Customer Reviews

Twentieth Century [VHS]

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I see no great need to add to the glowing comments others have already heaped on this film. It really is special, and one of my favorites. And because it is, I was hugely disappointed by the DVD. This transfer is pretty bad, and doesn't look much better than you might get from a public domain film some of the other companies grab hold of and slap onto a really cheaply priced DVD.

This film is one of those treasures, historically important, and just damn good. You'd have thought that SONY (the parent company for Columbia/Tri-Star) would have invested more effort into ensuring a pristine restoration and DVD transfer. The film deserves it. Many of us have waited long enough for the DVD, this is a sham. If this is the best print they could lay their hands on, they should have paid to have someone do a digital restoration on it; but I suspect they could have procurred better elements, and just didn't try. There are no extras on the DVD. Nothing worthwhile, only a few trailers for unrelated films. There are enough Barrymore biographers out there who could have supplied commentary and insight; there are film historians who could have also added some value to this release.

It doesn't speak well of the companies involved that they appear to have tossed this off so casually. They should be ashamed.

Of the great screen comedies from the Golden Age of the Hollywood Studio system, few are seen as rarely as TWENTIETH CENTURY. This is tragic for a number of reasons. First, this film is usually considered the first of the Screwball comedies that glorified the thirties and forties. Howard Hawks holds the unusual and unique distinction among the great directors of not only having mastered a huge number of genres but having actually invented several of them. In 1932 he invented the gangster film with his great classic SCARFACE. In 1950, he created the alien Sci-fi film, when he directed (without credit, though the credited director Christian Nyby always acknowledged that Hawks actually directed) THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. He also made significant contributions to a host of other genres, including the detective film (THE BIG SLEEP), the adventure film (TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT), and the Western (RED RIVER). He not only invented the Screwball comedy with TWENTIETH CENTURY in 1934, he went on to direct two of the greatest Screwball comedies ever in BRINGING UP BABY and HIS GIRL FRIDAY. No other director in the history of film had Hawks's gifts as an originator of new types of film or his range as a director.

Another problem with this film being shown so rarely is that it keeps us from seeing two of the greatest performers in American cinema, John Barrymore near the end of his star career and Carole Lombard near the beginning of hers. This was one of the very last films Barrymore made before the years of heavy drinking began to catch up with him. After he made this film, his remarkably handsome features began to fade, and for the last few years of his career he specialized in playing comic drunks. This he did exceedingly well, but more because it was the only kind of role left for him to play. But here, in this film, we get the real John Barrymore for one last, great role. Lombard had made a gigantic number of films in the twenties and the early thirties, but it was only with this film that she became an "A List" actress. From this point on, she would be regarded as one of if not the greatest screen comedienne, and would be in some of the finest comedies ever made until her premature death in 1942.

The plot is simple: Broadway impresario Oscar Jaffe's (Barrymore) career had been on a long slide since his greatest discovery, Lily Garland, has departed the stage for stardom in Hollywood. They accidentally meet on the Twentieth Century Limited, and he decides play every trick in the book to get her back into his life, both professionally and otherwise. The script is exceedingly witty, and was a reworking of a stage play written by Ben Hecht and Charles Macarthur, whose work Hawks would film again in 1940 in HIS GIRL FRIDAY. The tight, terse, fast-moving dialogue that we associate with Hecht and Macarthur are evident at every point in TWENTIETH CENTURY. Between Hawks's deft direction, Barrymore and Lombard's performances (as well as the work of several crack character actors such as Walter Connolly), and such a superb script, this film was can't-miss from the start.

A bit of trivia: Howard Hawks and Carole Lombard were second cousins.

"Twentieth Century" (1934) is a brilliant and scathing screwball yarn about a manical Broadway impressario, Oscar Jaffe's (John Barrymore) headstrong attempt to mold a shopgirl, Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard) into the toast of the Great White Way. A bigger ham than any of his protiges, Oscar's career goes into a sudden tail spin after Mildred, christened Lily Garland, breaks free of his artistic stronghold for a chance to make it big in Hollywood. Now the toast of two coasts and everything in-between, Mildred doesn't need anyone to help her career. Oscar's bitter rejection and professional oblivion seems complete until he chances to meet Lily again, this time on the Twentieth Century Limited. Desperate to resign Mildred, but unwilling to admit that he needs her, the battle of the wills that ensues between these two old rivals is hilarious. The Ben Hecht/Charles MacArthur screenplay pulls out all the stops. As bitter enemies, Barrymore and Lombard are out and out crazy to the point of madcap absurdity. Howard Hawk's spirited direction in confined spaces draws upon the humanity of the piece and comes up a real winner.

