Theodora Goes Wild *** (1936, Irene Dunne, Melvyn Douglas, Thomas Mitchell) – Classic Movie Review 7193

Director Richard Boleslawski’s amusing 1936 vintage comedy Theodora Goes Wild stars the Oscar-nominated Irene Dunne, who gets her laughs as Theodora Lynn, a small-town librarian who writes a titillating bestseller under the pseudonym Caroline Adams to keep herself incognito from her easily scandalised American provincial small-town neighbours. Melvyn Douglas also stars as book jacket illustrator Michael Grant who sets about to out Theodora, but he has a troublesome secret as well.

This crazy Thirties screwball romantic comedy is surprisingly based on a story by the serious minded Mary McCarthy, though it does have a few underlying issues on its mind.

Theodora Goes Wild perhaps seems more mild than wild now, but the now forgotten Oscar-nominated star Dunne, Melvyn Douglas, Thomas Mitchell, Thurston Hall, Rosalind Keith, Spring Byington, Elisabeth Risdon and Margaret McWade all help to make it an enduring pleasure.

Theodora Goes Wild is Dunne’s first starring comedy: she was previously queen of the weepies.

Dunne was nominated for five Oscars but never won. This was her second nomination, following Cimarron (1931) and preceding The Awful Truth (1937) and Love Affair (1939) and I Remember Mama (1948).

Theodora Goes Wild is directed by Richard Boleslawski, runs 94 minutes, is released by Columbia, is written by Sidney Buchman, based on a story by Mary McCarthy, is shot in black and white by Joseph Walker, is produced by Everett Riskin and is scored by Morris Stoloff.

It is available on Icons of Screwball Comedy 2 [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import].

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7193

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