Twentieth Century

Plot synopsis:
Ebullient Broadway impresario Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) takes an unknown lingerie model named Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard) and makes her the star of his latest play, despite the grave misgivings of everyone else, including his two long-suffering assistants, accountant Oliver Webb (Walter Connolly) and the consistently tipsy Owen O'Malley (Roscoe Karns). Through intensive training, Oscar transforms his protegée into the actress "Lily Garland", and both she and the play are resounding successes. Over the next three years, their partnership spawns three more smash hits, and Lily is recognized as a transcendent talent.
Then Lily tries to break off their professional and personal relationship, fed up with Oscar's overpossesiveness and control of every aspect of her life. Oscar talks her out of it, promising to be more trusting and less controlling in the future. Instead, he secretly hires a private detective agency run by McGonigle to watch her every move, even to the point of tapping her telephone. When she finds out, it is the last straw; she leaves for Hollywood and soon becomes a big movie star.
Without Lily, Oscar produces flop after flop. After one such disappointment, to avoid being imprisoned for his debts, he is forced to disguise himself to board the luxurious Twentieth Century Limited train travelling from Chicago to New York City's Grand Central Terminal. By chance, Lily Garland boards the train at a later stop with her boyfriend George Smith (Ralph Forbes). After prevaricating, Oscar sees a chance to restore his fortunes and salvage his relationship with Lily.
Oscar schemes to get her to sign a contract with him. However, Lily wants nothing more to do with him. She is on her way to see Oscar's rival (and former employee), Max Jacobs (Charles Lane (actor)), to star in his play. However, Oscar manages to get George to break up with her. Knowing that Lily offers him one last chance at professional success he tells her of his wish for her to play Mary Magdalene in his new play; "sensual, heartless, but beautiful – running the gamut from the gutter, to glory – can you see her Lily? – the little wanton ending up in tears at the foot of the cross. I'm going to have Judas strangle himself with her hair." Then Oliver thinks he has found somebody to finance Oscar's project, fellow passenger Mathew J. Clark (Etienne Girardot), not realizing that Clark is a harmless escapee from a mental asylum. When Oscar is slightly wounded in a scuffle with Clark, he pretends to be dying and gets a distraught Lily to sign his contract. The film ends with their first rehearsal, where Oscar reverts to his usual domineering self and a desperate Lily.

Tags: comedy

Review:
Down but not quite out, a megalomaniacal theatrical producer schemes to get his former star & lover back under contract during a wild ride on the TWENTIETH CENTURY Limited racing from Chicago to New York City.Directed by Howard Hawks from an inspired script by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur, this is one of the seminal screwball comedies which would set the high-water mark for years to come - zany characters, living at a frenetic pace, throwing outrageous lines at each other.
Watching him infuriate his players by chalking their movements on the floor, disguise himself as an elderly Southern gentleman in order to sneak aboard the train, or arranging his own fake death scene to serve his egotistical ends, is to watch a master of the acting art play a comedic role worthy of him.Carole Lombard is lovely, but completely overshadowed by Barrymore.
So he is forced to pull out all stops to get her back to a signed contract, when he learns she and he are traveling back to New York on the Twentieth Century train.Howard Hawks would tackle farce several times in his career: "His Gal Friday", "I Was A Male War Bride", "Man's Favorite Sport" were all in the future.
He does, however, know about acting - he reminds Mildred/Lily that when she calls for "Daddy" in an old southern plantation house she is not to use a voice similar to calling "Taxi" in the street.I won't go into the rest of the film, but wait for "the iron door" whose hinges get dingier and more rusted with each closing, or Barrymore's commentary on "the Passion Play".
Lombard has a more subtle, reacting part, but she is Barrymore's equal partner, having the moment of reality at the center of the film: on the train, when after screaming at each other she breaks down and cries, and makes Jaffe realize that they have built themselves into an unhealthy universe where they can't be real people anymore.
Howard Hawks' early foray into screwball comedy pits the wonderful pairing of John Barrymore and Carole Lombard against each other.
John Barrymore is in rare form in Twentieth Century (1934), Howard Hawks's hilarious, fast-paced screwball comedy.
Carol Lombard deserves to be called the queen of comedy, and John Barrymore will surprise you, especially if your only knowledge of him was from Grand Hotel.
An egomanical producer (a very funny John Barrymore) takes lowly fashion model Mildred Plotka (equally funny Carole Lombard) and makes her the darling of Broadway.
The Twentieth Century of 1934 is a first class screwball comedy especially written for Barrymore who fits the role like a leather glove.