The same can't be said for Columbia's lack luster DVD transfer. The black and white image is very unstable. Blacks are sometimes deep, but often less than. Whites are not very clean. There is a considerable amount of film grain throughout. The contrast levels fluctuate as well. Often looking quite dirty and riddled with age related artifacts, the comedic sheen of "Twentieth Century" leaves something to be desired. The audio is mono but in about as good a condition as the visual elements of the film. Occasionally a pop and hiss can be heard under the arch of great performances which is a genuine shame. The DVD comes with an obtrusive string of trailers for other films and Japanese subtitle option - whatever! Bottom line: the film is golden. The transfer is tin. Let the buyer beware before making their purchase decision.

"Now don't be nervous, child," says impresario Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) during rehearsals to Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard), a New Jersey shopgirl he's just renamed Lily Garland and thrust into the starring role of Mary Jo Calhoun in Heart of Kentucky. "You're not Lily Garland anymore. You're little Mary Jo Calhoun. The scent of jasmine is floating through the open window of a summer evening. You've just kissed your lover goodnight. You're full of...vibrations."

Lily Garland becomes a star. She and Jaffe have three hits in three years. Although Jaffe is drawn to shapely legs and mirrors, he and Lily become lovers. Then Jaffe makes the mistake one day of tapping her phone to make sure she doesn't stray. Before you can say "ham" Lily is in revolt and on her way to Hollywood by herself. She becomes a huge film star. And Oscar? It's flop after flop without Lily...until by chance they find themselves in adjoining staterooms on the Twentieth Century traveling from Chicago to New York. Can Oscar convince (or trick) Lily into signing a contract with him? Can Lily forgive Oscar? Will the "Repent for the time is at hand" stickers ever come off Oliver Webb's derby? Will Jaffe find the camels, the elephants, the sand for his Obermangau smash he's planning to have Lily star in as Mary Magdalene? Was there ever a faster, funnier and hammier screwball comedy than Twentieth Century?

John Barrymore was a great actor. He also could be a great ham. The two come together here in his amazingly funny, ripe melodramatic performance. He pulls out all stops, clutching his heart, staggering against a door, even picking his nose. When he lowers his eyebrows and glares, it's 100 per cent Smithfield. The screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur gives him some great, self-involved dialogue. Catching Lily kissing her fiance, he dramatically roars at her, "This is the final irony -- mousing around with boys after Oscar Jaffe!" Carole Lombard just about matches him toe to toe. The end of the movie, by the way, is as amusing as the start.

Key elements in the success of the movie are the character parts: Walter Connolly as Oliver Webb, Jaffe's business manager, always being fired, always making some terrible misjudgment; Roscoe Karnes as Owen O'Malley, Jaffe's press agent, wise-cracking and drunk; Etienne Girardot as an elderly religious zealot plastering repent stickers on windows, hats and people's backs, and writing bum checks. Howard Hawks directs with a fast and furious hand. Everything keeps moving, dialogue overlaps, nothing seems stage-bound even though half the movie takes place basically in one of two train staterooms.

This movie is over 70 years old and still plays as one of the best comedies Hollywood ever produced. Barrymore's hamminess is skilled acting. Lombard is gorgeous and gets away with just about as much ham as Barrymore. They're both just inches from over the top and they're funny, funny, funny.

The DVD picture looks just fine, especially considering the age of the movie.

Nobody gets decapitated, however, as the acronym here stands for Oscar Jaffe. Nearly 70 years after its premiere, TWENTIETH remains a perfect comedy and a wonderful, visually sumptuous movie. Director Howard Hawks' hand is evident, though subtly, in the many ingenious setups and camera movements. For the most part he's wisely content to let the play be the thing, blessed as he was with a brilliantly funny property and cast. You all know about Barrymore's ego-monster producer and Lombard as his diva-protege (she's scrumptious to look at throughout, and funny besides), but not enough has been written in praise of the crack support of perpetually-soused Roscoe Karns, Walter Connolly (for once playing something besides a millionaire or a city-room editor), Charles Lane and a particularly unforgettable Etienne Girardot. Of course, Barrymore outshines them all, with his 'iron-door' pronunciamentos, his acting out every role in the antebellum play he's staging, and even his deliberate (and very funny) enunciation of the name 'Max Mandelbaum'. They don't make 'em like this any more (actually, they didn't often make 'em this well back then, either). People just don't talk this fast in movies anymore, nor do comedies hurtle along at such a clip, despite all the fractured MTV-style editing techniques giving the illusion of speed & motion. And when they try to adopt this screwball style nowadays, it simply feels - and plays - false. But never mind all that. Why are you reading this when you could be watching the video??

The first of the screwball comedies happens to be the funniest.John Barrymore should be dubbed as one of the screwball greats alongside Cary Grant and Carole Lombard (also in the film). It's hilarious from begining to end with Barrymore portraying a producer/writer/director and off-the-wall ham actor who takes in a newcomer to the stage, Lombard. Funnier than "It Happened One Night" in my book. This movie should have won the Oscar. Five Stars!!!!

