BFI: Screwball Women: Comediennes in Classical Hollywood
Screwball Women:
Comediennes in Classical Hollywood
The
contribution of directors such as Capra
and Cukor
to Hollywood comedy is
undisputed, but their leading ladies deserve more
attention. This BFI Southbank season features some of
the most brilliant comediennes ever to light up the
screen, including the ever sophisticated
Claudette
Colbert,
smouldering Carole
Lombard and the
‘glacial goddess’, Katharine
Hepburn.
The 1920s introduced a talent of
female screenwriters. For instance, the
innuendo-filled Bringing Up
Baby (1938)
was co-scripted by female writer Hagar
Wilde.
She Done Him
Wrong (1933) was based on
Mae
West’s stage
show Diamond
Lil,
and Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes (1953), starring
Marilyn
Monroe and Jane
Russell, was
based on Anita
Loos’ novel. The
programme also showcases physical comedy and an
extraordinary gift for delivery: Judy
Holliday’s vocal
acrobatics in Born
Yesterday (1950) gained her an
Academy
Award and
Rosalind
Russell is
superb as fast-talking Hildy Johnson opposite
Cary
Grant in
the Howard
Hawks classic His Girl
Friday (1940).
Although screwball connotes crazy behaviour, this is
not necessarily a negative force in these films. As
photographer Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth
Hussey) tells
Hepburn in The
Philadelphia Story (1940): “We all go haywire at
times, and if we don’t maybe we ought to.” The
physically free and vital performances by women in
this marvellous season certainly support this notion.
COURSE: Classic
Comediennes
Join
tutors John Wischmeyer and Meriel Rosser for a
four-week course to complement this season.
Tue 4,
11, 18, 25 Mar 18:30 Studio, Course fees £32, concs
£25