The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s

by Elizabeth Kendall

Book Overview

Kendall's examination of classic comedies from It Happened One Night to The Lady Eve -and the comediennes who starred in them-reveals what these films said about America during the Depression and how... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394511875
• ISBN13: 9780394511870
• Release Date: September 1990
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 1.44 lbs.

Customer Reviews

When women were smart, sexy and funny

Elizabeth Kendall's book analyzes a very specific and short-lived period of classic hollywood movies, coinciding in large part with the great depression. Many of the great movies of this era are notable for the strong, nuanced and mature representation of women that they portray, as distinct from films that came both before and after. Kendall explains this as a product of both the individuals (directors and actors) involved in forming these movies, and the effect the prevailing social conditions had on audience taste. Among the films that Kendall discusses in detail are 'Ladies of Leisure', 'It happened one night', 'Alice Adams', 'Swing Time', 'Mr Deeds goes to Town', 'My Man Godfrey', 'Stage Door', 'The Awful Truth', 'Love Affair', 'Penny Serenade', 'The Lady Eve' and 'The Palm Beach Story'. This is an interesting and thought provoking read about a wonderful period of movies, and it gave me some great ideas of movies I have not seen to seek out.

An excellent book on the subject

Ever since the Battelle Film Club's showing of Preston Sturges' The Palm Beach Story, I've been on a screwball kick. Screenplays, biographies, non-fiction, what-have-you about that lunatic genre of film greatly interest me. This book by Kendall isn't solely about screwball, but rather an overview of the larger film genre that it falls under, the romantic comedy. Sturges is only the last chapter here. The majority of director coverage goes to Frank Capra and Leo McCarey, and the book goes even more into the lives of the major actresses of the period, Barbara Stanwyck, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Claudette Colbert, who the author asserts were co-creaters of the classic romantic comedy films. The argument goes like this: due to the depression and the unusual success of particular directors (men, and I use the term correctly in this case, who were able to fulfill the cathartic needs of the public going through this rough period), these directors were given extremely free reign. They used it to explore collaborations with their favorite subjects, these independent women. Movies before and after delegated women more to the supporting roles (with notable exceptions, but only as exceptions), but in these romantic comedies of the 30s the women were the lead and often the most sympathetic and fleshed-out characters. While the descriptions of the making of the movies was quite interesting, it is the concise biographies of the people involved--directors, actors, actresses, and writers--that help you understand this moment in cinema history. An excellent book on its subject.

Great study on one of the greatest periods for movies

Along with Marjorie Rosen's "Popcorn Venus" and Brendan French's "On the Verge of Revolt," this is one of three superb feminist film books published in the '70s and '80s. Witty, engaging, and intelligent without lapsing into jargon-studded academic verbiage or theoretical pretention.

very engaging

This is an extremely well-thought out book that should be just as interesting to a film scholar as to the casual reader. Kendall's exploration of the feminist potential in thirties romantic comedy is very assured. Biographical criticism is coming back with a vengeance (in Literary circles anyway) and the author's focus on the relationship between the directors and their female stars makes this book an ideal companion to the more textually-oriented Stanley Cavell's "Pursuits of Happiness". She chooses great movies to discuss. I particularly like her focus on the Capra-Stanwyck relationship--and I envy her for having seen "Forbidden" & "Ladies of Leisure", which I can't find anywhere!

great

I found out about this book when researching Clara Bow. It really is terrific. I suggest you read it right away!