Master filmmaker Howard Hawks' sure hand at outrageous, character-driven farce is what maneuvers this seminal 1934 screwball comedy into its acknowledged status as a film classic. More than anything else here, he appears responsible for the transformation of Carole Lombard's screen persona from uncertain glamour girl to first-class comedy pro, as she vividly portrays Mildred Plotka, a struggling actress nurtured by Oscar Jaffe, an egomaniacal Broadway impresario. Through his Svengali-like techniques, he has changed the former Mildred into Lily Garland and a major star, but his obsessive behavior leads to her departure to Hollywood for film success and his tailspin into a series of stage flops. By chance, they are both on the Twentieth Century en route from Chicago to New York, and the frenetic plot settles into Oscar's excessive attempts to re-sign Lily to another contract. Screenwriters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, already famous for their fast-talking "The Front Page", apply the same kinetic energy to this broadly theatrical farce.

Even though not all the comedy bits work (for instance, the rich asylum escapee's placing "Repent" stickers everywhere), the feverish pitch never lets up, and the cast is very game for the shenanigans. Precariously dangling himself at the edge of caricature, John Barrymore is in peak form in a ham-fisted turn as Jaffe. Whether drawing the chalk lines for Lily to follow or repeatedly caught in fake-suicide attempts, Barrymore seems to relish every moment in what was to be his last first-class starring role. On the other hand, Lombard blooms with her performance here, as she matches toe to toe with Barrymore. Their chemistry, which only hints at a romantic relationship, seems to be the prototype for all persistently contentious movie couples thereafter. Familiar character actors Roscoe Karns and Walter Connolly breezily play Jaffe's exasperated assistants. The print and audio transfers are surprisingly clean on the 2005 DVD considering the film's age. The only extras are trailers for three vintage films Sony was releasing at the same time.

Howard Hawks filmed this elegantly madcap look at actor's egos. John Barrymore, with some help from Carole Lombard, stayed upright long enough to give one more great performance on film. He's a producer with an ego bigger than the Great White Way and she's a lingere model he molds into the toast of Broadway.

Once she becomes a huge star, however, she wants to live it up rather than sit around and discuss his genius. His hilariously insane jealousy drives her to Hollywood where she becomes the biggest thing in pictures. Meanwhile, he has flop after flop but retains his volatile temperment and ego. Broke and running from creditors, he and his put upon backer Webb (Walter Connolly) take the 20th Century Limited and who should be on the train but Lily Garland (Lombard).

But she now has an ego nearly as big as his and is nearly as big a ham! The script from Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur shines as they thrust and parry towards the inevitable. While the film does suffer just a bit from lack of a likable and normal lead character usually found in most screwball comedies, it still survives as a terrific example of the genre.

Barrymore has one last hurrah and Lombard isn't just in fabulous form, but her fabulous form is shown to breathtaking advantage as Hawks has her constantly adorned in satin evening dress or lingere. A bit detached but certainly a must see for Lombard fans.

When one thinks of great cinematic acting performances the usual associations are with Brando in "Streetcar Named Desire" or DeNiro in "Raging Bull" or Garbo in "Camille". You know, the serious high brow kind of stuff. However another kind of brilliance can be seen in this wonderful 1934 release. It is John Barrymore positively filling the screen with an over the top -- way way over the top --portrayal of theater impresario Oscar "OJ" Jaffe in "Twentieth Century." He is a positive howl, a scream a preening drama king and -- now here's the real trick -- always within character. This is comic acting at its absolute best.
As if that weren't enough the stellar cast includes the queen of screwball comedies, the luscious Carole Lombard. Also on hand is the kind of wonderful supporting cast that typically blessed major studio productions in the 1930's, specifically Walter Connally, Roscoe Karns, Edgar Kennedy and the ubiquitous Charles Lane.
The movie begins with Jaffe guiding his latest discovery, Lily Garland (nee Mildred Plotkin) who he has plucked from obscurity, to give a great performance in her stage debut.
Garland (played by Lombard) goes on to earn great acclaim and star in several more Jaffe plays but eventually splits from him for reasons that add significantly to the film's overall hilarity. As a consequence of losing his star, Jaffe produces a series of flops and goes broke in the process. Meanwhile Garland goes on to even bigger fame in -- horrors! -- Hollywood.
Aboard a train called the Twentieth Century the two meet again and the real fun ensues as Jaffe tries to win her back.
"Twentieth Century" was blessed with the deft direction of Howard Hawks who knew a thing or twelve about directing comedies.
The DVD has no special features to speak of, but it is special enough just to watch Barrymore, a grand master at his craft, go all out. Bravo!

Lombard, a classic film great, and John Barrymore make this movie wonderful. The attitudes and personalities they bring to the characters bring this story to life. Nobody except Lombard could have made the snooty character likeable. And although you tend to dislike what Barrymore's character is about, you can't help but love the way he brings it across for the audience. This film and "My Man Godfrey" are must-haves for any fan of Carole Lombard!