Katana VentraIP

The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth is a 1937 American screwball comedy film directed by Leo McCarey, and starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. Based on the 1922 play The Awful Truth by Arthur Richman, the film recounts a distrustful rich couple who begin divorce proceedings, only to interfere with one another's romances.

This article is about the 1937 film. For other uses, see The Awful Truth (disambiguation).

The Awful Truth

Leo McCarey

Viña Delmar

The Awful Truth
1922 play
by Arthur Richman

Leo McCarey

Joseph Walker

Al Clark

Columbia Pictures

  • October 21, 1937 (1937-10-21)

91 minutes

United States

English

$600,000 ($12.7 million in 2023 dollars)

Over $3 million ($64 million in 2023 dollars)

This was McCarey's first film for Columbia Pictures, with the dialogue and comic elements largely improvised by the director and actors. Irene Dunne's costumes were designed by Robert Kalloch. Although Grant tried to leave the production due to McCarey's directorial style, The Awful Truth saw his emergence as an A-list star and proponent of on-the-set improvisation.


The film was a box office success and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Dunne), and Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Bellamy), winning for Best Director (McCarey). The Awful Truth was selected in 1996 for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[1] In 2005, Time magazine named it one of their All-TIME 100 Movies.[2]


The Awful Truth was the first of three films co-starring Grant and Dunne, followed by My Favorite Wife (1940) and Penny Serenade (1941).

Plot[edit]

Jerry Warriner tells his wife he is going on vacation to Florida, but instead spends the week at his sports club in New York City. He returns home to find that his wife, Lucy, spent the night in the company of her handsome music teacher, Armand Duvalle. Lucy claims his car broke down unexpectedly. Lucy discovers that Jerry did not actually go to Florida. Their mutual suspicion results in divorce proceedings, with Lucy winning custody of their dog. The judge orders the divorce finalized in 90 days.


Lucy moves into an apartment with her Aunt Patsy. Her neighbor is amiable but rustic Oklahoma oilman Dan Leeson, whose mother does not approve of Lucy. Jerry subtly ridicules Dan in front of Lucy, which causes Lucy to tie herself more closely to Dan. Jerry begins dating sweet-natured but simple singer Dixie Belle Lee, unaware that she performs an embarrassing, sexually suggestive act at a local nightclub.


Convinced that Lucy is still having an affair with Duvalle, Jerry bursts into Duvalle's apartment only to discover that Lucy is a legitimate vocal student of Duvalle and is giving her first recital. Realizing he may still love Lucy, Jerry undermines Lucy's character with Mrs. Leeson even as Dan and Lucy agree to marry. When Jerry attempts to reconcile with Lucy afterward, he discovers Duvalle hiding in Lucy's apartment and they have a fistfight while Dan and his mother apologize for assuming the worst about Lucy. When Jerry chases Armand out the door, Dan breaks off his engagement to Lucy and he and his mother return to Oklahoma.


A few weeks later, Jerry begins dating high-profile heiress Barbara Vance. Realizing she still loves Jerry, Lucy crashes a party at the Vance mansion the night the divorce decree is to become final. Pretending to be Jerry's sister, she undermines Jerry's character, implying that "their" father was working class rather than wealthy. Acting like a showgirl, she recreates Dixie's risqué musical number. The snobbish Vances are appalled.


Jerry attempts to explain away Lucy's behavior as drunkenness, and says he will drive Lucy home. Lucy repeatedly sabotages the car on the ride to delay their parting. Pulled over by motorcycle police officers, who believe Jerry is drunk, Lucy manages to wreck the car. The police give the couple a lift to Aunt Patsy's nearby cabin. Although sleeping in different (but adjoining) bedrooms, Jerry and Lucy slowly overcome their pride and a series of comic mishaps in order to admit "the awful truth" that they still love one another. They reconcile at midnight, just before their divorce is to be finalized.

Box office and reception[edit]

Gross box office receipts for The Awful Truth were more than $3 million ($64 million in 2023 dollars).[121] The film made a profit of $500,000 ($10.6 million in 2023 dollars) in a year when Columbia Pictures' studio-wide profit margin was just $1.3 million ($27.6 million in 2023 dollars).[94]


The Film Daily named The Awful Truth as one of the ten best films of 1937.[122]


Although he was not nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, the film was a triumph for Cary Grant. Overnight he was transformed into an A-list leading man.[81] "The Cary Grant Persona"[123] was fully established by this film, and Grant not only became an able improviser but often demanded improvisation in his films thereafter.[83] Ralph Bellamy, however, was typecast for years in "amiable dope" roles after The Awful Truth.[28]

2000: – No. 68[128]

AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs

2002: – No. 77[129]

AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions

The film was nominated for six Academy Awards (only winning Best Director for Leo McCarey).[77][94][124][z]


After winning the Oscar, McCarey said he had won it for the wrong picture, since he considered his direction of the 1937 melodrama Make Way for Tomorrow to be superior.[126]


The Awful Truth was selected in 1996 for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[127]


The film has since been recognized twice by American Film Institute:

Subsequent versions[edit]

Dunne, Grant, and Bellamy performed scenes from The Awful Truth on the Hollywood Hotel radio program on CBS on October 15, 1937.[130]


The Awful Truth was presented as a one-hour radio program on three occasions on Lux Radio Theatre. On the September 11, 1939 broadcast Grant and Claudette Colbert starred in the adaptation.[131] Bob Hope and Constance Bennett played the leads for the March 10, 1941 version.[132] Dunne and Grant reprised their original lead roles on the January 18, 1955, broadcast.[130]


Dunne reprised her Lucy Warriner role in a 30-minute version of The Awful Truth on The Goodyear Program on CBS on February 6, 1944. Walter Pidgeon played the role of Jerry Warriner.[130]


The play inspired a film musical, Let's Do It Again (1953), starring Jane Wyman and Ray Milland.[3]

Bawden, James; Miller, Ron (2017). . Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813174389.

Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews From Hollywood's Golden Era

Bernds, Edward (1999). . Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810836020.

Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood: My Early Life and Career in Sound Recording at Columbia With Frank Capra and Others

Bogdanovich, Peter (2005). . New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 9780345480026.

Who the Hell's In It: Conversations With Hollywood's Legendary Actors

Bohn, Thomas W.; Stromgren, Richard L. (1987). Light and Shadows: A History of Motion Pictures. Palo Alto, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing Co.  9780874847024.

ISBN

Burton, Jack (1953). The Blue Book of Hollywood Musicals. New York: Century House.  59929221.

OCLC

Carman, Emily (2016). . Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press. ISBN 9781477307311.

Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System

Dick, Bernard F. (2009). . Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813193236.

The Merchant Prince of Poverty Row: Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures

Eagan, Daniel (2010). . New York: Continuum. ISBN 9780826418494.

America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry

Eliot, Marc (2009) [1960]. . London: Aurum. ISBN 9781845131517.

Cary Grant: A Biography

Garnett, Tay; Balling, Fredda Dudley (1973). . New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House. ISBN 9780870002045.

Light Your Torches and Pull Up Your Tights

Gehring, Wes D. (1986). Screwball Comedy: A Genre of Madcap Romance. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.  9780313246500.

ISBN

Gehring, Wes D. (2002). . Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810844247.

Romantic vs. Screwball Comedy: Charting the Difference

Gehring, Wes D. (2006). . Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810858640.

Irene Dunne: First Lady of Hollywood

Gehring, Wes D. (2007). . Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 9780786428922.

Film Clowns of the Depression: Twelve Defining Comic Performances

Greene, Robert (2008). . London: Profile. ISBN 9781861979988.

The 33 Strategies of War

Harvey, James (1998). Romantic Comedy in Hollywood, From Lubitsch to Sturges. New York: Da Capo Pres.  9780306808326.

ISBN

Jorgensen, Jay (2010). . Philadelphia: Running Press. ISBN 9780762438051.

Edith Head: The Fifty-Year Career of Hollywood's Greatest Costume Designer

Katchmer, George A. (1991). Eighty Silent Film Stars: Biographies and Filmographies of the Obscure to the Well Known. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.  9780899504940.

ISBN

Kemper, Tom (2010). Hidden Talent: The Emergence of Hollywood Agents. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.  9780520257061.

ISBN

Kendall, Elizabeth (2002). . New York: Cooper Square Press. ISBN 9780815411994.

The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s

Krasna, Norman (1986). "Norman Krasna: The Woolworth's Touch". In McGilligan, Patrick (ed.). . Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520056664.

Backstory: Interviews With Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age

Larkin, Rochelle (1975). . New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House. ISBN 9780870002397.

Hail, Columbia

Leff, Leonard J.; Simmons, Jerold L. (2001). . Lexington, Ky.: University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 9780813190112.

The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship, and the Production Code

Leonard, William T. (1981). . Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810813748.

Theatre: Stage to Screen to Television

Maltin, Leonard (2018). . Pittsburgh: GoodKnight Books. ISBN 9780998376394.

Hooked on Hollywood: Discoveries From a Lifetime of Film Fandom

McCann, Graham (1998). . New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231109932.

Cary Grant: A Class Apart

Morecambe, Gary; Sterling, Martin (2001). . London: Robson Books. ISBN 9781861054661.

Cary Grant: In Name Only

Morgan, Iwan W.; Davies, Philip (2016). . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474431927.

Hollywood and the Great Depression: American Film, Politics and Society in the 1930s

Nelmes, Jill; Selbo, Jule (2018). . Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 9781349580866.

Women Screenwriters: An International Guide

Pallot, James (1995). . New York: Berkley Publishing Group. ISBN 9780399519147.

The Movie Guide

Parish, James Robert (1974). . New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House. ISBN 9780870002465.

The RKO Gals

Pickard, Roy (1979). . New York: Taplinger Publishing Co. ISBN 9780800839192.

Hollywood Gold: The Award Winning Movies

Picken, Mary Brooks (1999). . Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. ISBN 9780486402949.

A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion: Historic and Modern

Ramirez, Juan Antonia (2004). . Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 9780786417810.

Architecture for the Screen: A Critical Study of Set Design in Hollywood's Golden Age

Schultz, Margie (1991). Irene Dunne: A Bio-Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press.  9780313273995.

ISBN

Stempel, Tom (2000). . Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815606543.

Framework: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film

Stephens, Michael L. (2008). . Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 9780786437719.

Art Directors in Cinema: A Worldwide Biographical Dictionary

Thomas, Bob (1990) [1967]. . New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780070642614.

King Cohn: The Life and Times of Hollywood Mogul Harry Cohn

Vermilye, Jerry (1982). . Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press. ISBN 9780806508078.

Films of the Thirties

Wansell, Geoffrey (1983). . London: Collins. ISBN 9780002163712.

Cary Grant: Haunted Idol

Welch, Roseanne (2018). "Vina Delmar". . Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781349580866.

Women Screenwriters: An International Guide

Wiley, Mason; Bona, Damien; MacColl, Gail (1986). Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York: Ballantine Books.  9780345314239.

ISBN

at IMDb

The Awful Truth

at AllMovie

The Awful Truth

at Rotten Tomatoes

The Awful Truth

at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

The Awful Truth

at the TCM Movie Database

The Awful Truth

– an essay by Molly Haskell at The Criterion Collection

The Awful Truth: Divorce, McCarey Style