Dunne, Irene

I Remember Mama

This high point in the 1940s vogue for movies about family life at the turn of the century was directed by George Stevens (Shane), and stars Irene Dunne as the matriarch of a Norwegian family that faces hard knocks with grace in 1910 (or so) San Francisco. Based on John Van Druten's hit play (derived from Kathryn Forbes's autobiographical memoir), the film is gorgeously rendered and quite moving as an act of memory. The sterling cast of character actors--Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee, Oscar Homolka, Barbara Bel Geddes, Ellen Corby, Cedric Hardwicke--add great texture and a depth of experience that make the film feel quite lived-in. Hardwicke's turn as a penniless boarder who "pays" his rent by reciting from classic literature is a special highlight. --Tom Keogh

Irene Dunne stars as the mother anyone would love in this nostalgic picture directed by George Stevens. Chronicled by her aspiring-writer daughter (Barbara Bel Geddes) Mama is the matriarch of an immigrant Norwegian family in 1910 San Francisco. She and her husband bring up their four children with great humor and hope amid genteel poverty in a new land. Meddling relatives illnesses and near-death draw the family together and all are close to Mama the one person who can make things right. Nominated for five Academy Awards this endearing and heartwarming classic brings together a flawless supporting cast including Philip Dorn Sir Cedric Hardwicke Edgar Bergen Rudy Vallee and Ellen Corby. Year:1948Running Time: 134 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 053939683721

The Awful Truth

One of the top five screwball comedies of the '30s, this helped to cement a genre that waxed golden until the end of WWII. Director Leo McCarey won an Oscar for Best Director for this 1937 romantic comedy--one of the most successful films of his career. Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are a squabbling couple who separate because of supposed infidelities on both sides. They part but cannot really keep away from each other. Grant finds himself hooked up with a socialite, Dunne becomes engaged to a millionaire hick played by the hapless Ralph Bellamy (as if he ever stood a chance as the "other" man!). When not dating others or baiting one another in a verbal war, Grant and Dunne wage a custody battle over their pathetic pooch. Gags, double entendre, witty remarks, snide comments, and fast-paced dialogue helped this to garner six Academy Award nominations. The Awful Truth was awfully good to Dunne and Grant, as both were breaking out of much more serious molds and this secured their positions. --Rochelle O'Gorman

My Favorite Wife

All aboard for a spinning marriage-go-round! Cary Grant the screen's ideal combination of romantic hunk and comedy buffoon plays flabbergasted Nick. Radiant Irene Dunne Grant's The Awful Truth and Penny Serenade co-star plays the returned wife who cagily sets out to reclaim her former life. And Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick add to the marital mixup as Nick goes from having one wife to two to none to one. The right one. What romantic comedy has joined together let no one put asunder. Of all the giddy screwball comedies ever made this remains an enduring favorite.Running Time: 88 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 053939674927

That delightful couple from The Awful Truth, Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, revisit the world of marital confusion. Presuming his wife to be dead, Grant remarries--on the same day that his bedraggled spouse (that's Dunne) returns. Seems she's been stranded on a desert island for seven years (with strapping hunk Randolph Scott, too). The moment Cary spots his resurrected wife, as an elevator door slides shut, is one of the many funny gags in this comedy, and the final sequence is memorably wacky. Awful Truth director Leo McCarey prepared the film, but it was directed by author Garson Kanin. The two stars are so adept at farce, and so effortless in conveying their characters' mutual affection, that the movie triumphs over the whopper of a plot device. It was supposed to be remade as the ill-fated Marilyn Monroe film Something's Got to Give, and ended up Move Over, Darling with Doris Day. --Robert Horton

Life with Father

Ah, remember those good old days when father ruled the roost, keeping a tight rein on the money, the kids, and the docile wife? Well, neither does Clarence Day (William Powell), the title character in Life with Father. Taking place in New York in 1883, this charming comedy purports to show the life of a strict father managing his house and his family, only to be constantly--and unknowingly--out-manipulated by his somewhat ditzy wife, Vinnie (Irene Dunne). Day is terrifying enough that maids keep quitting, but Vinnie manages to keep Day under control--that is, until she discovers that he was never baptized. A battle ensues as she desperately tries to ensure that they will one day meet in heaven, and all the while he severely maintains that the church has no business messing with a man's soul. Meanwhile, young Clarence Day Jr. (Jimmy Lydon) is busy falling for visiting Mary Skinner (played gigglingly by Elizabeth Taylor), and his brother John concocts a money-making scheme that involves the selling of a rather dubious potion. The costumes, the characters, and the wonderful story line--based on a play that was based on the memoir written by Clarence Day Jr.--make this a delightful movie that's perfect for a family-film night. --Jenny Brown

