John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connelly, Roscoe Karns, Charles Lane and Etienne Girardot ride the "Twentieth Century" in this outrageous 1934 comedy directed by Howard Hawks. The story was made into a successful musical in the 1970s that starred Madeline Kahn and John Cullum. Barrymore plays Oscar Jaffe, a producer who molds, discovers and renames Mildred Plotka "Lily Garland," who becomes a huge Broadway star. The two lovers, both of volatile temperaments, at last part and Lily heads for Hollywood, where her face appears on every magazine cover. On the Twentieth Century Limited from Chicago to New York, Jaffe becomes determined to win Lily back.
Talk about your wild rides - Barrymore is a total maniac in this movie, and I could have watched him forever. His Oscar Jaffe is egomaniacal and given to great, melodramatic speeches and gestures. You have to see him to believe it. When he meets actors from the Oberammagau Passion Play, he decides to produce that to woo Lily back and cast her as Mary Magdalene. His description of his lavish production is hilarious. When his assistant Oliver Webb (Connelly) gets a religious man, Mathew J. Clark (Girardot) to back the production with what turns out to be a bad check, Oscar demands a telegram be sent to John Ringling: "I'm in the market for 25 camels, several elephants, and an ibis... Give me the rock-bottom price." Mathew Clark in the meantime is busy pasting stickers on all the train windows that say REPENT.
Carole Lombard is an able partner for Barrymore, given to wild fits of screaming and hysteria. In the only serious moment in the film, she tells Oscar that the two of them are "lithographs" who can only emote if it's written and rehearsed - they're no longer real people. Then the moment passes. Her reaction - after listening for awhile - to Oscar's producing plans for The Passion Play is priceless! The supporting cast is wonderful.
"Twentieth Century," however, belongs to John Barrymore, one of the greatest actors who ever lived. In her lectures to her students, Stella Adler said he was one of a rare breed who no longer exist. What a pity, and thank goodness we have him on film.
A must-see!
Talk about your wild rides - Barrymore is a total maniac in this movie, and I could have watched him forever. His Oscar Jaffe is egomaniacal and given to great, melodramatic speeches and gestures. You have to see him to believe it. When he meets actors from the Oberammagau Passion Play, he decides to produce that to woo Lily back and cast her as Mary Magdalene. His description of his lavish production is hilarious. When his assistant Oliver Webb (Connelly) gets a religious man, Mathew J. Clark (Girardot) to back the production with what turns out to be a bad check, Oscar demands a telegram be sent to John Ringling: "I'm in the market for 25 camels, several elephants, and an ibis... Give me the rock-bottom price." Mathew Clark in the meantime is busy pasting stickers on all the train windows that say REPENT.
Carole Lombard is an able partner for Barrymore, given to wild fits of screaming and hysteria. In the only serious moment in the film, she tells Oscar that the two of them are "lithographs" who can only emote if it's written and rehearsed - they're no longer real people. Then the moment passes. Her reaction - after listening for awhile - to Oscar's producing plans for The Passion Play is priceless! The supporting cast is wonderful.
"Twentieth Century," however, belongs to John Barrymore, one of the greatest actors who ever lived. In her lectures to her students, Stella Adler said he was one of a rare breed who no longer exist. What a pity, and thank goodness we have him on film.
A must-see!