Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne is an unusual Hollywood icon in that much like Joel McCrea she led a life in Hollywood that was most noteworthy for it's lack of negative publicity. This is particularly applicable because of Ms. Dunne's remarkable ability to do comedy in a very realistic style. Though she is remembered for other reasons as well, a beautiful singing voice for one which was demonstrated in her turn as a Magnolia in "Show Boat" and in the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers starrer, "Roberta," her series of four films in the Screwball Comedy genre that she made in the late 30's probably identify her more than any other film work.

I have decide to list my personal favorites in a mixed order combining her various humorous films, her singing roles and finally her roles where drama was emphasized. Starting first we have the comedies, with the generally considered best of the bunch.

THE AWFUL TRUTH - 1937

I've always had trouble keeping this story separated from her 1940 film "My Favorite Wife." Cary Grant was her co-star in both these films and they also worked together in one of her serious films, "A Night to Remember." She revealed in later life that Cary Grant complemented her on occasion after they had worked together by telling her she always had perfect timing when doing comedy and smelled better than any one else he had worked with. She really liked this fun comment.

In the Awful Truth Grant and Dunne are getting a divorce with the settlement trying to determine the actual visiting time each will have with their dog, Mr Smith. This role was performed by the same clever dog or dogs who appeared as Asta in the "Thin Man" films. Other matrimonial problems have set in as well including suspicions of joint infidelity. It is all resolved in the end with a closing scene very reminiscent of the close to "My Favorite Wife," separate bedrooms but with proximity. Ralph Bellamy is around in his usual clever portrayal of a clueless man, in this case an Oklahoma cattleman who still lives with this mother. Dunne has a duet with the latter to "Home on the Range," which is world class funny. She includes some excellent whistling in this rendition. She also plays a very broad bimbo type to the astonished members of a wealthy family while pretending to be Grant's rather unpredictable country girl sister. The film ends up being one helluvalot of fun.

MY FAVORITE WIFE - 1940

This film and the "The Awful Truth" are almost like pairs of the same subject with but with a different cut. Dunne plays Grant's wife who supposedly drowned at sea several years ago. In fact she hadn't drowned but rather had spent those years on a South Pacific Island with a scientific type played by a very athletic looking Randolph Scott. Confusion results when Grant has remarried having had Dunne declared legally dead. His new wife is the always reliable, Gail Patrick, largely noted for playing slightly unpleasant or poisonous women. Grant has one of his great double takes when he thinks he's spotted the presumed dead Dunne while he is getting into an elevator. Things move along with eventually, like in "The Awful Truth," the two of them in separate rooms in a mountain cabin. Grant's room is the attic and he has a classic line of "Merry Christmas," at the end which I will leave for you to discover when watching the film.

THEODORA GOES WILD - 1936

I had never seen this film until recently. It features Dunne again playing this time as a member of a small town women's literary group. This small town is in Vermont and is the home of what in those days was considered typically bigoted small town women, very sanctimonious and down on any sense of indecency particularly in literature. At the beginning of the picture they are having a meeting discussion of a current licentious best seller written by what has to be a depraved woman. It's called "The Sinner." Dunne has a reason to go to New York and there she meets with the novels publisher and the firms book cover artist, Melvin Douglas. At this point we viewers learn that she is actually the books author writing under an assumed name. The going wild part is a result of her getting high at a nightclub as the publisher's guest. The club features strip tease dancers. Dunne manages to lose her dress in the ladies room, something having spilled on it, which is grabbed by a stripper who is in mid routine doing her number when the police raid the club. This results in Dunne's arrest by the police who presume she is the stripper trying to escape. Now if that isn't a plot to work with, I don't know what is. Eventually everything works out. Her nemesis, male lead, is Melvyn Douglas .

LOVE AFFAIR - 1939

Dunne in another role as a small town girl, this time the mayor of a small town, probably in Vermont again. She is the mayor because an ancestor of her's more or less was the driving force in the town a few years back. A bad incident takes place during a terrific thunder, lightning and rain storm when the tall metal statue of the town's founder is struck by lightning resulting in the decapitation of her ancestor's statue's head. Dunne has to head to New York to get the sculptor to reattach the head. The latter is delightfully played by Charles Boyer. All kinds of events happen to Dunne in New York and almost result in her being impeached from her job as mayor for corrupt behavior. In the end, Boyer who has fallen in love with her, is called to her home town to reattach the head which again was struck by a terrific lightning bolt. He had attached the head very loosely hoping for just such an incident, the beheading of the statue once again, which would give him the opportunity to romance Dunne.

