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: Ellie Andrews has just tied the knot with society aviator King Westley when she is whisked away to her father's yacht and out of King's clutches. Ellie jumps ship and eventually winds up on a bus headed back to her husband. Reluctantly she must accept the help of out-of- work reporter Peter Warne. Actually, Warne doesn't give her any choice: either she sticks with him until he gets her back to her husband, or he'll blow the whistle on Ellie to her father. Either way, Peter gets what (he thinks!) he wants .... a really juicy newspaper story.
Plot Keywords: romance, comedy, classic, road movie, journalist, opposites attract, oscar winner ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In the depths of the Depression, a party game brings dizzy socialite Irene Bullock to the city dump where she meets Godfrey, a derelict, and ends by hiring him as family butler. He finds the Bullocks to be the epitome of idle rich, and nutty as the proverbial fruitcake. Soon, the dramatizing Irene is in love with her 'protege'...who feels strongly that a romance between servant and employer is out of place, regardless of that servant's mysterious past...
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, classic, 1930s, usa, black and white, romantic comedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Having been away for four months, Hildy Johnson walks into the offices of the New York City based The Morning Post, where she is a star reporter, to tell her boss, editor Walter Burns, that she is quitting. The reason for her absence was among other things to get a Reno divorce, from, of all people, Walter, who admits he was a bad husband. Hildy divorced Walter largely because she wanted more of a home life, whereas Walter saw her more as a driven hard-boiled reporter than subservient homemaker. Hildy has also come to tell Walter that she is taking the afternoon train to Albany, where she will be getting married tomorrow to staid straight-laced insurance agent, Bruce Baldwin, with whose mother they will live, at least for the first year. Walter doesn't want to lose Hildy, either as a reporter or a wife, and if he does, doesn't believe Bruce is worthy of her. Walter does whatever he can at least to delay Hildy and Bruce's trip, long enough to persuade Hildy to stay for good. His plan ...
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, journalism, remarriage, wit, classic, black comedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Mild mannered zoology professor Dr. David Huxley is excited by the news that an intercostal clavicle bone has been found to complete his brontosaurus skeleton, a project four years in the construction. He is equally excited about his imminent marriage to his assistant, the officious Alice Swallow, who is interested in him more for his work than for him as a person. David needs the $1 million endowment of wealthy dowager Mrs. Carleton Random to complete the project. Her lawyer, Alexander Peabody, will make the decision on her behalf, so David needs to get in his favor. However, whenever David tries to make a good impression on Peabody, the same young woman always seems to do something to make him look bad. She is the flighty heiress Susan Vance. The more David wants Susan to go away, the more Susan seems not to want or be able to. But David eventually learns that Alexander Peabody is her good friend, who she calls Boopy, and Susan's Aunt Elizabeth, with whom David has also made a bad ...
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, classic, absurd, 1930s, black and white, misunderstanding ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Mimi Glossop wants a divorce so her Aunt Hortense hires a professional to play the correspondent in apparent infidelity. American dancer Guy Holden meets Mimi while visiting Brightbourne (Brighton) and she thinks he is the correspondent. The plot is really an excuse for song and dance. The movie won three Academy nominations and the first Oscar for Best Song: "The Continental", a twenty-two minute production number.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, dance, fred astaire, 1930s, classic hollywood ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Broadway director Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) is a bigger ham than most actors, but through sheer drive and talent he is able to build a successful career. When one of his discoveries, Lily Garland (Carole Lombard), rises to stardom and heeds the call of Hollywood, Oscar begins a career slide. He hits the skids and seems on his way out, until he chances to meet Lily again, on a train ride aboard the Twentieth Century Limited. Oscar pulls out all the stops to re-sign his former star, but it's a battle - because Lily, who is as temperamental as Oscar is, wants nothing to do with her former mentor.—Dan Navarro <daneldorado@yahoo.com>
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, classic, hollywood, black and white, over-the-top acting, fame and fortune ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Steve and Susan Ireland are about to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary by re-enacting their first date. When Susan's meddling mother interrupts and injures herself. Steve is left to take care of her and when he meets an old flame in the elevator--Susan's mother takes the opportunity to break-up their marriage. She convinces Susan that Steve is cheating on her-Susan files for divorce. Steve has one solution to save his marriage...Pretend he is insane.—Kelly
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, marriage, misunderstanding, farce, classic, hollywood ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A witch's (Kim Novak) warlock brother (Jack Lemmon) helps a San Francisco publisher (James Stewart) break a love spell.
