Awful Ending To The Awful Truth


Finally got around to checking Cary Grant features in the Sony DVD box, The Awful Truth a first. If you like screwball comedies, it will do well as any. For some, however, screwball plays on nerves. They can be frantic, characters running, shouting, lots. I’ve sat in groups and felt screwball begin to wear on them. A problem can be over-length. Best is when they’re on/off in less than ninety minutes. The Awful Truth lands on 90, fine because five more and I'd be feeling around the dark for my remote. The ending gives most pause, as in business with the clock and the door separating Dunne/Grant bedrooms coming open and so on, then Grant jams the chair under the doorknob ... are we not to assume that he will join Irene Dunne in bed? She letting he prop the chair on her side of the door suggests she is ready to yield. But the way Dunne laughingly says "Goodnight" cools the moment, and prospects for their re-coupling. Despite a cutaway to boy-girl figures retreating into the clock together, I smelled a Code intervention, the hint at consummation on one hand, the woman's denial of same on the other.  For such a cheat, I won't blame The Awful Truth, as this is Code intrusion beyond effort and intent of filmmakers of the time. Too many artists were so neutered. Or maybe my read on that finish is flawed.