The terrible truth
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The terrible truth |
| Original title | The awful truth |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1937 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Leo McCarey |
| script | Viña Delmar |
| production |
Leo McCarey for Columbia Pictures |
| music | Ben Oakland |
| camera | Joseph Walker |
| cut | Al Clark |
| occupation | |
| |
The awful truth (Original: The Awful Truth ) is an American screwball comedy starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant from 1937. The film is based on the play of the same name by Arthur Richman.
action
Jerry and Lucy Warriner are a wealthy couple from New York who, after vacationing separately, suspect each other of having affairs. In the heat of the moment, they end up unintentionally before the divorce judge. Everything is settled by mutual agreement, except for the custody of the common fox terrier Mr. Smith, who is given to Lucy after she secretly lures the terrier in her direction with a dog doll. The judge, who has certain doubts about the seriousness of the intention to divorce, grants the Warriners 90 days to reflect, only then does the judgment become final.
During the divorce phase, Lucy moves in with her unmarried aunt Patsy, whom she introduces to the oil millionaire Daniel Leeson. The friendly, somewhat naive Leeson is from Oklahoma and only visiting New York. Lucy and Daniel begin to find each other more than just likable, which in turn annoys Jerry, who is seized by jealousy. He leaves no stone unturned for the next few weeks to separate the two lovers, which enables him in particular to have the right to visit the dog Mr. Smith. However, when Daniel's bossy mother, who is against her son's association with Lucy, begins to question Lucy's reputation, Jerry is the first to defend her. Lucy realizes she still loves Jerry and wants to cancel Daniel's wedding. There is no need to cancel the connection when Daniel and his mother find both Jerry and Lucy's charming singing teacher Armand in a fight in Lucy's apartment.
Jerry, meanwhile, has started a relationship with Barbara Vance, an over-the-top member of New York's Top Ten Thousand . Jerry and Barbara will soon be the talk of the town, but that doesn't leave Lucy as unmoved as she hopes. The evening before the divorce is finalized at exactly midnight, Lucy introduces herself to the Vance family as Jerry's sister. She implies to the Vances that the Warriner family comes from the working class, and poses as a lewd showgirl - the snobbish Vances are repulsed by Jerry's supposed sister. Lucy and Jerry eventually leave the Vances house together. Tangled up with the car radio and traffic cops, at the end of which Lucy destroys her husband's car. So they have no choice but to spend the night in Aunt Patsy's nearby country house. While falling asleep in separate rooms, the couple discover how much they still love each other and manage to get back together two minutes before midnight.
background
After countless appearances in melodramas, Irene Dunne had become a highly paid star when she made a successful move to becoming a comedian in mid-1936 through the appearance in Theodora Goes Wild . She received her second Academy Award nomination for the film and it was agreed that her next production for Columbia Pictures would also be a comedy. The actress finally chose as a project an adaptation of the play The Awful Truth by Arthur Richman, which had already been filmed twice: in 1925 with Agnes Ayres and Warner Baxter , and in 1929 as a sound film with Ina Claire and Henry Daniell in the leading roles, directed by Marshall Neilan . As a male partner, Dunne chose the up-and-coming Cary Grant , who had shown his talent for comedy last year by appearing alongside Jean Harlow in Suzy and Joan Bennett in Big Brown Eyes .
Director Leo McCarey shot the film without a finished script and let the actors improvise as often as possible. While Dunne had few problems with this, Cary Grant, who received a fee of $ 50,000 for his performance, was initially little enthusiastic about this method of acting. At one point he even wanted to buy himself out of the current contract, but studio boss Harry Cohn refused to give his consent. Working with Irene Dunne, with whom he was to make two more films, was not easy. Grant still lacked the necessary experience and he was always dissatisfied no matter what Leo McCarey tried.
Irene Dunne said in a later interview about the actor's massive problems:
“Cary was very sensitive to every little thing at the time. He was so sensitive that he almost got sick. If he didn't like something about the script, the direction, an actor or the scene, he reacted very emotionally. "
In the end, everyone involved benefited from the finished result: Irene Dunne received her third Oscar nomination, Cary Grant established himself as a specialist in romantic comedies and the studio had enormous financial success. The fox terrier Skippy , who played Mr. Smith, had already delighted the married couple Nick and Nora Charles alias William Powell and Myrna Loy as Asta in the The Thin Man series. In the following year he was seen as "George" in You Don't Kisses Leopards, alongside Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and a leopard.
The studio filmed the material a fourth time in 1953 under the title Let's Do It Again with Jane Wyman and Ray Milland .
German version
The German dubbing was only created in 1981 on behalf of ARD for television broadcasts.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Lucy Warriner | Irene Dunne | Almut Eggert |
| Jerry Warriner | Cary Grant | Norbert Langer |
| Daniel Leeson | Ralph Bellamy | Manfred Lehmann |
| Armand Duvalle | Alex D'Arcy | Thomas Frey |
| Aunt Patsy | Cecil Cunningham | Tilly Lauenstein |
| Barbara Vance | Molly Lamont | Alexandra Lange |
Reviews
“A 'screwball comedy' in perfection that lives from the puns of the dialogues and the wit of the main actors. The secondary characters also come up with some strange surprises. "
"To be honest, The Terrible Truth is terribly unimportant, but it's also one of the funnier comedies of 1937, a pretty good year."
Awards
The film went to the 1938 Academy Awards with a total of six nominations , but only won one of the coveted trophies:
- Best film nomination
- Best Director - Won - Leo McCarey
- Best Actress - Nomination - Irene Dunne
- Best Supporting Actor - Nomination - Ralph Bellamy
- Best Screenplay Nomination - Viña Delmar
- Best Editing - Nomination - Al Clark
In 1996, The Terrible Truth was added to the National Film Registry . The film was also selected in the 2005 Time selection of the best 100 films from 1923 to 2005 .
Web links
- The awful truth in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- extensive synopsis - English
- detailed review - English
- Synopsis and Analysis - English
- Background information - English
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cary used to be very apprehensive about nearly everything in those days. So apprehensive, in fact, he would almost get physically sick. If the script, the director, an actor or a particular scene displeased him, he would be greatly upset.
- ↑ Thomas Bräutigam: Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , p. 321.
- ↑ The Terrible Truth. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ BR Crisler: The Awful Truth (1937) , rottentomatoes.com , accessed April 21, 2020