Screwball March: It's a Wonderful World (1939)

We are feeling squirrely from being cooped up all winter. It's time for some screwball comedies to release that tension.

RODNEY BOWCOCK: This film starts as an interesting, if fairly standard, late 30’s mystery movie. We initially meet Guy Johnson (James Stewart) a private detective whose main gig is to keep a close eye on Willie Heyward (Ernest Truex) a frequently blottoed millionaire. Heyward is framed for murder by his wife and her lover. Johnson knows that there is a frame-up involved, but within short order he is arrested along with Heyward. Heyward is sentenced to death for the murder, while Johnson is found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to a year in prison. The only clue is a half dime that is found clutched in the hand of Heyward’s murdered new bride. Johnson thinks that he may have an idea where this clue leads, but he’s stuck on a train heading to prison. He manages to escape, when he is noticed by Edwina Corday (Claudette Colbert) which sets off a madcap road trip to solve the mystery.

SAMANTHA GLASSER: The comedy takes a long time to get going. The film begins as a murder mystery with a man being framed and Jimmy Stewart getting sentenced to prison for helping the wrongly accused hide out. A great deal of time passes, shown through transitioning headlines. It isn’t until he escapes his own bonds by washing up on shore near a country club that humor enters the story.

The chemistry between the leads is lacking. Colbert is doing her typical charming screwball thing, at once nutty and lovely. Why her name isn’t brought up more often when people talk about vintage fashion I will never know. Stewart seems to be taking himself too seriously to make the romance angle feel genuine. Instead of working with her to build the relationship, he is doing his own thing entirely and she just happens to be there. Try as she may, it never quite gels.

RB: Colbert has SUCH a knack for comic timing and it is definitely on display here. However, Stewart still seems to be finding his footing as far as this sort of thing is concerned. I agree that he seems overly self-conscious, and while I would argue that there is SOME chemistry, there’s not much here to make you really think that these two would get on together.

I always thought criminals were gallant.

SG: Edgar Kennedy and Nat Pendleton are the bumbling police. Leonard Kibrick of Our Gang fame plays a teenaged Boy Scout who happens upon the couple on the lam and is hoisted up a tree.

RB: Andy Clyde, Hans Conreid, Grady Sutton and even Conrad Veidt pop up in small supporting roles. The film was shot over 14 days, which is what WS Van Dyke is known for. I always enjoy how fast paced his movies are, but they never appear to be shot super quickly. A real pro and one of my favorite directors in classic cinema.

SG: The Nat Council of Jewish Woman called the film, "A rip-roaring murder mystery comedy not worthy of the notable cast and director, though providing good but ridiculous entertainment."

Howard Barnes at the NY Herald Tribune said, "It is aggressively antic, but not very funny. In spite of some resourceful performing on the part of Claudette Colbert and James Stewart, it is not nearly entertaining enough to justify the perpetuation of a worn-out cycle. . . Both the situations and the repartee have a way of outliving their potentialities for laughter and there is nothing much worse than screwball comedy without laughs."

Box Office magazine got into the spirit of the zaniness and wrote, "Hold tight — to the seat — and forget the seafood, mama. Because Metro has dished out the filet mignon of romantic comedies, circa It Happened One Night. Scene for scene, its brilliantly Van Dyke-paced comedy in the hands of Claudette Colbert and James Stewart telescopes laugh upon laugh until it gets to be a habit."

RB: While the trades may have had mixed opinions of this film, the neighborhood theaters did not. THEY LOVED IT. Can’t find a genuinely negative review. Here’s a smattering of the praise that the film saw:

“Right up the old alley for a small town exhibitor is this mystery comedy. Both of the stars did themselves proud and the supporting cast is excellent. A good picture that should do business.” – AJ Inks Crystal Theatre Ligonier, IN

“Nothing but praise for this. Grossed as much as either of the last two Hardys we ran” – LV Begtold, Westby Theatre, Westby WI

“No one could be as dumb as Stewart pretends to be and have a cute trick like Claudette Colbert fall for him. However, the picture was full of laughs and is good entertainment.” – Jacqualin Carter, New Maxine Theatre, Croswell, MI

SG: Try as I might, once the screwball part started, I fell out of love with this film. Two and a half stars.

RB: After reading all of the glowing reviews, I feel that I missed out on something about this movie, which has ultimately left me feeling indifferent. I’m also going two and a half stars.