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Extremely far-fetched and absurd comparison. Probably put forward by Cahiers du Cinema or some other pompous French 'cinema critic' with zero understanding of American cinema. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.10.154.17 ( talk) 20:23, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
In addition to the Coen brothers' comedy, _The Hudsucker Proxy_, I'd add their film, _Intolerable Cruelty_, to the list of recent screwball comedies. I think this easily satisfies the criteria as set forth in the accompanying page.
Because at least half of the examples of the screwball comedy listed below -- including such definitive examples as His Girl Friday and The Lady Eve -- are from the early 1940s, I'm extending the "end" date for the major period of Screwball Comedy from 1939 to 1942. The 1939 "end" date doesn't really make sense, coming about three years too soon. 68.1.175.241 28 June 2005 05:10 (UTC)
Why are they called "screwball comedies" anyway? I assume it's something to do with the baseball term, but that's very little known outside baseball-playing nations. Loganberry ( Talk) 03:53, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Screwball (n.) meant an "eccentric person," 1933, U.S. slang, earlier as a type of erratic baseball pitch (1928), from a still earlier name for a type of bowl in cricket (1866), from screw (n.) + ball. Screwball comedy is attested from 1938.
Pronghorn (
talk)
03:39, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
If someone has information regarding the script writers, I think that would be an important addition to this page. I had heard that the studios hired many playwrites from New York which accounted for the tight, witty dialogue of many of these movies. Discussion of this would add to this page.
And in some cases the screenplay writers may be infinitely more important to the making of the films than their directors
Spaceballs is not screwball comedy. That's a joke. I do think Arthur with Dudley Moore is screwball comedy. It's unique in that the guy must chose between rich and poor women, when usually it's the woman who choses in these films. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kevin324la ( talk • contribs) 17:31, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
Script writers adapted some screwball comedies from "screwball" theater, opera or "screwball" novels, short stories, even magazine articles in addition to writing original screenplays. Samson Raphaelson and Billy Wilder wrote for Lubitsch, for example. Raphaelson and Wilder, like Lubitsch, wrote out of the Jewish ethos - and their humor reflected that. Wilder and Lubitsch were both Central Europeans, while Raphaelson came from New York. Their dour sense of humor developed from their and their families' dour experience of the human condition.
A note: Screwball comedies go back beyond even ancient Greek theater, continue through the Middle Ages in Italy, France, England and so on in the West. They were not uncommon in Asia. Pierre Beaumarchais's "screwball" comedy, "Le Barbier de Séville" was adapted by Lorenzo da Ponte to provide the libretto for the opera of the same name, for instance. Da Ponte wrote the libretto to another "screwball comedy" opera called "Cosi fan Tutti." Lubitsch was a member of the Max Reinhardt school in Berlin before he started in movies. He was acting in "screwball comedy" there long before he took up film. In practive screwball was merely the ancient genre of the aristocractic or ruling class farce updated and transposed into motion pictures. Redicule of the powerful has always proven entertaining, especially in periods of transition from a failing elite to a new emerging one that will replace them. Pronghorn ( talk) 04:20, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
Need etymology of the term, and its application to the genre. Badagnani ( talk) 07:04, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
1933's Bombshell surely qualifies as screwball comedy and was perhaps the first of the genre, despite claims Twentieth Century is the first. It has all of the ingredients of a screwball comedy.--Susan Nunes 26 September 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.228.62.97 ( talk) 15:42, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
I notice--a bit late!--that JGG59 reverted my entry of The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, 1947, from this article back in 2007. However, the film has its own wiki entry of long standing, with plenty of editorial activity, which has stated that it is a screwball comedy, and there has been no objection. I'm therefore restoring this film to its rightful place in this article, at the end of the classic era. Ajschorschiii ( talk) 20:53, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
In the intro: "farcical", "repartee", "farce"? comon people... This is wikipedia. It's not a doctoral dissertation... Boonshofter 00:08, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
The 1974 film "What's Up, Doc?" was a remake of the classic screwball comedy film "Bringing Up Baby." I think it should be included somewhere on this page. -- Ringwraith10 ( talk) 13:46, 8 October 2010 (UTC)
