Twentieth Century (film)

Twentieth Century

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Howard Hawks
Produced by Howard Hawks
Written by
Starring
Music by
Cinematography Joseph H. August
Edited by Gene Havlick
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • May 3, 1934 (1934-05-03) (New York City)
Running time
 91 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Twentieth Century is a 1934 American pre-Code screwball comedy film. Much of the film is set on the 20th Century Limited train as it travels from Chicago to New York City. The film was directed by Howard Hawks, stars John Barrymore and Carole Lombard, and features Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns and Edgar Kennedy. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur adapted their Broadway play of the same name[1] – itself based on the unproduced play Napoleon of Broadway by Charles Bruce Millholland – with uncredited contributions from Gene Fowler and Preston Sturges.[2]

Along with Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, also released in 1934 (which amazingly has exactly the same music over the opening titles), Twentieth Century is considered to be a prototype for the screwball comedy.[3] "Howard Hawks' rapid-fire romantic comedy established the essential ingredients of the screwball – a dizzy dame, a charming but befuddled hero, dazzling dialogue and a dash of slapstick."[4] Its success propelled Lombard into the front ranks of film comediennes.[3] The film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011.

Plot

Lobby card for Twentieth Century

Ebullient Broadway impresario Oscar Jaffe (Barrymore) takes an unknown lingerie model named Mildred Plotka (Lombard) and makes her the star of his latest play, despite the grave misgivings of everyone else, including his two long-suffering assistants, accountant Oliver Webb and the consistently tipsy Owen O'Malley. Through intensive training, Oscar transforms his protegée into the actress "Lily Garland", and both she and the play are resounding successes. Over the next three years, their partnership spawns three more smash hits, and Lily is recognized as a transcendent talent.

Then Lily tries to break off their professional and personal relationship, fed up with Oscar's overpossesiveness and control of every aspect of her life. Oscar talks her out of it, promising to be more trusting and less controlling in the future. Instead, he secretly hires a private detective agency run by McGonigle to watch her every move, even to the point of tapping her telephone. When she finds out, it is the last straw; she leaves for Hollywood and soon becomes a big movie star.

Without Lily, Oscar produces flop after flop. After one such disappointment, to avoid being imprisoned for his debts, he is forced to disguise himself to board the luxurious Twentieth Century Limited train travelling from Chicago to New York City's Grand Central Terminal. By chance, Lily Garland boards the train at a later stop with her boyfriend George Smith. After prevaricating, Oscar sees a chance to restore his fortunes and salvage his relationship with Lily.

Oscar schemes to get her to sign a contract with him. However, Lily wants nothing more to do with him. She is on her way to see Oscar's rival (and former employee), Max Jacobs, to star in his play. However, Oscar manages to get George to break up with her. Knowing that Lily offers him one last chance at professional success he tells her of his wish for her to play Mary Magdalene in his new play; "sensual, heartless, but beautiful – running the gamut from the gutter, to glory – can you see her Lily? – the little wanton ending up in tears at the foot of the cross. I'm going to have Judas strangle himself with her hair." Then Oliver thinks he has found somebody to finance Oscar's project, fellow passenger Mathew J. Clark, not realizing that Clark is a harmless escapee from a mental asylum. When Oscar is slightly wounded in a scuffle with Clark, he pretends to be dying and gets a distraught Lily to sign his contract. The film ends with their first rehearsal, where Oscar reverts to his usual domineering self.

Cast

Cast notes:

Production

The genesis of Twentieth Century was Napoleon of Broadway, a play by Charles Bruce Millholland about his experiences in working for the legendary and eccentric Broadway producer David Belasco.[7] His play was not produced, but it became the basis for the Hecht-MacArthur comedy, which lasted for 152 performances on Broadway, beginning on December 29, 1932,[1] and which they later adapted for the big screen.

Howard Hawks was not the first choice; Roy Del Ruth and Lewis Milestone had been set to direct before Hawks got the job. Columbia tried to get William Frawley from the Broadway cast, but instead borrowed Roscoe Karns from Paramount.[8]

Before Lombard was cast, Columbia boss Harry Cohn negotiated with Eugenie Leontovich, who had played the part on Broadway, and then considered Gloria Swanson and Miriam Hopkins. Other reports say that Cohn also approached Ina Claire, Tallulah Bankhead, Ruth Chatterton, Constance Bennett, Ann Harding, Kay Francis and Joan Crawford. However, Hawks believed that Lombard was a brilliant actress who had yet to be unleashed on film. He convinced a reluctant Columbia to borrow her from Paramount Studios.

During Barrymore's initial reading with her, he looked to Hawks with an expression that showed he did not believe in Hawks' intuition. The rest of the production went dryly, with Lombard staggering through one scene after another and playing the same stoic characters that she had been taught to portray. Hawks took her aside and asked her what she was being paid for the film. Lombard told him and Hawks asked her what she would do if a man said "something" about her, coming up with an example from the back of his mind. Lombard said, "I would kick him in the balls." Hawks said, "Well, Barrymore said that, so why don't you kick him?" Of course Barrymore had said nothing of the sort, but the plan worked and after Lombard yelped a few profanities, she continued through the shoot with an unforgettable vigor. For the rest of her career, before beginning a film, Lombard would always send a telegram to Hawks saying, "I'm going to kick him!"

