The Awful Truth (Shock Entertainment) (1937)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Trailer-x 2 - His Girl Friday, Little Women
Rating
Year Of Production	1937
Running Time	86:58
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Leo McCarey
Studio Distributor	Shock Entertainment	Starring	Irene Dunne Cary Grant Ralph Bellamy Alexander D'Arcy Cecil Cunnigham
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	?	Music	Ben Oakland

     Jerry and Lucy Warriner (Cary Grant, Irene Dunne) are a happily married couple until Jerry gets suspicious of Lucy’s handsome voice coach (Armand Duvalle) and Lucy starts to suspect that Jerry did not go to Florida as he claims. Almost by accident Lucy files for a divorce, which will be granted in 90 days, the main disputed point being custody of their pet dog, Mr Smith. On the rebound, Lucy gets engaged to Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), a bumbling oil millionaire from Oklahoma, although Jerry steadfastly refuses to stay away and sabotages the relationship as much as he can. Just when Lucy realises that she is still in love with Jerry, and cannot marry Dan, Jerry gets engaged to wealthy socialite Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont). It is now Lucy’s turn to sabotage that relationship! Can Lucy and Jerry acknowledge their love for each other before their divorce becomes final?

     The Awful Truth, from 1937, is a delightful, witty and funny comedy directed by Leo McCarey, for which he won a best director Oscar; he would later win another for Going My Way (1944). The Awful Truth was nominated for six Oscars in total, including best picture and best screenplay, but lost those categories to The Life of Emile Zola. Irene Dunne was also nominated for best actress (one of five nominations she received, winning none), but lost to Luise Rainer in The Good Earth. In The Awful Truth Dunne receives top billing over Cary Grant and she is certainly good fun, especially when she plays Jerry’s sister with evil intent to stop his engagement. But Grant is simply fabulous and charismatic, developing the on-screen persona for which he was later famous. His smile is infectious, he can deliver a witty one-liner with sparkle, and he is at home with physical comedy, being able to deliver falls convincingly courtesy of his training as an acrobat when he was younger. Ralph Bellamy as the bumbling oilman with the domineering mother (Esther Dale), is also great value, so much so that Howard Hawks hired him to appear in His Girl Friday (1940), again as a foil for Grant.

     Almost 80 years after being made, The Awful Truth is still a hoot and has a current approval rate of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. It has good one-liners and is also genuinely laugh out loud funny, with the reactions of Grant, Dunne and Bellamy to the singer at the club, Jerry and Armand both hiding in Lucy’s bedroom when Dan and his mother arrive, or Lucy sabotaging Jerry’s engagement at the Vance’s house definite highlights. And then there are the bits with the dog!! Prepare to be entertained!

Video

     The Awful Truth is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is not 16x9 enhanced.

     This is by no means a pristine print but needs to be judged taking into account its age and unrestored status; I have seen far younger films looking far worse than this. It is soft, the blacks more grey, there are frequent marks, the occasional vertical scratch, grain is fairly heavy and contrast can vary within a scene. There was also noticeable motion blur against vertical backgrounds such as blinds. However, none of this is too bad and it is still possible to immerse yourself in the film and hardly notice them.

     English, French, German, Italian and Spanish subtitles are available.

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Audio

     Audio is a choice of English, German, Italian or Spanish, all Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 192 Kbps.

     Dialogue was easy to hear. The original music is by Ben Oakland plus the film uses a lot of stock music. As a dialogue driven film effects are pretty much non-existent, except for the nightclub scene and the motorcycles at the end, and obviously lacked depth. Naturally there is no surround or sub-woofer use. I did not notice any pops or cracks.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

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Trailers

     Trailers for His Girl Friday (2:44) and Little Women (3:02).

     The Awful Truth was released in Region 1 US in 2003 and is still available. That release has no extras. Our Region All DVD is identical in specifications, language and subtitle options to the version available in the UK. Buy local.

     The Awful Truth is a comedy which eighty years after being made is a still a hoot; delightful, witty and laugh out loud funny and with Cary Grant is delicious form. The film has been released before in Australia, in 2004, by Sony as part of the Columbia Classics series. Other than a couple of subtitle options, this release by Shock Entertainment seems identical so if you already have the film there is no need to purchase. However, if you like classic comedies or Cary Grant go get it!

     The video and audio are acceptable for a film of this age. There are no extras, as is the case in other regions.

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