FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

edwagreen One of the best screwball comedies giving Irene Dunne still another losing Oscar nomination.This comedy tests values, traditions and brings the small town living versus the big city in plenty of view.Dunne is equally matched with fine chemistry between her and Melvyn Douglas. The film also boasts a tremendous supporting cast with Spring Byington, Thomas Mitchell, Thurston Hall and Elisabeth Risdon at their very best.When a small-town writer writes a racy book under an assumed name, all hell breaks loose in the town when excerpts of the book are run by the non-stuffy Thomas Mitchell.While in N.Y., Dunne, the writer, meets the illustrator. He follows her back to the small town and eventually she turns the tables on him. In fact, she is eventually making the same demands that he made on her.The film is enhanced by town gossip, and the strict social conservative mores of rural America. The writing is sharp and the dialogue is crisp. We also see that when possible scandal hits home, the spinster conservative aunt shall defend her niece and that the gossip will get hers in the end as well. This applies to Risdon and Byington, respectively.

Rob-120 ACT ONE: In the town of Lynnfield, Connecticut, publisher Jed Waterbury (Thomas Mitchell) causes a scandal when his newspaper publishes a serialization of "The Sinner," a risqué best-seller by Caroline Adams. The local Lynnfield Literary Society, a group of catty, gossiping ladies led by Rebecca Perry (Spring Byington), threatens to cancel their subscriptions unless the paper stops printing the novel. Waterbury is forced to concede.The uproar is especially troubling for Theodora Lynn (Irene Dunne), a member of the town's founding family, who lives with her two uptight maiden aunts (Elisabeth Wisdon; Margaret McWade). In fact, Theodora IS Caroline Adams, author of "The Sinner," a secret she keeps from her aunts, and from the town.ACT II: While in New York to meet with her publisher, Theodora meets Michael Grant (Melvyn Douglas), an obnoxious artist who designed her book's cover.Intrigued by the fact that "Caroline Adams" wants to keep her personal life a secret, Grant follows Theodora back to Lynnfield. He then woos her with that time-honored movie technique of behaving like an a--hole, a ploy that seems to work only in the movies.Grant tells Theodora he's going to "help her break out of her circumstances," even though she repeatedly tells him she prefers to keep things as they are. Grant gets Theodora to hire him as a "family gardener" by blackmailing her, threatening to tell her aunts that she is Caroline Adams.He takes up residence in the family's guest cottage, and drives the Lynn family (and the people watching the movie) crazy by his constant annoying whistling, and by setting his dog after the Lynn family's cat.The second act of this movie was one of the most screechingly-painful things I've watched in movies in a long time. The filmmakers treat the cat with nothing short of animal cruelty. They would be ARRESTED today for what they do on film to the cat! And we're supposed to think this is funny? But of course, Theodora falls in love with Grant. But when she finally stands up to her aunts and their gossipy, self-righteous lady friends, Grant leaves Theodora and flees back to New York.ACT III: For some reason, Theodora follows Grant back to New York. There, she learns he has a wife (Leona Maricle) whom he does not love. But he can't divorce her because Grant's father (Henry Kolker) is Lt. Governor of New York, and it would cause a scandal.Determined to "break Michael Grant out of his circumstances" (as he did for her, even though she didn't want him to), Theodora orders her publisher to publicize her as the scandalous author Caroline Adams (something she wouldn't let him do until now).Theodora becomes a celebrity author. She moves in to Michael Grant's apartment, and entertains reporters there, hoping to cause a scandal that will force Grant's wife to sue for divorce, even though Grant himself moves out of the apartment when Theodora moves in.(Side Note: The filmmakers had no respect for Asians. I really hated Toki, Grant's stereotypical Japanese manservant character, who is always going on about his "lemon pie.")Of course, Theodora's actions scandalize the town of Lynnfield, and cause a lot of trouble for her aunts. But eventually Theodora is welcomed home by the town, despite the efforts of the hypocritical gossip Rebecca Perry to make her an outcast.The Third Act of this movie ALMOST makes up for the horrible Second Act, because Theodora turns the tables on Grant, and drives him crazy by causing a scandal about him in the press, just as he did about her in her home town. It's a very sweet payback, and Irene Dunne has fun turning from a shy hometown girl into a wild celebrity author.But Theodora just doesn't realize that Michael Grant isn't worth it. Do they end up together at the end? Do they "live happily ever after," even though he's the most obnoxious guy she's ever met?This is a Hollywood movie. What do you think?

samhill5215 I have tried to watch this film twice with the identical outcome: I turned it off before it ended. I should add I am a devoted fan of Irene Dunne and slightly less so of Melvyn Douglas but I can't see how these two professionals could have stomached this drivel. It's supposed to be a comedy but there's really nothing funny about it and nobody comes off well. The Lynnfield residents are portrayed as provincial and small-minded while the New Yorkers are portrayed as pushy and inconsiderate alcoholics. Melvyn Douglas is at his most annoying here. There's nothing to redeem him. His character throws himself at Irene Dunne's character and when she flees in terror his reaction is to grin, no leer, as he watches her flight. The only character I found likable was Thomas Mitchell's newspaperman whose attempt to open his fellow citizens' minds is the departure point for this exercise in aggravation. Watch at your own risk.

blanche-2 Irene Dunne breaks out of small town conventions in "Theodora Goes Wild," a 1936 comedy also starring Melvyn Douglas, Thomas Mitchell and Spring Byington. Dunne plays Theodora, who lives a sterile life with her two aunts in a small, Puritan, judgmental town. However, she's got them all beat because she's living a double life - in New York City, she's Caroline Adams, a hot romance novelist who put the capital L in LOVE. Her scandalous best-seller is in the process of being banned by the town literary society. While in New York visiting her disapproved of uncle, she meets a friend of her publisher's, the flirtatious, irreverent Michael (Douglas). He doesn't know her real name or her literary alter ego so to prove to him she's no prude, she gets drunk and goes to his apartment - of course, she leaves screaming - but in doing so, drops a few papers that tell him who she is and where she lives. He soon shows up in her home town as a down on his luck man seeking work and she's more or less blackmailed into giving him a job as the family gardener.This is a delightful comedy buoyed by the marvelous acting of Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas. The points are hit a little too hard, however, so that both characters come off as very annoying and exasperating at times. The fault lies in the script, because I don't think those two actors ever made a wrong move. Douglas, who in later life would prove himself one of the great actors of all time, sails through this film as he sailed through so many others in roles that gave no hint of his enormous abilities. Here he's charming, smooth and attractive, inspiring Theodora to take some risks - though he's got a few skeletons he fails to mention to her. Dunne is great as the staid spinster who becomes the talk of New York with her wild outfits, saucy attitude, and smart remarks.Underneath it all, of course, it's a love story some innuendo you don't find in a lot of '30s comedies, which adds to the fun. Highly recommended.