I really find this an odd definition: "it distinguishes itself for being characterized by a female that dominates the relationship with the male central character" (bolding mine). How does this even come close to being true in His Girl Friday, Arsenic and Old Lace, The More the Merrier or Some Like It Hot? I think this characterization is more apt: "It was applied to films where everything was a juxtaposition: educated and uneducated, rich and poor, intelligent and stupid, honest and dishonest, and most of all male and female. When two people fell in love, they did not simply surrender to their feelings, they battled it out." Clarityfiend ( talk) 03:02, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
One, Two, Three a screwball comedy? Oh yeah, it has an actor in it who started out in the 1930s, so it must be… — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.115.39.88 ( talk) 04:15, 14 December 2013 (UTC)
A possible addition to the modern list. Strong women characters, effeminate male ( Gary,) wacky situations, even class vs class are all present. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:1:C200:CC0:61A9:1526:6054:7771 ( talk) 05:13, 13 October 2014 (UTC)
...and the financially struggling moviegoing public's desire to see the rich upper class taught a lesson in humanity? I have no clue what the argument is here... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kay.V.Patino ( talk • contribs) 05:27, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: moved. The WP:CONCISE argument raised in support wins out. ( closed by non-admin page mover) Calidum 14:05, 7 September 2019 (UTC)
Screwball comedy film →
Screwball comedy – It seems there are many works in this genre that are not films, such as the TV shows
Moonlighting,
Married... with Children,
NewsRadio,
Gilmore Girls,
The O.C.,
Standoff, and
Gossip Girl. The comic book
The Castafiore Emerald is partly set in this genre.
Kailash29792
(talk)
06:02, 29 August 2019 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion:
You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 20:23, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 02:08, 11 January 2022 (UTC)
![]() | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
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|
Extremely far-fetched and absurd comparison. Probably put forward by Cahiers du Cinema or some other pompous French 'cinema critic' with zero understanding of American cinema. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.10.154.17 ( talk) 20:23, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
In addition to the Coen brothers' comedy, _The Hudsucker Proxy_, I'd add their film, _Intolerable Cruelty_, to the list of recent screwball comedies. I think this easily satisfies the criteria as set forth in the accompanying page.
Because at least half of the examples of the screwball comedy listed below -- including such definitive examples as His Girl Friday and The Lady Eve -- are from the early 1940s, I'm extending the "end" date for the major period of Screwball Comedy from 1939 to 1942. The 1939 "end" date doesn't really make sense, coming about three years too soon. 68.1.175.241 28 June 2005 05:10 (UTC)
Why are they called "screwball comedies" anyway? I assume it's something to do with the baseball term, but that's very little known outside baseball-playing nations. Loganberry ( Talk) 03:53, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Screwball (n.) meant an "eccentric person," 1933, U.S. slang, earlier as a type of erratic baseball pitch (1928), from a still earlier name for a type of bowl in cricket (1866), from screw (n.) + ball. Screwball comedy is attested from 1938.
Pronghorn (
talk)
03:39, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
If someone has information regarding the script writers, I think that would be an important addition to this page. I had heard that the studios hired many playwrites from New York which accounted for the tight, witty dialogue of many of these movies. Discussion of this would add to this page.
And in some cases the screenplay writers may be infinitely more important to the making of the films than their directors
Spaceballs is not screwball comedy. That's a joke. I do think Arthur with Dudley Moore is screwball comedy. It's unique in that the guy must chose between rich and poor women, when usually it's the woman who choses in these films. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kevin324la ( talk • contribs) 17:31, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
Script writers adapted some screwball comedies from "screwball" theater, opera or "screwball" novels, short stories, even magazine articles in addition to writing original screenplays. Samson Raphaelson and Billy Wilder wrote for Lubitsch, for example. Raphaelson and Wilder, like Lubitsch, wrote out of the Jewish ethos - and their humor reflected that. Wilder and Lubitsch were both Central Europeans, while Raphaelson came from New York. Their dour sense of humor developed from their and their families' dour experience of the human condition.
