Theodora Goes Wild

As a fan of Irene Dunne's, and not having managed to catch up with Theodora Goes Wild, I was looking forward to finally getting to see this movie after having read the lavish praise heaped on it on this site. Having said that, I have to admit that while, yes, it was amusing, it was very much of a one-note idea that was stretched very thin. Dunne, as always, was at the top of her form and her talents in all departments were very much on display. What did let the movie down was a weak script and an irritatingly hammy performance by the usually reliable Melvyn Douglas. One only has to look at Ninotchka to see how good he can be when his comedy acting has a serious side to it. His character in Theodora Goes Wild was just too silly to be believable. The smalltown sequences were charming in their way but after a while became tedious with repetition. Thomas Mitchell's scenes (as editor of the local newspaper) were rip-roaring first class, which made one want for more. Would I recommend this movie? Yes, if you're a fan of Irene Dunne's and want to watch her comedic talents at work. Several postings on this site have recommended The Awful Truth as a must-see. Well, yes, if you're a Dunne fan but here again there are moments when the script sags and both Dunne and Cary Grant, both consummate professionals, are skating on very thin ice, pulling the movie onward through sheer force of personality. If you really want to see Irene Dunne at her very, very best then you should catch her in the much better written My Favorite Wife, or Love Affair, both infinitely superior to their later remakes. In these two movies her talents REALLY soar!

Irene Dunne plays Theodora, a straight-laced young woman living with her two spinster aunts in a prudish small town, who just happens to be the secret author of a scandalous and best-selling series of romance novels. When the illustrator for her books, played by the always engaging Melvyn Douglas, figures out her secret, he blackmails her into giving him a job as gardener just so he can be close to her. When the town's gossip mongers become too much to bear, and Douglas takes off after her declaration of love, Theodora decides she's tired of being straight-laced and goes wild.

Dunne and Douglas have a lot of chemistry in this, and even if the movie overall doesn't make much sense (what screwball romance ever did?), the two of them keep it fun and energetic. I'm not sure Dunne's performance warranted the Oscar nomination she received, and I don't know what in the world the Academy was thinking to nominate the movie for its editing, but it's a solid comedy from the old days.

Grade: B+

I've seen this movie many times, and it just keeps getting funnier every time I see it. It reminds me a lot of myself, growing up in a small town like "Lynnfield", and being brought up to think and act the way Theodora was. Then when I moved away from home, some people thought I went "wild!" This has all the qualities for people who can relate to small towns, even with the "worst town gossip" to make you wonder what's going to be spread next... For a fact, this movie is a lot like Irene Dunne's life, actually her friends said they liked her best in this movie, because it is most like her in character. If you come from a small town, it's a classic film you can kinda relate to...and just have to see!

Irene Dunne breaks out of small town conventions in "Theodora Goes Wild," a 1936 comedy also starring Melvyn Douglas, Thomas Mitchell and Spring Byington.

Dunne plays Theodora, who lives a sterile life with her two aunts in a small, Puritan, judgmental town. However, she's got them all beat because she's living a double life - in New York City, she's Caroline Adams, a hot romance novelist who put the capital L in LOVE. Her scandalous best-seller is in the process of being banned by the town literary society.

While in New York visiting her disapproved of uncle, she meets a friend of her publisher's, the flirtatious, irreverent Michael (Douglas). He doesn't know her real name or her literary alter ego so to prove to him she's no prude, she gets drunk and goes to his apartment - of course, she leaves screaming - but in doing so, drops a few papers that tell him who she is and where she lives.

He soon shows up in her home town as a down on his luck man seeking work and she's more or less blackmailed into giving him a job as the family gardener.

This is a delightful comedy buoyed by the marvelous acting of Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas. The points are hit a little too hard, however, so that both characters come off as very annoying and exasperating at times.

The fault lies in the script, because I don't think those two actors ever made a wrong move. Douglas, who in later life would prove himself one of the great actors of all time, sails through this film as he sailed through so many others in roles that gave no hint of his enormous abilities. Here he's charming, smooth and attractive, inspiring Theodora to take some risks - though he's got a few skeletons he fails to mention to her.

Dunne is great as the staid spinster who becomes the talk of New York with her wild outfits, saucy attitude, and smart remarks.

Underneath it all, of course, it's a love story some innuendo you don't find in a lot of '30s comedies, which adds to the fun. Highly recommended.

The first time I ever saw this was my introduction to Irene Dunne. She is one of the greatest actresses in the history of American movies and never better than she is here. ("The Awful Truth" is virtually flawless and she may be more polished in it. But she is a true revelation here.) The story involves hypocrisy, puncturing it, overcoming inhibitions, being decent in a true sense rather than according to a pre-prepared code.

Dunne is a rather frumpy woman from a small town who has written a scandalous novel under a pseudonym. She sneaks off to her publisher in Manhattan, with a visit to her reprobate uncle, now and again. And this time she is swept off her feet by Melvyn Douglas (a little too madcap initially.) She sheds her alias after he's come to her town to woo her. She returns to New York, only to find him as stuffy as her elderly aunts and their friends. (These ladies are portrayed delightfully by actresses including Spring Byington and Elizabeth Risdon.) She really does go wild -- not just dumping her modest clothes for feathers and chic hats but turning up at all the best parties. And embarrassing people who have presented themselves as liberated.

Dunne was not a beautiful woman. Sometimes she looked pretty and sometimes not really even too pretty, though she wore clothes well. But she was an extraordinary film actress. Her range was broad and her hits included many women's pictures, several comedies (including "Joy of Living," dismal through no fault of her own.) And she played Magnolia in my favorite of all movie musicals: "Showboat," which came out this same year.