Plot Keywords: romantic comedy, fantasy, supernatural, 1950s, classic film, romance, magic ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In post-war, French Army Captain Henrí Rochard and US Army Lieutenant Catherine Gates, stationed in Heidelberg, West Germany, are often teamed on missions. Their personal relationship teeters from being friendly enough to Catherine not sure if she wants to spend any time with him, professionally or personally, as he is the type who will chase anything in a skirt, while she knows she ultimately wants to be with the type of man who only wants one "skirt", namely hers. Their latest mission, what will be their last together before he is decommissioned, is punctuated by them getting into one misadventure after another, and despite those mishaps, they come to realize that they love each other on the fact that they would never see each other again after their return to Heidelberg, and want to get married. That want starts the bureaucratic nightmare they face, ranging the gamut of military policies and civil laws in whatever jurisdiction they are in. That nightmare culminates when Catherine's unit is being shipped back to the United States, the only way that Henrí can enter the United States as her spouse being under the War Brides Act. Henrí ends up being classified among one hundred thirty-nine other war brides, one hundred twenty-six children of war brides, nine dogs, three cats, two canaries and one parrot, none having as much trouble that he has despite he being "approved" as "Mrs. Henrí Rochard".—Huggo
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, war, marriage, gender roles, misunderstanding, military ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Hotel manicurist Regi Allen is a cynical golddigger who meets her match in Theodore 'Ted' Drew III. After a date with Ted, she lets him sleep on her couch when he's too drunk to go further; but what is she to think when he wants to extend the arrangement?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: romantic comedy, classic hollywood, social class, love triangle, lighthearted tone, paramount pictures, screwball comedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Kay, Barbara and Susan Latimer come into a small legacy when they expected a large one, then abandon the Texas greasy-spoon where they work to hunt in Miami for rich husbands, said to be plentiful there. Barbara and Susan posing as the secretary and maid of "wealthy" Kay, they check into a posh hotel, and soon Kay is in the delightful predicament of being pursued by two handsome, wealthy bachelors at once. But Musical Comedy Complications arise...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: musical, romance, comedy, 1940s, florida, miami, beach ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Rightly suspected of illicit relations with the Masked Bandit, Flower Belle Lee is run out of Little Bend. On the train she meets con man Cuthbert J. Twillie and pretends to marry him for "respectability." Arrived in Greasewood City with his unkissed bride, Twillie is named sheriff by town boss Jeff Badger...with an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, both stars inimitably display their specialties, as Twillie tends bar and plays cards, and Flower Belle tames the town's rowdy schoolboys...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: comedy, western, romance, 1940s, classic film, satire, gold rush ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A radio-singer, Bing Hornsby, is none-too-concerned about his job, and an affair with Mona leads to his dismissal. When it appears Hornsby is getting and paying a lot of attention to his fiancée, Anita Rogers, station manager Leslie McWhinney buys the station, gives Hornsby his job back, and goes on a honeymoon with Anita.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, pre-code hollywood, ensemble cast, 1930s, black-and-white ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A struggling painter takes a job as a secretary to a female advertising executive. While working to obtain an account from a tobacco company, they end up falling in love.—Ken Carson <kcarson@efn.org>
Plot Keywords: romantic comedy, classic film, strong female lead, independent woman, golden age of hollywood, office politics, feminist themes ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Susan Miller (Gene Tierney) works as a shopgirl but fantasizes about one day being rich. One afternoon, she meets Maybelle (Spring Byington) and Warren (Laird Cregar), two con artists on the lookout for a pretty girl to join their marrying-for-money scheme. Susan agrees to join them, and soon the three have set their sights on John Wheeler (Henry Fonda), a mathematician with a fondness for boats. Susan realizes he's not a millionaire, but falls for him anyway, causing trouble with her partners.
Plot Keywords: romance, comedy, drama, crime, mistaken identity, con artists, 1940s ...
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