It's such a shame John Barrymore wasn't recognized by the Academy in 1934 with his performance in Twentieth Century. He was such a riot as Oscar Jaffe. It wasn’t necessary for him to speak at all. His body movements spoke for themselves. The way he staggers as if he's been hit in the stomach just as his eyes bug out. It’s hilarious.
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Yeah, he certainly is going on all powers full throttle. He even spoofs himself: when Lili refers to him as a "Svengali", he starts moving as he did as Svengali in that film. I think his choicest moments are the blocking scene, the description of the Obergammerau "Passion Play" as a vehicle for Lili (forgetting that Christ is the central figure), the business about Lili walking out on him and sees her posters for the next production ("Mockery...Mockery!!", he screams), his attempt to announce he is going to commit suicide before his inebriated associates. This film is full of choice moments.
shareBarrymore, Carole Lombard, and Howard Hawks all should have been nominated that year. Twentieth Century is as good, if not better, than It Happened One Night or The Thin Man. I'm thinking of seeing this one again. I love this gem!!
"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."
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It is such a shame that Barrymore didn't do more comedy work. He is so beyond funny, it is amazing. Every eye movement, hand gesture etc in this film are brilliant beyond words. This is one of the greatest performances of the silver screen.
shareYes: Though he was most certainly a great dramatic actor, this movie illustrates Barrymore could just as masterfully go the comedy acting route. I'm actually quite surprised he didn't gravitate decidedly in that direction as his Hollywood dramatic acting career steadily plummeted and he became increasingly more of a "doddering drunk" type. His "hammy" type of old-school theatrical acting lent itself PERFECTLY to over-the-top comedy, such as he brilliantly excels at in this absolutely hilarious movie. In this, he gets every line, move, and look side-splittingly dead-on right!
shareBarrymore and Lombard's performances in this are as good as it gets.
shareFunny how? Where? gee guys, I think this is one of the worst movies I ever watched, no funny at all, only people speaking their heads off, spitting as much words per minute as they are allowed to, you guys call that funny?
Not dennying Barrymore is a great perfomer, but from being so and having any fun it goes a long way.
This is for stupid people who mistakes yelling and speak very fast as being comic... it comes second only by "Arsenic & Old Lace", another horrible, over acting and silly movie.
Come on, have the guts and admit that both movies sucks big time.
1934 was a great year for lead actors. I would have nominated:
Best Actor in a Leading Role
John Barrymore - Twentieth Century
W.C. Fields - It's a Gift
Clark Gable - It Happened One Night
Béla Lugosi - The Black Cat
William Powell - The Thin Man
Perhaps you're missing the point. Screwball comedies aren't supposed to make sense: their zany characters, rapid fire dialogue and frenetic pace don't give we viewers a chance to stop and think about anything, especially real life. And real life in 1934 was the height of the Great Depression. Who wanted to think about real life?
Barrymore's performance here is astounding. The way I saw it was that he hardly ever played Oscar Jaffe, instead revelling in the characters that Oscar Jaffe played when trying to get something that he wanted, and there's a couple of those a minute. He plays Jaffe as a unashamed ham who dips into his wide repertoire as needed to pull out whatever gem he needs for the moment, many of which poke fun at the theatre, Hollywood or Barrymore himself. Also pay attention to his eyes, his body and his words: they're often telling you different things at the same time.
'I never thought I'd sink so low as to become an actor', Jaffe says here, but he's nothing else. All he ever does is to act. Only when Barrymore's eyes, gestures and words agree with each other do you see Jaffe.
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Neither this movie or Barrymore has ever made me laugh. I've viewed it multiple times. It's not funny.
shareI like this movie. It is sort of quintessential 30s to me. Barrymore hams it up and Lombard is with him every step of the way. I loved it on the train when they are in the compartment having identical hysterical fits. And the two henchmen, Connolly and Karns were perfect, esp. Karns as the drunken reporter type. He got all the good comment lines.
This sort of comedy really only worked in the 30s. I think this one is on a par with Miracle of Morgan's Creek. If you want to see screaming and crying, watch that one. Hutton and Eddy what's his name are unparalleled. Barrymore and Lombard must have been their template here, racheted up several notches.
The best comedies and woman-man performances that I have seen from the Golden Age of Hollywood are (in no special order):
1. His Girl Friday: Rosalind Russel and Cary Grant
2. Miracle of Morgan's Creek: Betty Hutton and Eddy Bracken
3. Twentieth Century: Carole Lombard and John Barrymore
4. Modern Times: Paulette Godard and Charlie Chaplin
5, Ninotchka: Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas
6, Nothing Sacred: Carole Lombard and Fredric March
7. It Happened One Night: Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable
8. To Have and Have Not: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart
9. Bringing Up Baby: Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant
10. Adam's Rib: Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy
Four of the ten best are directed by Howard Hawks.
Oh, lovely list!
shareAlso pay attention to his eyes, his body and his words: they're often telling you different things at the same time.
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Among the movie's myriad truly hilarious moments, one of my very favourite, whenever I watch this movie (which I love so much that I own a DVD copy of it), is when Jaffe is removing the synthetic nose that has been part of his disguise. Absolutely "LOL!" :)
shareYes! As he increasingly takes on the appearance of Pinocchio, removing his disguise, he deliberately picks his nose as the last sequence. What a finale to a scene!
Barrymore's hair also sticks out in all different directions when he goes into one of his frequent screwball frenzies. Not many pretty-boy actors today would be willing to appear that way.
Stupid!?! I never called you stupid! To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people!
He goes about it all so completely matter-of-factly that the effect is thoroughly side-splitting! Barrymore's other movie that he works to similar utterly hilarious effect in is "Midnight." The part in it where he pretends, on the phone, to be a little girl is enough to make anyone fall over laughing!
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