John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connelly, Roscoe Karns, Charles Lane and Etienne Girardot ride the "Twentieth Century" in this outrageous 1934 comedy directed by Howard Hawks.
Barrymore plays Oscar Jaffe, a producer who molds, discovers and renames Mildred Plotka "Lily Garland," who becomes a huge Broadway star.
On the Twentieth Century Limited from Chicago to New York, Jaffe becomes determined to win Lily back.Talk about your wild rides - Barrymore is a total maniac in this movie, and I could have watched him forever.
The supporting cast is wonderful."Twentieth Century," however, belongs to John Barrymore, one of the greatest actors who ever lived.
Completely over the top, silly but very funny, Twentieth Century makes the most of Carole Lombard and John Barrymore's comedic talents.
I really envy Lombard's ability to laugh on cue, and Barrymore's ability to pull hilarious facial expressions.Oscar Jaffe, (John Barrymore), a big time director, made Mildred Plotka  now named Lily Garland  a star, but HIS career is taking a battering after Lily packed up her life with him and on stage for Hollywood stardom.
However, I have not forgotten the brilliant supporting cast, with the likes of Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns and Ralph Forbes.Twentieth Century is a classic screwball comedy which could please the harshest of critics.
The plot is the Svengali one, made delightfully absurd by the vivid overacting of John Barrymore as Oscar Jaffe, Broadway producer extraordinaire, who has taken the lingerie model Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard) and turned her into Lily Galand, star of stage and screen.
I just can't figure where some of her screaming is coming from and what or who exactly it is supposed to be directed at.There is some great comic support in the person of Walter Connally whom Barrymore's Oscar Jaffe is constantly firing and rehiring.
Master filmmaker Howard Hawks' sure hand at outrageous, character-driven farce is what maneuvers this seminal 1934 screwball comedy into its acknowledged status as a film classic.
More than anything else here, he appears responsible for the transformation of Carole Lombard's screen persona from uncertain glamour girl to first-class comedy pro, as she vividly portrays Mildred Plotka, a struggling actress nurtured by Oscar Jaffe, an egomaniacal Broadway impresario.
Through his Svengali-like techniques, he has changed the former Mildred into Lily Garland and a major star, but his obsessive behavior leads to her departure to Hollywood for film success and his tailspin into a series of stage flops.
He's like Count Dracula, Norma Desmond and a villain out of a comic-book all rolled into one devilishly clever and diabolical and wonderfully nutty package.This also means that Howard Hawks's film, a very good if not great comedy on the theater biz and BIG personalities that feed off one another whether they love it or despite it, gets a boost from Barrymore's performance.
Some of his actions on the train of the movie's title goes almost TOO far, which is part of the point and some of Hawks's brilliance here.Trying to edge it back and it wouldn't work, and go any further (which sometimes, like the argument scene with the kicking from Lombard) and it goes into feverish melodrama.
All I saw was bickering.The only humorous element, aside from the putty nose, is the Matthew Clark character, who for some unexplained reason goes around pasting up The End is Near stickers in the train on people's backs, windows, hats, lampshades, etc.I happen to like good comedy, and Lombard is quite capable in this area.
Twentieth Century came out of Columbia Pictures the year that It Happened One Night did and like It Happened One Night was done with a pair loan out stars, John Barrymore from MGM and Carole Lombard from Paramount.
In fact a couple of better known names, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur adapted it for the screen and Howard Hawks did for him one of his first comedy triumphs.Twentieth Century seems to segment nicely into three acts as a lot of plays do.
The first act is John Barrymore creating a new star for the stage out of a former shop girl, Carole Lombard.
He plays Lombard's new boyfriend and he did a good job, but I thought more could have been developed with his character.Twentieth Century is as fast paced as Arsenic and Old Lace and One Two Three.
The film even foreshadowed Barrymore's own future as he himself became a washed up actor in the final years of his life like how the character of Oscar Jaffe becomes a shadow of his former self.
Barrymore was known as The Great Profile and rightfully so; talk about an enigmatic screen presence.The sheer energy between Barrymore and Carole Lombard is incredible in this ultimate battle of the egos; both of these two performers cross that line in comedy of playing hateful, selfish, disciple characters you can't help but love.
The first portion of the film is comprised of a stage rehearsal, showcasing an impressive display of actors playing actors giving bad performances with Jaffe insulting them at every turn ("The old south does not yodel") but it's the film's second half in which things really get crazy, taking place onboard the Twentieth Century Limited.
She only has several lines in the entire film yet I'm intrigued by her; she appears to have star quality to her.Along with It Happened One Night released the same year, Twentieth Century movie marks the birth the screwball comedy.
