Drunter und drüber

Was IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD hurt by the fact that it is difficult for me to imagine Jimmy Stewart as a hardball character, even a chauvinist, or was it helped by the fact that this movie would have been nothing without him? Granted, Claudette Colbert plays the poet, the hopelessly romantic dreamer, well, and that plays off Stewart's greed-driven detective splendidly.

The detective, crime-solving part of the film is well done within its confines, Edgar Kennedy and Nat Pendleton are cast well as the rather slow-witted police. If this 1939 film had been made two and a half decades earlier, they would have fallen over each other, broken things, and caused ultraviolence in a Mack Sennett sort of way.) Guy Kibbee is, of course, perfect as the Stewart's partner. I will not spoil the ending, but I can say that as with all well-written screwball comedies, the film has a delightful way of meandering through situations and reaching a conclusion which satisfies.

I don't know if this will help, but before viewing, I had to promise my wife that it was not that Christmas movie.

James Stewart tries his hand at screwball comedy in "It's a Wonderful World," a 1939 film also starring Claudette Colbert, directed by W.S. Van Dyke with a screenplay by Ben Hecht. Supporting players include Guy Kibbee, Nat Pendleton, Sidney Blackmer, and Ernest Truex.

Stewart plays a detective, Guy Johnson, whose client (Truex) is charged with a murder he didn't commit. Guy is sentenced to prison, too, as an accessory. On the way to prison via train, he spots a clue in the newspaper and escapes. On the run, he encounters a poetess, Edwina Corday (Colbert), an attractive if clumsy woman, and he has to take her along. The two get into all sorts of trouble on the road to trying to prove Guy's client didn't murder anyone.

This film has all the elements of a great screwball comedy, and a lot of potential, but for some reason, it doesn't quite hang together. The script is a little confusing and lets the actors down. It's reminiscent of "It Happened One Night," especially when they're hanging out by the fence, and Colbert's presence indicates to me that the powers that be had that connection in mind.

The performances are all excellent, with Stewart and Colbert very funny. It seems that both these actors could do just about anything. With a little bit tighter script, this might have been a real classic. As it is, it's enjoyable and has some good moments.

I waited for months for this to come on TCM because Leonard Maltin said it was a "very, very funny" screwball comedy. He must have seen a different movie. This film has plenty of screwballs in it, alright, but the "plot" is confusing, wandering all over the place with no clear direction, the characters are irritating, and the dialog is stupid -- I can't believe Ben Hecht and Herman Mankiewicz couldn't do better than this. Not funny, just plain silly. A waste of time.

Extremely funny madcap comedy starring two of the greatest stars of the classic period of American film: tongue-in-cheek Claudette Colbert and good fella Jimmy Stewart.

Stewart plays a detective on the run, who's being chased by the police, because of his involvement as an accessory in a murder case, in which the principal accused is his client. Colbert is a poetess who `accidentally' gets involved in Stewart's escapade from the cops, reluctantly at first, eventually becoming a runaway herself and falling in love with Stewart, and causing him a lot of trouble in the process. Her character is joy to behold and is hilariously played with top expertise by this gifted comedienne, in one of the last original screwballs from the '30s.

This movie is a wonderful example of classic Hollywood comedy at its best, with top performances all around, by seasoned pros (Guy Kibbee, Nat Pendleton, et al). It's non-stop fun from start to finish, and by the way, Stewart plays a much rougher guy than his usual more likeable persona in this period -he even gets the chance of knocking around Colbert. It's a pity that it's not available on VHS or DVD. You may have the luck of watching it on TCM.

Guy Johnson (James Stewart) is a NYC private detective working for 100 dollars a week keeping his boss, multimillionaire Willy Heyward, out of trouble, and that usually means out of trouble with women. But Willy has recently married, and a Latin American dancer is filling the headlines with her breach of promise claims concerning him. Willy gets drunk and goes up to settle things with the dancer, but he walks into a frame up. Somebody shoots the dancer and kills her, and Willy picks up the gun. Johnson walks into the scene not really knowing if Heyward is guilty or not, and so Johnson helps him hide out while he tries to find out who really did it. The police find the hide out though, and Willy gets convicted and sentenced to death. Johnson gets a one-year prison sentence for harboring him.

On the way to prison, Johnson sees a note in the personal column that he thinks is a clue as to who the real murderer was. So he escapes and is going to try and get evidence that Willy did not commit the murder. By the way, Willy had promised him in writing that he would give Guy Johnson 100K if he proved he didn't commit the murder. And then SHE shows up -poetess Edwina Corday (Claudette Colbert) - just in time to see Johnson escape. At first he has to drag her along as she screams the entire way and even sets fire to her own car, thinking he is an escaped murderer. But when she realizes Guy is not a "real" criminal, she won't stop bothering him. She persists in tagging along and nothing Guy does or says can shake her. Many complications ensue along the way to where Guy hopes to catch the real murderer.

I've never seen Claudette Colbert be annoying before, and she certainly is here as she gives a very shrill performance. It's odd seeing James Stewart throwing around language like he's straight out of a 30s Warner Brothers gangster film, but he, at least, makes his performance work.

Standouts include Guy Kibbee as Johnson's partner and Nat Pendleton always entertains as a rather dim and flaky flatfoot.