27/04/2026
The Garden Cinema presents
๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐ /// 24 May- 18 Aug ๐
There has never been such a successful collision of silliness and sophistication in the history of cinema as the Screwball Comedy. Speedy dialogue, couplesโ quarrels, and slapstick are inseparable from razor-sharp wit, and some of the most incisive social commentary of the shifting class and gender dynamics of early twentieth-century America.
Predominantly a 1940s form โ with brilliant exceptions from the 1950s and a few predecessors in the 1930s โ Screwball Comedy was a product of its time. A defiant reaction to the newly imposed Hays Code, it rioted against hypocritical conservatism with an abundance of sexual innuendo, a good dose of adultery, and childless (!) couples surrendering to the hedonistic lifestyle of the metropolis. Whisky for breakfast was pretty standardโฆ Their madcap, farcical plots โ ranging from crossdressing to domesticated tigers โ offered much needed escapism to a population still affected by the Great Depression and, later, WWII.
A repertory company emerges. Directors like Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, Ernst Lubitsch, George Cukor, and Leo McCarey each fine-tuned the genreโs shape, while writers like Ben Hecht and Billy Wilder supplied the verbal velocity and bite. And then there were the stars โ the usual suspects returning again and again: Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck, and Claudette Colbert opposite Cary Grant, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and William Powell.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐๐ด๐๐๐, ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ โ ๐ญ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ถ๐น๐บ๐, ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
Book now ๐๏ธ
www.thegardencinema.co.uk