Just about the funniest, smartest, most clever comedy ever filmed....unlike Hawks' "Bringing Up Baby", that, while great, is sillier, this one is smart and hysterical.John Barrymore should've been nominated for an Academy Award for the best performance of his movie career.
Simply first-rate acting.Carole Lombard, as well as Walter Connolly (one of my favorite supporting characters) and Roscoe Karns are amazing too.The rest of the cast excellent as well.
All those years of Vaudeville and silent movies coalesced with his great sense of delivery to create the part of theater producer and wannabe director Oscar Jaffe, while Carole Lombard seems to crystalize into her role as the film progresses so that by the time they meet again on the Twentieth Century from Chicago to New York, she's just about his equal.
I can't join in the praise for JOHN BARRYMORE's overly hammy performance of Oscar Jaffe in Howard Hawk's screen version of the Broadway hit, TWENTIETH CENTURY.
I was almost expecting Groucho Marx and the Marx Brothers to turn up at any moment, the farce is so forced and frantic once Barrymore and CAROLE LOMBARD launch into their tirades.Director Howard Hawks evidently never chose to tone down the performances by Barrymore and Lombard, both of whom are guilty of some excruciating overacting, whether intentional or not.At least some praise can go to the supporting cast, especially ROSCOE KARNS and WALTER CONNOLLY, who seem almost restrained compared to the two stars.
The plot has John Barrymore as an impossible theatre producer (gee, that's something new) and Carole Lombard as a clueless would-be actress, who flourishes under his tutelage, even to the point of dumping him and becoming a star in Hollywood.Then she hates him, and he needs money, they both accidentally show up on the same train, and amazingly, no one else on the train complains about the endless screaming of Lombard, Barrymore, and the pool of supporting players.The only redeeming thing about this movie is that it shows John Barrymore really was a good actor, and not one of those talent-free critics' darlings so many of his contemporaries were.What he could have done with a far FAR better script is a tragic missed opportunity..
Carole Lombard had her first great comic performance in this laugh-a-minute film, which highlights the love-hate relationship between a Broadway producer and his greatest female star.
Broadway actress Lily Garland (Carole Lombard) leaves eccentric director Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore), who made her a star.
John Barrymore trains Carole Lombard for Howard Hawks.
Bombastic Broadway producer John Barrymore (as Oscar "OJ" Jaffe) turns untalented underwear model Carole Lombard (as Mildred Plotka) into a star actress, then takes her to bed.
This characterization was worthy of a "Best Actor" nomination – they would have called it, "An Oscar for his Oscar." In hindsight, "Twentieth Century" looks increasingly like it was - one of the best.********* Twentieth Century (5/3/34) Howard Hawks ~ John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns.
Roscoe Karns: "Who was it that said it's always darkest before the dawn?"John Barrymore: "I don't know who it was, but he was an ass."This is pretty much the tone of "Twentieth Century", an hilarious comedy which features Barrymore in his best comedic role, as megalomaniac theater producer Oscar Jaffe, and his equally egotistical protégé, Lily Garland, played by the lovely Carole Lombard.Cynical, sarcastic humor that Ben Hecht was quite adept at.The "Twentieth Century" refers to the train that is taking Lombard to Hollywood to make movies, after her success on Broadway due to the efforts of Oscar Jaffe, consummate ham.Barrymore, who was already drinking himself to death, gives a fine, over-the-top performance.
Also wanted to see more of director Howard Hawks' films, having really liked to loved all of the films seen from him, and have liked John Barrymore and Carole Lombard in other things.'Twentieth Century' was historically significant and interesting at the time but that is not the only reason to see it.
"Twentieth Century" pre-code 'screwball' comedy sees ingénue 'Lily Garland' (nee 'Mildred Plotke', played by Carole Lombard) play off against melodramatic director Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore).
Much of the film takes place on the train Twentieth Century Limited (hence the title), as Jaffe tries to con Garland into being the leading lady in his play about Mary Magdalene.
Being the devil's advocate, I hazard to say that, as a progenitor of screwball comedy under the craftsmanship of Howard Hawks, who would in due course bring into fruition of quintessential specimens like BRINGING UP BABY (1938) and HIS GIRL Friday (1940), TWENTIETH CENTURY has lost much of its luster compared with his nearest cousin, Frank Capra's more sought-after IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934), came out in the same year, and another commonality: both movies have Walter Connolly and Roscoe Karns in the supporting cast.
