For 15 years or so in the 30s and 40s, frenetic romances with fast-talking, (temporarily) divorced couples, racy dialogue, strong women, and Cary Grant were all the rage.
The list below includes some of the gems from the classic period, with some surprises ducking out from under the bed decades later. It’s in chronological order.
Leon McCarey’s The Awful Truth is a brilliant demonstration of how Hollywood screwballs got around the fact that censors of the time didn’t allow them to show any awful truths.
Howard Hawks’ masterpiece was a bomb on release. But now we can see it’s the best screwball. And the best rom-com. And maybe just the best movie of all time.