Love Affair

Roberta

When Huck Haines (Fred Astaire) and his jazz band of Wabash Indianians find themselves stuck in Paris without a paying gig, it's up to his buddy John (Randolph Scott) to appeal to his aunt, the legendary dressmaker Roberta (Helen Westley), for help. He also finds a Russian princess (Irene Dunne) working in the shop and a down-home American girl (Ginger Rogers) masquerading as a Polish countess because it's the best way to get a singing job. Roberta was the third RKO collaboration between Astaire and Rogers, and it's one of the more tepid, with too much time spent on 1930s Parisian fashion and the romance between Dunne and Scott. Dunne gets top billing and the best Jerome Kern ballads ("Yesterdays," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"), but as the second-banana couple Astaire and Rogers still get a tap battle, a romantic duet, and plenty of comic banter. In short, the Fred and Ginger magic is there, but not nearly enough of it. For more, watch the films immediately preceding and succeeding, The Gay Divorcee and Top Hat. --David Horiuchi

Fun's in fashion when Fred Ginger Irene Dunn and Randolph Scott enter the world of Paris fashions. Marvelous Jerome Kern music graces standards like Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and I Won't Dance.Running Time: 106 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 012569679917 Manufacturer No: 67991

Cimarron

Spaces were neither wide nor open in most early Sound Westerns. Not so in Cimarron. It starts with one of the most renowned giddy-ups in cinema history: a thundering recreation of the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush. From there Cimarron based on the bestselling epic by Giant and Show Boat novelist Edna Ferber traces the generations-spanning saga of that land. There rugged Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) and his resourceful pioneer wife Sabra (Irene Dunne) sink roots persevere give shape to their dreams. It's a saga of change told with an authenticity that moviegoers who had lived through that era recognized - and told with a skill that earned it three Academy Awards * including Best Picture!Running Time: 124 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 012569528727 Manufacturer No: 65287

This epic Western won the 1931 Academy Award for Best Picture. Heartthrob Richard Dix plays Yancey Cravat (yes, really, that's his name) a frontiersman, newspaper editor, and former gunslinger who's studly enough to fill in as preacher or lawyer should the situation demand. Yancey brings his young bride Sabra to the wild Oklahoma territory to taste the adventure, crusade for social justice, and leave his family for years at a time. Modern viewers will have trouble making it past one or two horrifying racist caricatures at the start, made doubly odd because of the film's intended message of tolerance. Once it gets underway, though, Cimarron can be quite a bit of fun. Most of its pleasures are of the guilty variety--Dix's performance in particular is endearingly huge--but there are a few genuine highlights. The Oklahoma Land Rush sequence is still exciting and wet blanket Sabra turns out to have far more gumption than anyone imagined. --Ali Davis

Anna and the King of Siam

The story of British teacher Anna Leonowens and her sojourn to the court of 19th century Siam has proved irresistible to many generations--as book, movie, or Broadway show. Arguably the most beloved version of the story is the 1946 Fox film Anna and the King of Siam, an elegant and bittersweet drama. Irene Dunne plays the widow Anna, who arrives in Siam in 1862 with her young son in tow. Her ostensible job, to teach the many children of the polygamous King (Rex Harrison, in his first Hollywood picture), soon broadens into an unofficial court advisor. The most amusing sequences in the first half of the picture are the battles of manners between feisty Anna and the intellectually curious but tradition-bound king--a battle that engenders great mutual respect. John Farrow directed, with his customary sympathy for the female heroine and eye for handsome spaces (the film won Oscars for art direction and Arthur Miller's cinematography). The main Asian characters are played by white actors, with Lee J. Cobb especially startling as the prime minister. The affecting story leaves no doubt to why Rodgers and Hammerstein saw the future musical The King and I in the material, and indeed you may find yourself humming "Getting to Know You" or "Something Wonderful" beneath certain scenes. It was remade in 1999 with Jodie Foster as Anna and the King, with more cultural correctness but less charm. --Robert Horton

This "magnificent spectacle" with "matchless pageantry" and "frequent moments of high comedy," (Hollywood Reporter) stars Rex Harrison as the King of Siam and Irene Dunne as Anna, the charming, strong-willed English widow who teaches him how to live in a modern world. Accompanied by her son, Anna Owens arrives in Siam to educate the king's harem and his sixty-seven children. She soon discovers there are many obstacles to overcome and it is only through her ingenuity, wit and dedication that she is able to continue her work. Slowly, she sees the effect of her influence on the court, but it is not until the stubborn king realizes he need's Ana's wisdom and guidance that her difficult mission is a success.

Penny Serenade

A marriage is put to the test when an earthquake leads to a miscarriage, leaving the woman barrenbut this is only the beginning. When the couple is barely able to scrape by financially due to a new job, and their adopted daughter suddenly becomes fatally ill, their despair drives them to the brink of a breakdown.

Irene Dunne Romance Classics