The plot can be boiled down to a sado-msochistic relationship between an egoist Broadway impresario Oscar Jaffe (Barrymore) and a prima-donna Lily Garland (Lombard), née Mildred Plotka, a lingerie model turns theatre star under his exclusive tutelage.
A flamboyant Broadway impresario (John Barrymore) who has fallen on hard times tries to get his former lover (Carole Lombard), now a Hollywood diva, to return and resurrect his failing career.In December 2011, Twentieth Century was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Carole Lombard is wonderful as Mildred Plotka whom Jaffe makes into the star, Lily Garland.
All others of the cast give top performances.No one could play an intentionally hammy role or scene better than John Barrymore.
I don't know what kind of politics may have been at play back then, but I can't see how John Barrymore did not at least receive a nomination for best actor for "Twentieth Century." Here is a sampling of funny lines from this wonderful film.
Twentieth Century (1934)*** (out of 4)Screwball comedy has John Barrymore playing a play producer who makes a star out of Lily Garland (Carole Lombard) but she leaves him after three years of fights.
Broadway director Oscar Jaffe has found a new talent to his play.This woman, a lingerie model called Mildred Plotka doesn't seem to know how to act.So Mr. Jaffe only has to have some patience and teach her.She has re-named her Lily Garland and he uses a pin to make her scream.And soon she is a great actress, and Jaffe is in love with her.But he becomes too jealous and they break up.Then we are in a train called Twentieth Century and he tries to win her back.This is some great comedy from the sound era, and you really can hear it.The actors really SPEAK their lines.John Barrymore sure does make himself heard as Oscar Jaffe.He is over-dramatic in every word that comes out of his mouth.Then there's the lovely Carole Lombard, who doesn't keep quiet as Lily Garland.In my country, Finland this movie is a real rarity.Before last Sunday (Oct 11) it was shown in 1971.I'm glad I saw this early screwball comedy.The passion play thing is funny.The religious nut plasters the train with religious stickers and claims to finance the play.Step on this train with lots of laughs..
It starts with people shouting at one another, and acting hysterical, and it carries that through until the end.In structure, Twentieth Century is similar to His Girl Friday, the screwball comedy Hawks directed six years later, (and a superior film).
In the case of Twentieth Century, the ex-boss and woman, are played by John Barrymore and Carole Lombard.
She is not quite his equal, particularly at the end of the film, (which I found a little bit disappointing) but she comes close.Like all good and great screwball comedies, Twentieth Century has great dialogue to go along with the zaniness.
And both Barrymore and Lombard do a great job delivering that dialogue.So, it is well worth watching Twentieth Century.
John Barrymore stars as Oscar Jaffe, an ego maniacal Broadway director who transforms a sexy salesclerk (Carole Lombard) into a temperamental superstar.
But as soon as Barrymore asks Lombard to star in his next play as Mary Magdalene, she suddenly changes her mind.The performances are energetic so the film has some merit.
With names like John Barrymore and Carole Lombard in the starring roles, a screenplay co-written by the great Ben Hecht and with direction from Howard Hawks, it SHOULD be a real treat.
John Barrymore and Carole Lombard were perfect for the roles of Oscar Jaffe, eccentric Broadway Producer, and Lily Garland, his muse.
"Twentieth Century" (1934) is a brilliant and scathing screwball yarn about a manic Broadway impresario, Oscar Jaffe's (John Barrymore) headstrong attempt to mold a shop girl, Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard) into the toast of the Great White Way. A bigger ham than any of his pupils, Oscar's career goes into a sudden tail spin after Mildred, christened Lily Garland, breaks free of his artistic stronghold for a chance to make it big in Hollywood.Now, the toast of two coasts and everything in-between, Mildred doesn't need anyone to help her career.
She becomes successful and highly praised for her performances but his grip on her is so tight...she decides she's had enough and leaves...for the dreaded...Hollywood.Fast forward a few years and many of his plays have failed miserably since she departed but a chance meeting on a New York bound train...The Twentieth Century...turns into a chance to get his career...and her...back in his life.By the end of this film you are laughing so much you forget that this was made back in 1933.
I can't tell you how great John Barrymore and Carole Lombard are this.
Carole Lombard is so funny as the nothing turned to diva it rivals any performance she's ever done by a country mile.What you'll get in the end, if you think about it, is the characters played by Barrymore and Lombard...are one in the same.
The perfectly cast John Barrymore plays Broadway director Oscar Jaffe, and gives a performance that is so over-the-top it crosses over into parody.
The film begins with his "discovery" of a young ingénue played by Carole Lombard, whom Jaffe rechristens as Lily Garland.