It Happened One Night (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936), His Girl Friday (1940), Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Twentieth Century (1934), Love Crazy (1941), Bell, Book and Candle (1958) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Screwball Comedy movies.
Storyline: A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry, the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.—Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>
Plot Keywords: western, comedy, adventure, historical, action, ensemble cast, alcohol ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Aviator and band leader Roger Bond is forever getting his group fired for flirting with the lady guests. When he falls for Brazilian beauty Belinha de Rezende it appears to be for real, even though she is already engaged. His Yankee Clippers band is hired to open the new Hotel Atlântico in Rio and Roger offers to fly Belinha part way home. After a mechanical breakdown and forced landing, Roger is confident and makes his move, but Belinha plays hard to get. She can't seem to decide between Roger and her fiance Júlio. When performing the airborne production number to mark the Hotel's opening, Júlio gets some intriguing ideas...—Gary Jackson <garyjack5@cogeco.ca>
Plot Keywords: musical, romance, comedy, dance, 1930s, fred astaire, aviation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Commercial artist Helen Bauer believes marriage kills romance. She lives with advertising writer Don Peterson. He convinces her to marry him. He later carries on with client Peggy Smith; Helen takes up with Don's competitor Nick Malvyn. In the end, the couple agree to give marriage another chance.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, comedy, 1930s, black-and-white, warner bros, remarriage ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Clark Gable plays a card cheat who has to go on the lam to avoid a pesky cop. He meets a lonely, but slightly wild, librarian, Carole Lombard, while he is hiding out. The two get married after Lombard wins a coin flip and they move back to the city. Gable continues his gambling/cheating scheme unbeknownst to Lombard. When she discovers his "other life", she presures him to quit. Gable feels crowded and tells her that he is leaving for South America. In fact, Gable has decided he wants to go straight and turns himself in to the cop...—Jordan Caldwell <jcaldwell@tamu.edu>
Plot Keywords: romance, drama, comedy, pre-code hollywood, marriage, gambling, deception ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Ice-cold college dean Susan Middlecott feels there's no room in her life for romance. Enter Prof. Alec Stevenson, British lecturer on astronomy, touring North America and in possession of a keepsake of Susan's he wants to return. Desperate for publicity, lecture bureau press agent Teddy Evans magnifies this into a great romance. The efforts of both dignified principals to quash the story have the opposite effect; matters get more and more involved...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: romantic comedy, professor, journalist, scandal, misunderstanding, love triangle, reputation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A musical comedy about a Brooklyn boy (Eddie Cantor) who inherits a fortune from his archaeologist father, but has to go to Egypt to claim it.—Alessandro Martini <alemartini@geocities.com>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, 1930s, black-and-white, inheritance, song and dance, slapstick ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Priam Farrel is a celebrated artist but a social recluse. When his valet dies of a sudden illness, a mix-up leads to the body being identified as Farrel's. The timid artist then assumes the identity of his former servant, but finds himself faced with constant dilemmas as a result.—Snow Leopard
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, marriage, misunderstanding, twins, 1930s, american film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Judy Bellaire, played by Judy Garland, is the center of trouble at her exclusive private and very conservative school. She is expelled when she starts singing in a Jazzy style in her music class. Mayhem ensues as she returns home to her actress mother, playwright father, dysfunctional Russian maid (Fanny Brice) and tries out as a black face singer in a musical.—BerindaBear
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, family, romance, drama, classic, 1930s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: On Quality Street in 1805 England, a gentleman passerby is an event, not only for the lady being called upon, but also for the ever-nosy female neighbors. When Dr. Valentine Brown calls on 20-year-old Phoebe Throssel, she almost expects a marriage proposal; instead, he has come to tell her that he has enlisted in the army to fight in the Napoleonic Wars, with no romantic syllable spoken. 10 years later, Phoebe and her older sister Susan now run a school and neither has married. At first sight of Phoebe, Captain Brown hardly recognizes her--the years haven't been kind to her and she is no longer the pretty young thing he once knew. Heartbroken at his reaction, she decides to pay attention to her appearance, realizing that she has been neglecting it. When Captain Brown returns, he is again stunned, and his reaction spurs Patty, the Throssels' maid, to introduce her as Livvy, their visiting niece. Captain Brown seems enthralled with "Livvy"--as does many a young returning junior officer. Phoebe wades into the situation with no plan except to keep masquerading as Livvy, string along all the junior officers, and make Captain Brown jealous enough to propose marriage to her, which she will then rebuke as a ridiculous suggestion. Will Phoebe be able to pull off the scheme, which includes fooling the ever-knowing spinster Willoughby sisters, the Throssel sisters' closest friends? Or will Captain Brown's admission to Livvy make Phoebe change her plan of attack?—Huggo
