MovieChat Forums > Twentieth Century (1934) Discussion > Too much screaming

Too much screaming

posted 16 years ago by darbykat
11 replies | jump to latest

Watching this on TCM, I had to change the channel. All the screaming became unbearable, especially from Carole Lombard.

I guess the novelty of talkies was still new and they wanted to take advantage of this new technology, but 74 years later, no thank you.

[–] bettiegia 15 years ago

TOTALLY AGREE.

[–] dockbennett 15 years ago

Although I think it's a terrific film, I agree it was a bit over the top in regards to hysterics and noise.

[–] JoeinFla 15 years ago

John Barrymore was one of the greats, but I've always felt that his work in the silents made him too "hammy" for talkies. His face is so expressive, his movements exaggerated, and there was too much yelling! This is a good Howard Hawks comedy, just ...loud...and big...and extravagant.

[–] B_Movie_Blues 14 years ago

If the dialogue is too loud for your delicate little ears, try muting it and turn on the subtitles?

The movie was trying to convey to the viewer that big-time stage actors/actresses and producers can be 'over-the-top' and loud. Or perhaps you'd like to see Wes Anderson remake it with his mumbly stable of actors, like Jonathan Schwartzman as Jaffe and Gwynneth Paltrow as Lily Garland?

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] PillowRock 14 years ago

I guess the novelty of talkies was still new and they wanted to take advantage of this new technology

I can understand how some may very well be turned off by the particular style of comedy here. However, I think that you are misinterpreting why it is there. By 1934 there had already been lots of lower key talkie performances given.

Barrymore's Oscar Jaffe was always supposed to be way over the top, bombastic, and *loud* in the way he dealt with everyone all of the time. That's his character, how he had always been.

Lombard's Lily spent the entire first 3 or 4 years of her career working for him, and most of that time also as his lover. Somewhere along the line (we don't see that intervening time) she picked up that behavior pattern from him. Note that Lombard show's no trace of that behavior during the entire first section of the movie, not until we skip ahead a few years. Initially, she probably started doing it out of self defense: it was the only way that she could get a word in edgewise with him, by working to out-emote and out-shout him. Eventually, it became a habit that she never lost (at least not by the end of the movie).

[–] justaudrey 14 years ago

Good observations. Still, I agree that it was much to whiny and screamy for my taste. But to each is own. Not my type of movie.

[–] snoopdavidniven 14 years ago

I don't get it. How could anybody nitpick this movie?!? It's one of the best comedies of the 1930s just the way it is. The screaming is on purpose: this is Hollywood making fun of Broadway, remember?

[–] genplant29 14 years ago

EXACTLY! This is an awesomely hilarious movie, and everything about it is PRECISELY as it should be! :)

[–] genplant29 14 years ago

NO WAY! The total hysteria, and the impeccable first-rate dialogue (including any/all of it that is screamed!) and performances (particularly Barrymore's!), is a master course in stellar acting and exceptional comedy, and is what makes this, in my opinion, one of the very most hilarious movies of its or any other era! I can't see how anyone with ANY percentage of a sense of humour wouldn't agree! This movie holds up as completely undated and 100% fresh AND refreshing in 2010! If only comedies of today could be even a fraction as genuinely "LMAO" hilarious!