Twentieth Century (1934)

Twentieth Century is a 1934 American Pre-Code screwball comedy film. Much of the film is set on the 20th Century Limited train as it travels from Chicago to New York. The film was directed by Howard Hawks, stars John Barrymore and Carole Lombard, and features Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns and Edgar Kennedy. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur adapted their Broadway play of the same name – itself based on the unproduced play Napoleon of Broadway by Charles Bruce Millholland – with uncredited contributions from Gene Fowler and Preston Sturges.

Along with Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, also released in 1934, Twentieth Century is considered to be a prototype for the screwball comedy. "Howard Hawks' rapid-fire romantic comedy established the essential ingredients of the screwball – a dizzy dame, a charming but befuddled hero, dazzling dialogue and a dash of slapstick." Its success propelled Lombard into the front ranks of film comediennes. The film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011.

Synopsis

Ebullient Broadway impresario Oscar Jaffe (Barrymore) takes an unknown lingerie model named Mildred Plotka (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 and the consistently tipsy Owen O'Malley. 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.

Actors