Instant Favorite.

Excellent but underrated film

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Irene Dunne is the true star of the film. Personally, I think that the comic role suits her much better than a purely romantic one. Her acting seems so natural and effortless and her charm just shines through. She plays the part of Theodora, who has courage, perseverance and a sense of humour. Pushed by Michael she becomes the leading lady of her own life, who gradually and with finesse locks horns with society's mentality.The plot is well thought out as it takes unpredictable turns. The jokes are very humorous and there are many episodes when you can't help but chuckle a little (like the reading aloud of the "scandalous" book. I don't know what the reaction would have been to "50 shades of grey"!).I highly recommend adding this film to anybody's watch-list, as it is a very nice heartfelt movie, but especially for Irene Dunne's wonderful performance.

Even though this is Lynnsburg Connecticut and not River City Iowa, you'll be tempted to break into a chorus of "Pick a Little, Talk a Little" every time the old biddies of the town's literary committee pick up their party lines either to gossip or listen. You see, one of their own is the author of a scandalous novel that they've been trying to get condemned, and once she has enough of them running her life with their babbity provinciality, she tells them off, leaves for New York, and really gives them something to gossip about."She" is Theodora Lynn (Irene Dunne), the seemingly sweet church organist who is followed by one of the representatives (Melvyn Douglas) of the publishing firm her book was released through, threatening to blow her goody two-shoes image out of the water for good. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, and she turns the tables on him and his upper-crust family. Once Dunne comes out of her shell, she dresses up in outrageous feathered outfits, is named in divorce suits and shows up for a town function with a baby. You really want to see these clucking hens choke on their metamusil once they find out a thing or two or get caught in a vindictive spread of mostly unsubstantiated rumors.Dunne is the whole show and her transition to comedy after musical dramas (like "Sweet Adeline" and "Show Boat") and weepers is the surprise of 1936. She's got a good sparring partner in the whistling Melvyn Douglas. Elisabeth Risdon and Margaret McWade display overly proper dignity with authoritative superiority with Spring Byington the town's big gossip, a flibbertigibbet that is delightfully hypocritical, one of those "church lady" types that needs more time in confession than on the phone. A superb screenplay burlesques the ridiculousness of both small town societies of the 1930's and church lady community groups altogether, reminding audiences comically about the viciousness and destructiveness of "the tongue" and the wages of sin that go with it.

Irene Dunne carries the whole film on her back and is wonderful. She lights up the screen and is very believable. Melvyn Douglas does well with his role until the script paints him into a corner as a tongue tied whiner after Irene turns the tables on him. Frankly, there are too many contrived plot points in this film for me: the hallway scene with the drunken publisher, the governor's ball, and lastly stepping off the train platform with another person's baby just to shock the home crowd. The plot just gives under the strain. Bringing Up Baby, with similarly contrived events strung together from beginning to madcap end is a far more believable and funnier film even with a far wackier premise.

Smalltown girl writes steamy novels under a pen name, is drawn out of her shell by a big-city playboy, and then returns the favor, to his horror.The script may not have been the sharpest, but Dunne and Douglas are both terrific. Especially Dunne, who (if you ask me) showed how to do the Katherine Hepburn thing better than Katherine Hepburn. Of all the Hollywood movies I can think of in which the suave playboy goads the downhome gal only to find that he's seized a bear by the ears, this one is the best. An added virtue is that the makers of this movie understood that most important principle, i.e., romantic comedies should be short and sweet. At about 100 minutes, this movie doesn't drag.The movie does have its oddities and annoyances, like the idea that out-of-tune whistling can ever be considered funny. Another shot that really irritated me was one in which they evidently closed a door on a cat's tail to get the "comical" reaction. That was definitely not funny.But overall there's a lot of fun to be found in this movie. And the last line, a mere three words, are the single best ending to a romantic comedy that I've ever seen.