Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristics similar to film noir, distinguished by a female character who dominates the relationship with the male central character, whose masculinity is challenged, and the two engage in a humorous battle of the sexes.
George Seaton was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theater director. Seaton led several industry organizations, serving as a three-time president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, president of the Writers Guild of America West and the Screen Directors Guild, and vice president of Motion Picture Relief Fund. He won two Academy Awards for his screenplays.
Elizabeth Ruth Grable was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model and singer.
Carole Landis was an American actress and singer. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 film One Million B.C. from United Artists. She was known as "The Ping Girl" and "The Chest" because of her curvy figure.
Don Ameche was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stocks, and vaudevilles, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which led to the offer of a movie contract from 20th Century Fox in 1935.
I Wake Up Screaming is a 1941 film noir. It is based on the novel of the same name by Steve Fisher, adapted by Dwight Taylor. The film stars Betty Grable, Victor Mature and Carole Landis, and features one of Grable's few dramatic roles.
My Gal Sal is a 1942 American musical film distributed by 20th Century Fox and starring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature. The film is a biopic of 1890s German-American composer / songwriter Paul Dresser and singer Sally Elliot. It was based on a biographical essay, sometimes erroneously referred to as a book, by Dresser's younger brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser. Some of the songs portrayed as Dresser's work were actually written by him, but several others were created in the 1890s style for the film by the Hollywood songwriting team of Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin.
Down Argentine Way is a 1940 American musical film made in Technicolor by Twentieth Century Fox. It made a star of Betty Grable in her first leading role for the studio although she had already appeared in 31 films, and it introduced American audiences to Carmen Miranda. It also starred Don Ameche, The Nicholas Brothers, Charlotte Greenwood, and J. Carrol Naish.
College Swing, also known as Swing, Teacher, Swing in the U.K., is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, and Bob Hope. The supporting cast features Edward Everett Horton, Ben Blue, Betty Grable, Jackie Coogan, John Payne, Robert Cummings, and Jerry Colonna.
That Night in Rio is a 1941 Technicolor American musical comedy film directed by Irving Cummings and starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda. It is one of several film adaptations of the 1934 play The Red Cat by Rudolf Lothar and Hans Adler. Others are Folies Bergère de Paris (1935) and On the Riviera (1951).
Something to Shout About is a 1943 Columbia Pictures musical film directed by Gregory Ratoff. The film stars Don Ameche and Janet Blair, and was nominated for two Academy Awards.
Week-End in Havana is a 1941 20th Century Fox Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang and starring Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda. It was the second of three pictures the two stars made together and the second Faye film to have a Latin-American theme, typical of Fox musicals of the early 1940s. Faye was pregnant during filming.
Tin Pan Alley is a 1940 musical film directed by Walter Lang and starring Alice Faye and Betty Grable as vaudeville singers/sisters and John Payne and Jack Oakie as songwriters in the years before World War I.
Pin Up Girl is a 1944 American Technicolor musical romantic comedy motion picture starring Betty Grable, John Harvey, Martha Raye, and Joe E. Brown.
Four Jills in a Jeep is a 1944 American comedy-drama musical film starring Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye and Mitzi Mayfair as themselves, reenacting their USO tour of Europe and North Africa during World War II.
My Blue Heaven is a 1950 American drama musical film directed by Henry Koster and starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey.
Footlight Serenade is a 1942 musical comedy film directed by Gregory Ratoff, starring Betty Grable, John Payne, and Victor Mature.
Song of the Islands is a 1942 musical comedy film starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature. It was directed by Walter Lang and released through 20th Century Fox.
Three Blind Mice is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Loretta Young, Joel McCrea, and David Niven that was based upon a play by Stephen Powys.
Dance Hall is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Irving Pichel and written by Stanley Rauh and Ethel Hill. The film stars Carole Landis, Cesar Romero, William "Bill" Henry, June Storey, J. Edward Bromberg and Charles Halton. It is based on the novel The Giant Swing by W. R. Burnett. The film was released on July 18, 1941, by 20th Century Fox.
