Icons of Screwball Comedy,  Volume 2

 

  Theodora Goes Wild (1936)          Together Again (1944)

 

The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940)          A Night to Remember  (1943)

 

Crazy situations, fast and sophisticated dialogue, and conflict arising from the roles of men and women in modern society? these are the essential elements of the Screwball Comedy. The Awful Truth, Twentieth Century, Holiday, His Girl Friday and The More the Merrier are prime examples of what would become a hallmark for Columbia Screwball Comedies. With superb production values, top directors (Capra, Hawks, Cukor, Stevens) and major stars, these classic films are some of the best known screwballs. For the second volume of Columbia's Screw Ball Comedies form the '30s and '40s, we return to the vaults to rediscover more classics of the beloved genre featuring two of its most glamorous leading ladies.

 


Titles

 


 

The Legendary Irene Dunne plays a small-town author whose racy bestsellers, written under a pseudonym, bring her notoriety when a New Yorker (Melvyn Douglas) discovers her secret, in Theodora Goes Wild. In Together Again, Dunne plays the mayor's widow who falls for a sculptor (Charles Boyer) as he works on a statue of her late husband. Beautiful Loretta Young plays a feminist writer forced to pretend she's married to Ray Milland (whom she loathes) in The Doctor Takes a Wife. In A Night to Remember, Loretta Young and her mystery writer husband (Brian Aherne) take an apartment in Greenwich Village and almost immediately find themselves in the middle of a genuine murder case.

Posters

Theatrical Releases: 1936 - 1944

DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Sony (2-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC

 

DVD Box Cover

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Distribution Sony - Region 1 - NTSC
Time: Respectively - 1:39:57, 1:39:42 + 1:31:45 + 1:27:57

Bitrate:

Disc one with Theodora Goes Wild (1936) and Together Again (1944)

Bitrate:

Disc Two with The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940) A Night to Remember (1943)

Audio English (original mono)
Subtitles English, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Sony

Aspect Ratio:
All Original 1.33 Aspect Ratios 

Edition Details:
• Cartoon: Mad Hatter (1940) - 7:05

• Trailers for A Night to Remember (1943) + The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940)


DVD Release Date: August 4th, 2009

One Keep Case
Chapters: 12 X 4

 

Comments:

As I said about Volume 1 - I still think the cover looks just horrible although the DVD menus are growing on me a bit.

As with Volume 1 and other pragmatic Sony boxsets like Icons of Horror - Boris Karloff or Icons of Horror- Hammer Films collections, the four feature films of this boxset are shared, two each on two dual-layered, progressive DVDs. All have original aspect ratios of 1.33:1and each disc is coded for Region 1 in the NTSC standard. They have original mono audio (or 2.0 channel stereo) and the dialogue is supported by optional English subtitles. The 2 DVDs are housed in one keep cases and they are not sold separately at this time. I believe these particular NTSC editions can only be obtained in Sony's Icons of Screwball Comedy Vol. 2 collection at present.

Image quality: Overall these look a tad better than Volume 1. Again though, since each feature is sharing the disc with another - these should each be considered single-layered transfers. On the second disc The Doctor Takes a Wife appears the best of the lot with decent contrast and consistent grain giving it an even texture. The other Loretta young film, A Night To Remember looks almost as strong but may tend to be a bit noisier. The Irene Dunne features Theodora Goes Wild and Together Again are a bit inferior but about the same level as each other with no glaring flaws other than digital noise. Like Volume 1 these are all in a very watchable state with minor artifacts and no excessive damage aside from some light speckles here and there. I think the captures below give a fair representation of how the DVD package looks. It may have had some digital cleansing but no extensive restoration.

Audio was acceptable if unremarkable. It was consistent and clear enough and the dialogue is supported with optional yellow English subtitles.

 

The only supplement is on disc 2 - 1940 cartoon, entitled 'Mad Hatter' directed by Sid Marcus.  I like the inclusion of these and wish it was done more often as in the 'Warner Night at the Movies' disc packages. There are also trailers for A Night to Remember + The Doctor Takes a Wife and some teasers for other Sony collections on disc 1.  

 

This is another fine batch representing the 'screwball' genre. Theodora Goes Wild may be the star of the lot but I have a huge crush on the dishy Loretta Young and really enjoyed A Night to Remember (not to be confused with the Titanic film) as well as The Doctor Takes a Wife with Ray Milland. Together Again is a great 'screwball' comedy directed by Charles Vidor and Irene Dunne is always a class act. This package is more old-fashioned fun and at the price offered I'd also recommend to those keen on the cinema of the 30's and 40's. I loved the clothes, furniture and extensive hair styles. I suppose as these aren't big sellers for the studio they make these lesser packages without  investing money in new supplements. That's fine as fans can get 4 vintage features, looking acceptable, at a very reasonable price (less than $6 a film).

Gary W. Tooze


DVD Menus


Disc 2


 

 

Theodora Goes Wild (1936)

 

Subtitle Sample
 

 
Screen Captures
 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Together Again (1940)

 

Subtitle Sample
 

 

Screen Captures

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

The Doctor Takes a Wife (1943)

 

Subtitle Sample
 

 

Screen Captures

 

 

 

 

A Night To Remember (1944)
 

Subtitle Sample
 

 

Screen Captures

 

 

 

 


 

DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Distribution Sony - Region 1 - NTSC




 

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