Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

mmallon4 Theodora Goes Wild was released two years into Hollywood's production code and yet the entire premise of the movie is one huge "how did they get away with that?!". Only The Lady Eve, Ball of Fire and The Moon Is Blue perhaps out do it in terms of most pre-code post-code films. A film with a heroine who writes risqué novels and rebels against her ultraconservative, God-fearing, Helen Lovejoy type aunts who deem it their obligation to keep the fictional town of Lynnfield, Connecticut (yet another screwball comedy set in the state) the one last pure, God-fearing town in America. Moral puritans who try to ruin everyone else's fun and claim to speak for a larger group- every generation has them. Theodora Goes Wild proceeds with an ending in which the once silent majority Lynnfield show their true colours. - This movie hasn't lost an ounce of relevance for today's world. The scene at the beginning of Theodora Goes Wild in which the local literary group read passages from the latest "scandalous" novel from author Caroline Adams really is jaw-dropping. However, the local newspaper run by Thomas Mitchell starts printing a serialization of the scandalous bestseller in an effort to show the town how people live, love and learn in the real world. Little do they know Caroline Adams is their own Theodora Lynn, a Sunday school teacher who's been playing the church organ since she was 15. Under the rules of the Production Code, a character must receive a punishment for their so-called "immoral" actions. Not here though! Despite Theodora rebelling against her God-fearing upbringing, she receives no punishment. Whoever said old movies are stuffy and the dreaded "O" word, outdated? Despite writing highly successful adult novels, Theodora's conscious still objects to it and thus requires a bit of Melvyn Douglas as Michael Grant to ignite Theodora's sexual awakening after he seduces her while wearing a vest as his only piece of torso. Despite neither of these two performers being sex symbols, it's surprising how steamy this scene comes off. Melvyn Douglas plays a potentially creepy stalker but is charming enough and carefree to a comic degree that he gets away with it. The man has adapt comedic timing (I never tire of that whistling of his) and it's easy to see why Douglas was one of the most reliable male co-stars of the time. However what succeeds in making him a more interesting character is the discovery that Michael is actually just as repressed as Theodora due to being enslaved in a hateful marriage on behalf of his father's political livelihood. Once Michael liberates Theodora from her small town way of life she returns the favour and liberates him from his New York, bourgeois decorum.

edwagreen One of the best screwball comedies giving Irene Dunne still another losing Oscar nomination.This comedy tests values, traditions and brings the small town living versus the big city in plenty of view.Dunne is equally matched with fine chemistry between her and Melvyn Douglas. The film also boasts a tremendous supporting cast with Spring Byington, Thomas Mitchell, Thurston Hall and Elisabeth Risdon at their very best.When a small-town writer writes a racy book under an assumed name, all hell breaks loose in the town when excerpts of the book are run by the non-stuffy Thomas Mitchell.While in N.Y., Dunne, the writer, meets the illustrator. He follows her back to the small town and eventually she turns the tables on him. In fact, she is eventually making the same demands that he made on her.The film is enhanced by town gossip, and the strict social conservative mores of rural America. The writing is sharp and the dialogue is crisp. We also see that when possible scandal hits home, the spinster conservative aunt shall defend her niece and that the gossip will get hers in the end as well. This applies to Risdon and Byington, respectively.

samhill5215 I have tried to watch this film twice with the identical outcome: I turned it off before it ended. I should add I am a devoted fan of Irene Dunne and slightly less so of Melvyn Douglas but I can't see how these two professionals could have stomached this drivel. It's supposed to be a comedy but there's really nothing funny about it and nobody comes off well. The Lynnfield residents are portrayed as provincial and small-minded while the New Yorkers are portrayed as pushy and inconsiderate alcoholics. Melvyn Douglas is at his most annoying here. There's nothing to redeem him. His character throws himself at Irene Dunne's character and when she flees in terror his reaction is to grin, no leer, as he watches her flight. The only character I found likable was Thomas Mitchell's newspaperman whose attempt to open his fellow citizens' minds is the departure point for this exercise in aggravation. Watch at your own risk.

MartinHafer If you are looking for an especially deep or meaningful film, then you might want to keep looking. However, if you ignore the silliness and trivial nature of the film and just watch it for its entertainment value, then you are in for a fun little ride! Irene Dunne plays an overly prim and proper lady who lives in a town dominated by fun-hating old biddies! The town is extremely similar to the one from the Hal Roach comedy, MISS POLLY, except that THEODORA GOES WILD is a good and funny film. Unbeknownst to all the old ladies, Dunne is in reality a romance writer who wrote a number one best seller!! She is terrified they will discover her secret and she is very careful to hide her double-life. This aspect of the movie is very reminiscent of the great Errol Flynn film, FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK (another film I strongly recommend).Into this careful balancing act arrives the very playful and slightly obnoxious Melvin Douglas. Through a bit of research, he figures out her two identities and just drops in on the town and makes Dunne crazy trying to shut him up and keep a lid on his odd behaviors. Eventually, though, the truth does come out and Dunne resigns herself to marrying Douglas and revealing who she really is. However, at this point, she realizes that Douglas ALSO has a secret to hide and when the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak, he is upset and pretends he doesn't know her!! Exactly why and how all this works out in the end is something you'll just have to see for yourself. Dunne and Douglas are terrific and the film, despite its ridiculous plot, is a lotta laughs and is a good example of a "screwball comedy".