A note: Screwball comedies go back beyond even ancient Greek theater, continue through the Middle Ages in Italy, France, England and so on in the West. They were not uncommon in Asia. Pierre Beaumarchais's "screwball" comedy, "Le Barbier de Séville" was adapted by Lorenzo da Ponte to provide the libretto for the opera of the same name, for instance. Da Ponte wrote the libretto to another "screwball comedy" opera called "Cosi fan Tutti." Lubitsch was a member of the Max Reinhardt school in Berlin before he started in movies. He was acting in "screwball comedy" there long before he took up film. In practive screwball was merely the ancient genre of the aristocractic or ruling class farce updated and transposed into motion pictures. Redicule of the powerful has always proven entertaining, especially in periods of transition from a failing elite to a new emerging one that will replace them. Pronghorn ( talk) 04:20, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
Need etymology of the term, and its application to the genre. Badagnani ( talk) 07:04, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
1933's Bombshell surely qualifies as screwball comedy and was perhaps the first of the genre, despite claims Twentieth Century is the first. It has all of the ingredients of a screwball comedy.--Susan Nunes 26 September 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.228.62.97 ( talk) 15:42, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
I notice--a bit late!--that JGG59 reverted my entry of The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, 1947, from this article back in 2007. However, the film has its own wiki entry of long standing, with plenty of editorial activity, which has stated that it is a screwball comedy, and there has been no objection. I'm therefore restoring this film to its rightful place in this article, at the end of the classic era. Ajschorschiii ( talk) 20:53, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
In the intro: "farcical", "repartee", "farce"? comon people... This is wikipedia. It's not a doctoral dissertation... Boonshofter 00:08, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
The 1974 film "What's Up, Doc?" was a remake of the classic screwball comedy film "Bringing Up Baby." I think it should be included somewhere on this page. -- Ringwraith10 ( talk) 13:46, 8 October 2010 (UTC)
I really find this an odd definition: "it distinguishes itself for being characterized by a female that dominates the relationship with the male central character" (bolding mine). How does this even come close to being true in His Girl Friday, Arsenic and Old Lace, The More the Merrier or Some Like It Hot? I think this characterization is more apt: "It was applied to films where everything was a juxtaposition: educated and uneducated, rich and poor, intelligent and stupid, honest and dishonest, and most of all male and female. When two people fell in love, they did not simply surrender to their feelings, they battled it out." Clarityfiend ( talk) 03:02, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
One, Two, Three a screwball comedy? Oh yeah, it has an actor in it who started out in the 1930s, so it must be… — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.115.39.88 ( talk) 04:15, 14 December 2013 (UTC)
A possible addition to the modern list. Strong women characters, effeminate male ( Gary,) wacky situations, even class vs class are all present. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:1:C200:CC0:61A9:1526:6054:7771 ( talk) 05:13, 13 October 2014 (UTC)
...and the financially struggling moviegoing public's desire to see the rich upper class taught a lesson in humanity? I have no clue what the argument is here... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kay.V.Patino ( talk • contribs) 05:27, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
The result of the move request was: moved. The WP:CONCISE argument raised in support wins out. ( closed by non-admin page mover) Calidum 14:05, 7 September 2019 (UTC)
Screwball comedy film →
Screwball comedy – It seems there are many works in this genre that are not films, such as the TV shows
Moonlighting,
Married... with Children,
NewsRadio,
Gilmore Girls,
The O.C.,
Standoff, and
Gossip Girl. The comic book
The Castafiore Emerald is partly set in this genre.
Kailash29792
(talk)
06:02, 29 August 2019 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion:
You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 20:23, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 02:08, 11 January 2022 (UTC)