Watch Theodora Goes Wild For Free

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Irene Dunne had been in Hollywood six years and made 20 feature films before this, her first crack at comedy. And what a success it was, and is. "Theodora Goes Wild" is a wacky comedy-romance that introduced the comedic talents of Irene Dunne to audiences. The super talented (wonderful musical voice, and dancer) Dunne continued to make a variety of films – drama, romance, musicals, mystery, war, Westerns, most of which were big hits. But none could top the comedies she would yet make. Dunne is one of the great actresses of Hollywood who never won an Oscar, though she was nominated four times. Dunne was one of the three best comediennes from Hollywood's golden age. The other two were Jean Arthur and Carole Lombard. There were some other very good female comedy performers (Myrna Loy, Claudette Colbert, etc.) but the top three were in a level above all others. They were the masters of one-liners themselves, quick quips, snappy dialog, clever witticisms and above all else, tremendous facial expressions. By their knowing glances, pursing of the lips, biting a lip, looking askance, raising eyebrows, frowning, puzzling looks, and any number of faces they could clearly broadcast the humor of a scene. They were the best at it, where many other fine female comedians were in more serious or straight-faced or blasé comedic roles. "Theodora Goes Wild" is a hilarious film of give and take. First, it's the male, Michael Grant, who is the purveyor and Theodora Lynn who is the victim. But she turns the tables and the comedy ratchets up a couple of notches. Dunne plays Theodora and Melvyn Douglas is Michael Grant. A wonderful supporting cast includes Spring Byington as Rebecca Perry, Thomas Mitchell as Jed Waterbury, Robert Greig as Uncle John, Thurston Hall as Arthur Stevenson, Nana Bryant as his wife Ethel, Elisabeth Risdon as Aunt Mary and Margaret McWade as Aunt Elsie.This is a superb comedy to add to any film library. Here are some sample lines from the movie. For more funny dialog, see the Quotes section here on this film's IMDb Web page.Michael, "Say, this place is crawling with aunts."Ethel Stevenson, "That adorable young thing is an unholy terror on wheels. There's nothing in the world more deadly than innocence on the manhunt."Jed, "I guess I know a righteous spanking when I get one."Agnes, "You know, this woman's really out to break up our marriage, Michael. Maybe you and I will root for her."

. . . says Melvyn Douglas as smug sophisticate Michael Grant, the perfect foil to Irene Dunne's title character, the virginal church organist Theodora Lynn, who lives with her two spinster aunts in her namesake Connecticut village and dashes off to big bad New York City with the seamy best sellers she writes to let off steam. It's as if Julie Andrews was playing a singing nun and an aging topless actress IN THE SAME MOVIE, instead of decades apart in THE SOUND OF MUSIC and S.O.B. The script for THEODORA GOES WILD is consistently clever, and the supporting cast doesn't miss a trick to sell the comedy. There's more than a grain of truth in THEODORA's depiction of New Yorkers as the biggest bumpkins of them all, something which still holds true in today's Weiner\Spitzer Era. The Connecticut Literary Circle Ladies seem dying to break into the chorus of THE MUSIC MAN's "Pick a Little, Peck a Little," if only Meredith Willson had written it in time! But whenever Miss Dunne drops into the husky rich bi*ch contralto of her "Caroline Adams" pseudonym, it's enough to melt the ice cubes in your martini!

ACT ONE: In the town of Lynnfield, Connecticut, publisher Jed Waterbury (Thomas Mitchell) causes a scandal when his newspaper publishes a serialization of "The Sinner," a risqué best-seller by Caroline Adams. The local Lynnfield Literary Society, a group of catty, gossiping ladies led by Rebecca Perry (Spring Byington), threatens to cancel their subscriptions unless the paper stops printing the novel. Waterbury is forced to concede.The uproar is especially troubling for Theodora Lynn (Irene Dunne), a member of the town's founding family, who lives with her two uptight maiden aunts (Elisabeth Wisdon; Margaret McWade). In fact, Theodora IS Caroline Adams, author of "The Sinner," a secret she keeps from her aunts, and from the town.ACT II: While in New York to meet with her publisher, Theodora meets Michael Grant (Melvyn Douglas), an obnoxious artist who designed her book's cover.Intrigued by the fact that "Caroline Adams" wants to keep her personal life a secret, Grant follows Theodora back to Lynnfield. He then woos her with that time-honored movie technique of behaving like an a--hole, a ploy that seems to work only in the movies.Grant tells Theodora he's going to "help her break out of her circumstances," even though she repeatedly tells him she prefers to keep things as they are. Grant gets Theodora to hire him as a "family gardener" by blackmailing her, threatening to tell her aunts that she is Caroline Adams.He takes up residence in the family's guest cottage, and drives the Lynn family (and the people watching the movie) crazy by his constant annoying whistling, and by setting his dog after the Lynn family's cat.The second act of this movie was one of the most screechingly-painful things I've watched in movies in a long time. The filmmakers treat the cat with nothing short of animal cruelty. They would be ARRESTED today for what they do on film to the cat! And we're supposed to think this is funny? But of course, Theodora falls in love with Grant. But when she finally stands up to her aunts and their gossipy, self-righteous lady friends, Grant leaves Theodora and flees back to New York.ACT III: For some reason, Theodora follows Grant back to New York. There, she learns he has a wife (Leona Maricle) whom he does not love. But he can't divorce her because Grant's father (Henry Kolker) is Lt. Governor of New York, and it would cause a scandal.Determined to "break Michael Grant out of his circumstances" (as he did for her, even though she didn't want him to), Theodora orders her publisher to publicize her as the scandalous author Caroline Adams (something she wouldn't let him do until now).Theodora becomes a celebrity author. She moves in to Michael Grant's apartment, and entertains reporters there, hoping to cause a scandal that will force Grant's wife to sue for divorce, even though Grant himself moves out of the apartment when Theodora moves in.(Side Note: The filmmakers had no respect for Asians. I really hated Toki, Grant's stereotypical Japanese manservant character, who is always going on about his "lemon pie.")Of course, Theodora's actions scandalize the town of Lynnfield, and cause a lot of trouble for her aunts. But eventually Theodora is welcomed home by the town, despite the efforts of the hypocritical gossip Rebecca Perry to make her an outcast.The Third Act of this movie ALMOST makes up for the horrible Second Act, because Theodora turns the tables on Grant, and drives him crazy by causing a scandal about him in the press, just as he did about her in her home town. It's a very sweet payback, and Irene Dunne has fun turning from a shy hometown girl into a wild celebrity author.But Theodora just doesn't realize that Michael Grant isn't worth it. Do they end up together at the end? Do they "live happily ever after," even though he's the most obnoxious guy she's ever met?This is a Hollywood movie. What do you think?

Irene Dunne plays Theodora, a straight-laced young woman living with her two spinster aunts in a prudish small town, who just happens to be the secret author of a scandalous and best-selling series of romance novels. When the illustrator for her books, played by the always engaging Melvyn Douglas, figures out her secret, he blackmails her into giving him a job as gardener just so he can be close to her. When the town's gossip mongers become too much to bear, and Douglas takes off after her declaration of love, Theodora decides she's tired of being straight-laced and goes wild.Dunne and Douglas have a lot of chemistry in this, and even if the movie overall doesn't make much sense (what screwball romance ever did?), the two of them keep it fun and energetic. I'm not sure Dunne's performance warranted the Oscar nomination she received, and I don't know what in the world the Academy was thinking to nominate the movie for its editing, but it's a solid comedy from the old days.Grade: B+