Collections/July 2024

Columbia Screwball

In the early 1930s, Columbia Pictures’ fate changed with the arrival of director Frank Capra, who quickly established a new archetype of Hollywood glamour in Jean Harlow’s moniker-defining Platinum Blonde and, just three years later, swept the Oscars with the comedy sensation It Happened One Night . The studio soon became the foremost home of screwball comedy, with stars such as Cary Grant ( The Awful Truth ) and Jean Arthur ( The More the Merrier ) and major directors like George Cukor ( It Should Happen to You ) and Howard Hawks ( His Girl Friday ) taking the genre to dizzying heights of lunacy and sophistication. Defined by their rapid-fire (often female-driven) banter, playful sense of absurdism, effortless style, and topsy-turvy take on traditional gender roles, these films remain some of the most enduring treasures of Hollywood’s golden age.

12 films — 2 on the Channel, 10 unavailable