Plot Keywords: romance, comedy, period drama, 1930s, victorian era, love triangle, disguise ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Western sheriff Bob Wells is preparing to marry Sally Morgan; she loves part-Indian Wanenis, whose race is an obstacle. Sally flees the wedding with hypochondriac Henry Williams, who thinks he's just giving her a ride; but she left a note saying they've eloped! Chasing them are jilted Bob, Henry's nurse Mary (who's been trying to seduce him) and others.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, western, pre-code hollywood, song and dance, mischief ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Despite their differences, New York magazine editor Larry Blake and Ski Lodge, Idaho ski instructor Karin Borg fall in love and get married within hours of meeting. Those differences are Larry being urban to the core, he not having had any desire to learn how to ski until he laid eyes on Karin, while Karin is an outdoors girl to the core, her life all about healthy living. In the sober light of day, Karin learns that Larry's vow to leading a healthy outdoor life in Ski Lodge and hating his life and job in New York was just pillow talk in that he not only has no intention of giving up that life but demands she move with him back to New York in stating his life more important than hers. While this impasse seems on the surface to be the end of their marriage before it even begins, there is one problem: they still love each other. So while Larry vows to make it back to Ski Lodge to be with her as he returns to New York to resume his work, one issue after another postpones his return. As such, Karin decides to surprise him by flying out to New York, adorning herself in New York finery in the process. But when Karin catches Larry back in the embrace of a former girlfriend, playwright Griselda Vaughn who in turn knew that Larry is married but doesn't care in resuming their relationship, Larry's personal secretary Miss Ellis comes up with the idea that Karin should pose as her morally depraved but urban chic twin sister Katherine Borg to allow Karin to keep an eye on Larry clandestinely while in New York, while showing him up in the process. Complications ensue when Larry believes he has conclusive evidence that Karin and Katherine are one in the same, he who plans to show her up in return.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, classic, black and white, 1940s, hollywood, george cukor ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Janeane Garofalo plays Dr. Abby Barnes, the "Truth About Cats and Dogs" radio question-and-answer show host who unwittingly entices a listener over the radio with her soothing voice and personality. This listener, Brian, tries to meet the Abby from the radio, but Noelle, played by Uma Thurman, is mistaken for the real thing when Brian comes to the studio. Instead of clearing things up right away, the self-conscious Abby allows her best friend, Noelle, a tall, stunning blonde, to take her place for a while. Abby takes on the made-up persona of Donna, while thinking Brian would never go for her, a short, cute, brunette, who thinks she's unattractive. As the real Abby woos Brian over the phone and radio, Noelle, the pseudo-Abby, takes her place in the flesh. As time goes on, Abby feels more and more confident that Brian would rather have the beautiful Noelle than the simply attractive Abby.
Plot Keywords: romantic comedy, chick flick, love triangle, self-esteem, friendship, deception, modern love ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Glamour artist Bob Randolph is world famous for his paintings of a stunning beauty dubbed "The Randolph Girl". What the world doesn't know is that his pin-up creation is really a composite of parts of the anatomy of 12 different models. In an effort to find one girl who possesses all the proper physical attributes, Randolph and PR man Chuck Donovan pursue Ruth Wilson, a beauteous schoolteacher who prefers to be admired for her brain rather than her curves. Ruth changes her tune, however, when a published photo of her in a swimsuit causes her to be fired by the uptight schoolboard. She sues for reinstatement and in the process learns that swimsuits and sex appeal do have a place in her world, after all.—Dan Navarro <daneldorado@yahoo.com>
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, beach, artist, fashion, 1950s, lighthearted ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Mr Casey's daughter, Connie, wants to go to Pottawatomie College and without her knowledge he sends four football players as her bodyguards. The college is in financial trouble and her bodyguards use their salary to help the college. The football players join the college team, and the team becomes one of the best. One of the football players, Clint, falls in love with Connie, but when she discovers he is her bodyguard, she decides to go back East. The bodyguards follow her, leaving the team in the lurch.—Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, college, football, dance, 1940s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Ginger Rogers, an overworked New York office girl, seeks 2 weeks of rest and relaxation at a camp in the Catskills. She is definitely not a happy camper because of the crowded and noisy conditions. She tries her best to fit in and, after an initial dislike, falls for college educated Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., a waiter at the camp. Ginger becomes suspicious of his motives, however, and he becomes alarmed when she spends an innocent night in the cabin of a rival suitor. All ends happily, however, as their love proves true enough and trust triumphs over suspicions.—Jim Corrigan
Plot Keywords: romantic comedy, 1930s, dating, social class, romance, musical, dance ...
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