The Awful Truth (1937) Trivia Quiz

Answer: New York

We assume he's been up to no good, but he's not telling.

The movie was based on a successful 1921 play of the same name by Arthur Richman. The adaptation was written by Academy Award nominated Viña Delmar, with uncredited input from Sidney Buchman and director Leo McCarey.

Answer: singing

Alexander D'Arcy plays Armand. His car had apparently broken down "a million miles from nowhere". He expresses his admiration of Jerry's continental attitude of not suspecting his wife of anything - oblivious to Jerry's dislike and distrust of him. He says he has never been involved in any scandal - he's a great teacher, not a great lover, resulting in Lucy's comeback.

The play had been made into two prior movies, in 1925 (silent) and 1929. There was a subsequent remake in 1953 under the title "Let's Do It Again".

Answer: dog

The couple decide they no longer trust each other and they will divorce. The court says that the divorce will become final in 90 days. The line (improvised by Grant) is said when Jerry visits Lucy, with 59 days left before the marriage is over. Lucy is receiving a visitor - an admirer.

In this role, to some, Cary Grant became Cary Grant. After "The Awful Truth" he starred in an amazing string of movies: "Bringing Up Baby" and "Holiday" in 1938, "Gunga Din" and "Only Angels Have Wings" in 1939, "His Girl Friday" and "The Philadelphia Story" in 1940 and "Suspicion" in 1941.

The talented dog, Skippy, had been "Asta" in "The Thin Man" and went on to co-star with Grant again in "Bringing Up Baby".

Answer: Ralph Bellamy

Leeson lives across the hall from Lucy and her Aunt Patsy (Cecil Cunningham). He makes himself known to Patsy and asks to be introduced to Lucy. Initially unkeen, Lucy goes out with Leeson after Jerry's noisy antics with Mr Smith.

Ralph Bellamy had a career spanning 62 years, including "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm"(1932) and "Trading Places" (1983). He played FDR on stage (1958) and screen (1960) in "Sunrise at Campobello", and also on TV in "The Winds of War"(1983). Bellamy and Grant worked together again in "His Girl Friday" (1940).

Answer: mother

Daniel's mother, played by Esther Dale, is convinced Lucy is a gold digger. Lucy's Aunt Patsy is amazed she has fallen for Daniel.

Irene Dunne was surely one of the most unlucky actresses to miss out on a Best Actress Oscar. She was nominated five times: for this movie, "Cimarron"(1931), "Theodora Goes Wild"(1936), "Love Affair"(1939) and "I Remember Mama"(1948). She had top billing in "The Awful Truth".

Answer: gusts of air lift up her dress

Jerry and friend barge in on the lovebirds. Jerry teases Lucy about living in Oklahoma City instead of New York. Dixie Belle Lee (Joyce Compton) is a risqué singer at the club - she performs a song called "My Dreams Are Gone With the Wind" and her dress gets blown up by gusts of air, exposing her panties, every time she sings "gone with the wind", much to Jerry's embarrassment.

Leo McCarey was the director and won an Academy Award for this movie - although he is said to have felt the Academy got it wrong because his direction of the drama "Make Way for Tomorrow" the same year was superior! Orson Welles was a big fan of that movie - saying "It would make a stone cry". McCarey went on to win Oscars for writing and direction on "Going My Way" (1944).

Answer: dance

Lucy has told Dan she doesn't dance. Clearly she and Jerry used to enjoy dancing together. Their first dance is a sedate waltz, and Dan is very correct and competent. When the second number starts, it is a lively one, and Dan dances with great gusto, discomfiting Lucy. Bellamy is hilarious and Dunne quite brilliant at showing embarrassment then a determination to put a brave face on it and join in with her fiancé. Everyone else on the dance floor stops to watch them. Jerry looks on gleefully and pays the band to repeat the lively number. The scene ends with Daniel having kicked Lucy's leg during their encore performance.

Bellamy, Grant and Dunne are said to have been bemused by director McCarey's methods and improvisations. McCarey and Grant had many disagreements on set, and Grant felt he may have been better suited by the Bellamy role. At one stage he even said that if he were released from the picture he'd do another for nothing. Ultimately, McCarey won them over.

Answer: a non-fitting hat

In jealousy, Jerry had barged his way into Armand's place, wrestling with Armand's servant, to see what Lucy and Armand were up to, only to find that Lucy was giving a recital to an formal audience. In his confusion he broke a chair and fell down. Lucy has realised that she is still in love with Jerry and can't marry Daniel. Armand visits Lucy - she wants him to explain to Jerry that there is nothing between them. When Jerry arrives, Armand hides in Lucy's bedroom. Jerry wants to apologise and make up. Mr Smith brings him a hat. It's too big - not his! "I only bought the hat an hour ago, and look at it!". Daniel and his mother arrive. Wanting to avoid a scene, Jerry goes into Lucy's bedroom, too. When Jerry chases Armand out of the apartment in front of the Leesons, they march out. Daniel looks at Lucy and says, "Well, I guess a man's best friend is his mother"

This was the first of three pictures starring Dunne and Grant. They went on to make another comedy, "My Favorite Wife"(1940), with McCarey again, and a tear-jerker, "Penny Serenade"(1941).

Answer: that day

Jerry has been seeing the very wealthy "madcap heiress" Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont). The newspapers say they are to be engaged as soon as Jerry's divorce decree becomes final - that day. Lucy turns up at his place, and Barbara discovers her presence, so they pretend she's Jerry's sister. Lucy gets invited to Barbara's place and puts on a performance that makes Barbara doubt some of what Jerry's told her - suggesting their father was a groundskeeper rather than a Princeton alumnus. She makes out she is a heavy drinker and a singer like Dixie Belle Lee, getting Barbara to play "My Dreams Are Gone With the Wind " on the record player so she can perform it. She apologises for the lack of wind effects and mimes them! Dunne plays the scene brilliantly. Jerry has to take her away to avoid further embarrassment.

The movie had six nominations at the Academy Awards, including Dunne and Bellamy. Its only Oscar was for McCarey's direction. Somehow the best picture went to "The Life of Emile Zola". The Academy didn't even deem Grant worthy of a nomination.

Answer: cuckoo clock figurines

A madcap car journey to Aunt Patsy's cabin ensues, involving a noisy radio, a lost car and a motorbike ride with some police. They end up at the cabin and retire to separate rooms. However, they have both realised the "Awful Truth" that they belong together. After some funny business with a connecting door and a cat, they get together at the stroke of midnight. The cuckoo clock figurines are played by real people. At midnight the two figurines go back into the clock into the same hole rather than separately.

The theme of a couple rekindling a marriage that had broken up or was about to was quite common in Hollywood around this time. "The Philadelphia Story" (1940), "My Favorite Wife" (1940), "His Girl Friday" (1940) and "Love Crazy" (1941) to name a few.