Those four films provide a nice quartet of fun pictures that are easily classified as screwball comedies. Dunne made them in a four year period and not at a young age. She was born in 1898 so these were all in either her late 30's or early 40's. She made her first film in 1930 when she was already in her 30's.

Dunne's initial goal in life was to be a performer with Opera. She auditioned at an early age, but did not successfully complete the audition. Through out her film career she was called on to sing. Most people will associate her with music environments most particularly in the film "Show Boat."

SHOW BOAT - 1936

This film was made the same year as "Theodora Goes Wild." It was very well received by film goers. Her singing was lovely in the romantic numbers most particularly in "Make Believe," which she sang in duet with Alan Jones. She also sang "After The Ball," in a stage hall scene and one very humorous number which would be verboten today because it was done in blackface. This film also included such stalwarts as Paul Robeson doing "Old Man River," and the delightful "I still suits me," which he sang in a duet with Hattie McDaniel. "Can't Help Loving that man" was sung by Helen Morgan who duplicated her stage role.

ROBERTA - 1935

Though Dunne really had the lead role in this film it is basically viewed as a Rogers and Astaire, musical. Dunne had three vocal numbers. Perhaps the most memorable of these was "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," which she sang at a dinner get together at a Russian based nightclub with members of the exiled Russians community who were living in Paris at this time. She sang it to Randolph Scott who she had had a memorable argument with earlier and which continued and ended during this nightclub scene. She also had a delightful vocal on "Lovely To Look At," wearing a white gown and white fur as she descended a staircase. She sang this to Scott as well which ended up being a reunion of their love. Astaire and Rogers danced to this song after a segue from "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" with Ginger wearing a skin tight long dress that looked like it had been sown on her. Ginger is also to be remembered for her affecting Russian accented English which was particularly obvious during her singing, most notably in "Won't Dance."

There are many other resources available featuring and starring Irene Dunne. Two more serious films would include the following.

I REMEMBER MAMA - 1948

This was a serious though tender role for Ms. Dunne. She plays a Scandinavian woman in San Francisco before the turn of the century. She had the accent down pat and played the role with her usual reserved style without the added humor. Oscar Homolka and Philip Dorn were co-stars. Despite her age, she was over 50 at the time, she had to have makeup applied to appear the age she represented.

PENNY SERENADE - 1941

This can be classified as a three or four hankie film. Dunne's co-star again was Cary Grant. Penny Serenade is the story of a young woman marrying a man who is by trade is a newspaper man. They meet in New York and after a short romance are married and move to northern California where he is editor and publisher of a small community paper. Unfortunately they are not able to have children and so they end up deciding to adopt. They have wanted a little boy but the lady at the Orphan Asylum, manages to talk them into taking a perfect little girl baby. The Orphan Asylum manager is perfectly played by Beulah Bondi in a very uncharacteristic role for her. Eventually, tragedy occurs and the little girl dies when she is around nine or ten. this totally unhinges Grant in particular and leads to the loss of communication between the two. Near the end, they receive another call from Bondi who lets them know that another baby is available for them if they want it, It's a really nice story. Edgar Buchanan is particularly noteworthy as the man who operates the newspapers printing press. He has a classic scene where he shows Dunne how to diaper her new baby.

There are a number other riches from Irene Dunne's film career. Just to note a few:

BACK STREET - 1932
TOGETHER AGAIN - 1944
ANNA & THE KING OF SIAM - 1936 (with Rex Harrison)
WHEN TOMORROW COMES - 1939
CIMARRON -1931 (A very dated, static film that co-starred Richard Dix)
WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER - 1944
LIFE WITH FATHER - 1947 (with William Powell)

In my search through the internet archives of information I tried to find a picture or two of Irene Dunne in a swimming suit. Much to my surprise there are none, and I can't recall any film where she wears a shorts or a short skirt. In Cimarron she looked heavier, but I'm guessing it might have been in the late 19th and early 20th century clothes she wore for her role. Somehow, even when playing off character, she came across as a lady with class.