Goodbye Again

Goodbye Again (1933)

A rollicking, smartly written, snappily acted comedy farce. Yes, I loved it.

Joan Blondell is the famous leading woman here, but it is really the witty, sharp performance by Warren William that lifts this great comedy to a true high. Add the very canny direction by none other than Michael Curtiz and you can see why this is a must see. You might even call this a screwball comedy, though coming a year before screwball's more official inception with "It Happened One Night."

The first real scene here might lead you to think it was going to be one kind of comedy, filled with subtle playacting and a kind of mismatched couple sparring. Hugh Herbert is a quirky character actor at his subtle best here, with mannerisms that surprise every time I see him, and he plays the bewildered husband perfectly. His wife, played well by Genevieve Tobin, is a ditzy but not stupid woman with a crush on an old flame who is now a famous author.

But wait for the real wit and cleverness to begin when this very author (Warren William) comes to town and she goes to seduce him. William is a perfect cad. He's without scruples, which makes you love him even if you might (might) disagree with his actions. (No one is ever actually hurt in these matters.) Blondell plays his secretary, supremely capable and devoted and yet independent. You suspect they should be the real couple in the movie, but they aren't.

Things only compound and get more zany with each scene, ending with exactly the fast, laugh out loud conclusion you kind of wanted all along. This is true pre-Code comedy, with adultery barely veiled (or not veiled at all if you're awake), and with no required justice for "crimes" committed along the way. Which makes it all terribly fun and funny and just slightly naughty. For all these reasons this is a movie not to miss.