; he seems to be an underrated actor. (He showed great dramatic ability in *Juarez*, where his performance far outshone that of the nominal star, Paul Muni.) It's fun to see Sidney Toler in a non-Charlie Chan role for a change (though he is still a crimebuster, as the police chief), and it is always fun to see Gale Sondergaard in sinister roles.The three true screwball comedies in this collection are all good, and deserve somewhere between 7.7 and 8.3 out of 10. They aren't in the very highest rank of screwball comedies, but they are very competent performances. *A Night to Remember* is perhaps a little weaker, but it's still an entertaining film, and anything less than 7.4 out of 10 would be unjust to it.There are different Amazon sites (Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, etc.). You may find that the price on this set (and also on Volume 1) varies considerably from site to site. So shop around. I paid less than $20 (price plus shipping) for each of these sets, and they were well worth it. Single screwball comedies are often $15 to $20, and if you can get four of them for the same price, the purchase is a no-brainer. It's always a delight to buy a set just for one film, and then find out you like the others almost as well as the one that led you to buy the set.

This is a great comedy collection to add to your lineup and well worth the price for the two Irene Dunne films " Together Again " and " Theodora Goes Wild " . In " Together Again " Irene Dunne is a widow , and mayor of a small town. When lightning knocks the head of her dead husband off of a statue of him she goes in search of a sculptor to be commissioned to make a new statue , who turns out to be Charles Boyer. When Boyer proposes marriage , Dunne says that after her husband died she promised her daughter that she would never abandon her. Boyer attempts to approach the daughter with points such as " nothing should stand in the way of true love , don't you agree ". The daughter doesn't realize he is talking about her mother , but rather thinks his attention is on her. The misunderstanding generates loads of laughs. Charles Coburn as Dunnes' father is along to add to the fun. Delightfully funny and charming it is worthy of five stars. "Theodora Goes Wild " also starring Irene Dunne ( with Melvyn Douglas ) is rated in many movie guides as being better than " Together Again ". It is the story of a small town author of " racey " novels that works incognito under a pen name. Laughter arises when she is exposed , and the town must modernize and come to grips with the truth. A satire of prudery it is worthy of four stars. Also on the bill are two Loretta Young films " A Night to Remember " , which is a highly rated murder mystery comedy , and " The Doctor takes a Wife " which is also highly rated as a comedy of mistaken identity .

The second volume in the Icons of Screwball Comedy collections, this one features the talents of Irene Dunne and Loretta Young.The Irene Dunne films in this collection are absolutely terrific. In Theodora Goes Wild and Together Again, we can see just how talented and under-rated a comedienne Irene Dunne was. In these films she displays a charisma, charm, and sexiness that make viewing the film a delight from beginning to end. It also helps that the two leading men in these films given exceptional performances, Melvyn Douglass in the former, and Charles Boyer in the latter.The two Loretta Young films are rather hit and miss. In a Night to Remember, Loretta Young is really wasted in a play that is put to film, and like My Sister Eileen in Volume One, comes across as claustrophobic and boring, with the comedy often seeming forced. It also does not help matters that the leading man in both of these films, Brian Aherne, is rather more annoying and bombastic than funny.In The Doctor Takes A Wife, Loretta Yond and Ray Milland display good chemistry in a film that offers the kind of fun and charm that one expects to see in a screwball comedy. The emotions and feelings come across as genuine, helping the viewing immerse themselves more fully into the comedy of the absurd situations the characters find themselves in.

Good variety of Movies....

Excellent