Twentieth Century (1934)- An Underrated Screwball Comedy (Review)

Howard Hawks is, in my opinion, one of the best filmmakers to come out of Hollywood. He could easily switch between genres, cranking out comedies and dramas that both audiences and critics loved. His filmography includes Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Red River (1948) and many other classics. One of his most important films was Twentieth Century (1934) – a Pre-Code masterpiece, one of the first screwball comedies and the breakout film of Carole Lombard.

The first screwball comedy is generally thought to be It Happened One Night (1934), which was released the same year as Twentieth Century, but they’re quite different. It Happened One Night focused on the differences between classes, while Twentieth Century focused almost entirely on the somewhat insignificant problems of the upper class, celebrities and famous people. Carole Lombard plays an actress who gets her big break while leaving the man she owes her success to (John Barrymore), floundering in failure.

Prior to this film Lombard had been a supporting actor for a lot of her career, and she had been typecast for roles that needed a beautiful blonde – with no chances given to use her comedic skills. I recently saw Fast and Loose (1930), in which she plays a straight, no nonsense character, and it doesn’t really work very well as other actresses could have played the role the same, but maybe that’s because of what we know about her today – that her comedy skills were almost incomparable to anyone else at that time. Hawks was influential in unlocking that side of her abilities when he apparently said that she was acting too stiff and formal, and it was getting her too loosen up and have fun in this and further roles that catapulted her career.

Carol Lombard is dynamite in Twentieth Century, but while this is her big break it’s actually Barrymore’s movie. He’s unstoppable and doesn’t let up at all, and although he’s known as a dramatic actor he handles the comedy fantastically well. Hawks wanted someone who could play a ham and he believed that Barrymore was the person most suited for the role.

The film is a satire of the wealthy, especially those in Hollywood, but this is the definition of screwball comedies as they first gained popularity during the Great Depression by making fun of the rich people who, among other things, caused that period of hardship. Look at the Three Stooges, who often played bums and annoyed the wealthy with their shenanigans, or the Marx Brothers who, at their best, created anarchy for the rich and well off – including the reoccurring wealthy dowager who was always played spectacularly by Margaret Dumont. Though their films weren’t Screwball comedies, they mimicked many of the traits.

In the case of Twentieth Century it’s not the lower class versus the upper class, but the wealthy interfering with each other on matters that only they could really care about. At the time the Great Depression was still going on, so not many people could care about a playwright whose plays kept bombing, but what this film does so well is that it makes wealthy and successful people the joke. Neither of the main two characters are remotely likable or people that the audience would want to succeed, and Twentieth Century mocks the people that the general public is supposed to idolize and look up to.

Almost as important as director Howard Hawks’ involvement is that of Ben Hect, who is considered to be one of the greatest screenwriters to work in Hollywood, and whose credited and uncredited screenplays include Underworld (1927), His Girl Friday, Foreign Correspondent (1940), and Strangers on a Train (1951) among others – and Twentieth Century is one of his best. It’s quick paced, witty, and entertaining all at once, and just like with His Girl Friday, Hect spoofs an industry that he was a part of and he does it brilliantly. One quote by Carole Lombard’s character really sums up the mockery and satire that Hect wanted to portray – “We’re not people, we’re lithographs. We don’t know anything about love unless it’s written and rehearsed. We’re only real in between curtains.”

Actors can often have tough times becoming their own person because they so frequently play others for a living. Peter Sellers famously believed that he had no real personality outside of the characters that he played, and I think that generally it’s difficult for actors to play people in their profession – especially if it’s meant to be comedic or satirical. I feel that some might take offense if the characters are somewhat like them in any way, but back in the era of the screwball comedy people wanted humor and movies that made fun of the rich, and Twentieth Century delivers that.

Despite being considered the first movie in this subgenre of class satire, It Happened One Night isn’t on the same level as while it’s still a good film, Twentieth Century is, in my opinion, a better screwball comedy. Although It Happened One Night established the patterns for the subgenre, Twentieth Century turned these on their head and reinvented the wheel, so to speak. It’s so different from how these stories normally proceed and yet it’s brilliant, and although I’ve not seen all of Hawk’s films, from the ones that I have seen this one is the most inventive in terms of story and plot, and it’s a shame that the code seems to have restricted some of his brilliance.

Twentieth Century is one of the best films of the Pre-Code era, and one of the best films from Hollywood in the 1930s. With Carole Lombard in a breakout performance, John Barrymore proving that he could do comedy and helping his career stay afloat a little longer, and with people like Howard Hawks and Ben Hect (two of the best in their respective professions), it should be more well known. The fact that it remains largely unknown except by major Classic Hollywood film fans is, in my opinion, a tremendous loss.

Ben’s Archive: Twentieth Century