{"id":1602,"date":"2006-10-10T13:21:16","date_gmt":"2006-10-10T20:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1602"},"modified":"2021-01-26T01:12:11","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T08:12:11","slug":"theodora-goes-wild-1936","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1602","title":{"rendered":"Theodora Goes Wild (1936)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Everything Lynnfield doesn&#8217;t want you to feel, you write about &#8212; love, laughter; all the things you want to experience but can&#8217;t.&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Goes-Wild-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Goes-Wild-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-23467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Goes-Wild-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Goes-Wild-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Goes-Wild-Poster.jpg 319w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA repressed small-town girl (Irene Dunne) writing racy novels under a pseudonym is pursued by a married New Yorker (Melvyn Douglas) with secrets of his own.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Irene Dunne Films<\/li>\n<li>Melvyn Douglas Films<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken or Hidden Identities<\/li>\n<li>Morality Police<\/li>\n<li>Romantic Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Small Town America<\/li>\n<li>Thomas Mitchell Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, the primary issue with this intermittently amusing but ultimately disappointing screwball comedy is that the male lead (played by Melvyn Douglas) is &#8220;thoroughly obnoxious&#8221;. He points out the folly of (male) screenwriters presenting &#8220;an obnoxious man who chases after a woman who wants him to go away, pays no heed to her rejections, and doesn&#8217;t care what embarrassment he&#8217;s causing her, her family, or her friends&#8221;, then &#8220;have the audacity to have the woman fall in love with their hero&#8221;: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne2-1024x763.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"477\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-66080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne2-1024x763.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne2-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne2-128x95.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne2-768x572.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne2-363x270.png 363w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne2.png 1379w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8212; and he accurately notes that &#8220;when Douglas flees to New York, Dunne should let him go&#8230; rather than becoming an unbearable character herself.&#8221; Plus, I don&#8217;t buy Douglas&#8217;s motivation for following Theodora (Dunne) out to the small town of Lynnfield, given that he&#8217;s already married and has no interest in pursuing a lasting relationship with her. (His character would have made a lot more sense to me if he was a reporter trying to pen a scoop story.)<\/p>\n<p>Other minor quibbles with the movie include the fact that it&#8217;s difficult to take Theodora seriously as a writer, given that we never see her writing (what goes on in her head during the process?). Plus, two pets (a cat and a dog) are hurt in the story &#8212; presumably for laughs, but neither scene is really all that funny. Despite its flaws, however, the film has several redeeming qualities. It makes the point that small-mindedness isn&#8217;t exclusively a small-town trait (indeed, Douglas&#8217;s wealthy New York family is just as stuffy as Lynnfield&#8217;s puritanical &#8220;bluenoses&#8221;). It also provides an interesting twist on the theme of revenge, given that Theodora isn&#8217;t simply trying to &#8220;get back&#8221; at Douglas; she genuinely wants to help him break free, just like he &#8220;helped&#8221; her. Finally (and most importantly), Irene Dunne sparkles in the lead role &#8212; it&#8217;s a joy to watch Theodora emerging from her shell, and easy to see why Dunne quickly landed additional roles in romantic comedies. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Irene Dunne, charming in her first major comedic role<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne3-1024x765.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"478\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-66078\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne3-1024x765.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne3-300x224.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne3-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne3-768x574.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne3-361x270.png 361w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Dunne3.png 1377w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Cinematography-1024x760.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"475\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-66075\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Cinematography-1024x760.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Cinematography-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Cinematography-128x95.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Cinematography-768x570.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Cinematography-364x270.png 364w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/10\/Theodora-Cinematography.png 1375w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. While enjoyable at times, this screwball comedy doesn&#8217;t quite deliver. On the other hand, film fanatics may be interested in watching it simply to see Dunne in her first major comedic role. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0028355\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1936\/11\/13\/archives\/the-screen-speaking-of-comedy-the-music-hall-has-a-new-one-theodora.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Everything Lynnfield doesn&#8217;t want you to feel, you write about &#8212; love, laughter; all the things you want to experience but can&#8217;t.&#8221; Synopsis: A repressed small-town girl (Irene Dunne) writing racy novels under a pseudonym is pursued by a married New Yorker (Melvyn Douglas) with secrets of his own. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Character Arc Irene Dunne Films Melvyn Douglas Films Mistaken or Hidden Identities Morality Police Romantic Comedy Small Town America Thomas Mitchell Films Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1602\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1602"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66082,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602\/revisions\/66082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}