Lombard and Barrymore became friends during filming. When Barrymore's career was declining, Lombard raised hell to get him to work on her film True Confession (1937).

Preston Sturges was hired to write the screenplay around late November 1933, but was removed from the project a week later because he hadn't made sufficient progress. Columbia then tried to get Herman Mankiewicz to write it, with Felix Young to produce.[8]

Twentieth Century – a title which Columbia considered changing because they feared that many westerners would not be familiar with the name of the train[8] – was in production February 22–March 24, 1934.[9]

During the filming, there were some problems with the censors at the Hays Office, who were concerned about the religious angle in the comedy of the film, and requested that it be toned down. Joseph Breen, who ran the Office, worried that "there will be serious difficulty in inducing an anti-Semitic public to accept a [motion picture] play produced by an industry believed to be Jewish in which the Passion Play is used for comedy purposes." The Office ultimately asked that one line be removed, which it was. They also requested that it be made less clear where Oscar jabs Lily with a pin.[8]

Moffat Johnston who starred as Oscar Jaffe in the Broadway play, was an old colleague of Barrymore's. He had appeared in one of Barrymore's revivals of Hamlet in 1923. Johnston was an accomplished Shakespearean actor in his own right.

Twentieth Century was premiered in New York at Radio City Music Hall on May 3, 1934, and went into general release on May 11.[10][11]

Reception

In his The New York Times review of Twentieth Century, Mordaunt Hall wrote, "John Barrymore is in fine fettle in Twentieth Century" and "acts with such imagination and zest that he never fails to keep the picture thoroughly alive."[12] All of the principal actors - Lombard ("gives an able portrayal"), Connolly ("excellent") and Karns ("adds bright flashes"), as well as Girardot ("an asset") - were also praised. However, Hall was less enthused about the comedy style, stating, "it seems a pity that they [Hecht and MacArthur] were tempted to stray occasionally too far from the realm of restrained comedy and indulge their fancy for boisterous humor."[12]

Twentieth Century's box office performance was described as "dismal".[13]

TIME said "Twentieth Century is good fun, slick, wild and improbable."[14]

In December 2011, Twentieth Century was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[15] In its induction, the Registry said that the "sophisticated farce about the tempestuous romance of an egocentric impresario and the star he creates did not fare well on its release, but has come to be recognized as one of the era’s finest film comedies, one that gave John Barrymore his last great film role and Carole Lombard her first."[15]

Adaptations

On the Twentieth Century

In 1978, Cy Coleman (music), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (book and lyrics) created the stage musical, On the Twentieth Century, based on the film, the original Hecht and MacArthur play and the unpublished play by Millholland. It ran on Broadway for 460 performances,[16] and was revived for a special benefit performance in 2005.[17] Its first full-scale Broadway revival began in February 2015, with Peter Gallagher and Kristin Chenoweth in the lead roles.

Radio

Twentieth Century was presented on Star Playhouse November 22, 1953. The adaptation starred Lili Palmer and Rex Harrison.[18]

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Twentieth Century at the Internet Broadway Database
  2. ↑ Twentieth Century at the Internet Movie Database
  3. 1 2 Bozzola, Lucia Allmovie review
  4. ↑ Columbia Tristar Home Video, 1992,CVR 11493 notes on back cover
  5. ↑ Twentieth Century at the Internet Broadway Database; Twentieth Century at the Internet Movie Database
  6. ↑ Etienne Girardot at the Internet Movie Database
  7. ↑ TCM "Trivia: 'Twentieth Century'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: July 10, 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 TCM "Notes: 'Twentieth Century'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: July 10, 2015.]
  9. ↑ IMDB "Business data: 'Twentieth Century'." IMDb. Retrieved: July 10, 2015.
  10. ↑ IMDB Release dates: 'Twentieth Century'." IMDb. Retrieved: July 10, 2015.
  11. ↑ Brown 1995, p. 119.
  12. 1 2 Hall, Mordaunt. "Twentieth Century (1934)." The New York Times, May 4, 1934.
  13. ↑ Churchill, Douglas W. "The Year in Hollywood: 1934 may be remembered as the beginning of the sweetness-and-light era." The New York Times, December 30, 1934, p. X5. Retrieved: December, 16, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Cinema: The New Pictures: May 14, 1934." TIME. Retrieved: July 10, 2015.
  15. 1 2 "2011 National Film Registry more than a box of chocolates." Library of Congress, December 28, 2011. Retrieved: December 29, 2011.
  16. ↑ "'On the Twentieth Century' (1978)." Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved: July 10, 2015.
  17. ↑ 'On the Twentieth Century' (2005)." Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved: July 10, 2015.
  18. ↑ Kirby, Walter. "Better Radio Programs for the Week." The Decatur Daily Review (via Newspapers.com), November 22, 1953, p. 46. Retrieved: July 8, 2015.

Bibliography

  • Brown, Gene. Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from Its Beginnings to the Present. New York: Macmillan, 1995. ISBN 0-02-860429-6.
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