With the arrival of sound in Hollywood, a new subgenre of comedy arose, so today Alex and Jonathan discuss the history of the “screwball comedies” while looking at Trouble in Paradise (1932), His Girl Friday (1940), and Some Like it Hot (1959). We talk about how screwballs differed from standard romantic comedies, the emphasis on dialogue that came with the adoption of sound, and the role the Production Code played in shaping how romance was communicated in ways that it couldn’t be shown.
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Skip to:
- (11:47) – Trouble in Paradise
- (31:19) – His Girl Friday
- (43:31) – Some Like it Hot
- (1:00:22) – Overall
- (1:12:08) – Coming Attractions
Resources referenced in this episode:
- WATCH: Trouble in Paradise on Internet Archive
- WATCH: His Girl Friday on Internet Archive
- WATCH: Some Like it Hot free with ads on Tubi
- Related previous episodes:
Coming Attractions – The Absurdists
- The Producers (1967)
- Airplane! (1980)
- The Mask (1994)
Intro/outro music:
Ash by Mike Braudrick
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