The Awful Truth

Zappy, sophisticated screwball comedy with Grant and Dunne displaying perfect timing as the husband and wife who get divorced and then, after enjoying quick flings with a cabaret artiste and an oil tycoon respectively, decide to get together again. A routine story perhaps, but McCarey transforms it , through his customary affection for his characters and taut pacing, into delightfully effective entertainment. The erotically teasing ending, with a black cat obstinately barring the communicating bedroom door which the almost un-estranged couple are praying will open, has a delicacy of touch that Lubitsch rarely managed.