Twentieth Century Backdrop Blur
Twentieth Century Poster

Twentieth Century

"The Star of Stars in the Hit of Hits!"

A temperamental Broadway producer trains an untutored actress, but when she becomes a star, she proves a match for him.

Top Cast

  • John Barrymore

    John Barrymore

    Oscar Jaffe

  • Carole Lombard

    Carole Lombard

    Lily Garland, formerly Mildred Plotka

  • Walter Connolly

    Walter Connolly

    Oliver Webb

  • Roscoe Karns

    Roscoe Karns

    Owen O'Malley

  • Ralph Forbes

    Ralph Forbes

    George Smith

  • Charles Lane

    Charles Lane

    Max Jacobs

  • Etienne Girardot

    Etienne Girardot

    Matthew J. Clark

  • Dale Fuller

    Dale Fuller

    Sadie

  • Edgar Kennedy

    Edgar Kennedy

    Oscar McGonigle

Overview

A temperamental Broadway producer trains an untutored actress, but when she becomes a star, she proves a match for him.

Rating

6.8 / 10
113 Reviews
1 Popular

2 Reviews

  • barrymost
    barrymost
    8 Sep 5, 2019

    You'd best hold on tight and don't let go because you're in for quite the ride on board the Twentieth Century. It's screwball comedy taken to the absolute max, and it barely lets up for a minute. It's one ridiculously memorable (or memorably ridiculous) scene after another, with just a couple highlights being Carole Lombard getting stabbed in the behind with a pincushion, and John Barrymore faking a fatal bullet wound in order to get her to sign another contract. John Barrymore is unbelievably and hopelessly hammy, and I mean that in a very good way. The film itself is so completely over the top, you will either love it wholeheartedly, or hate it with a passion. I do hope it's the former.

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    7 Aug 21, 2024

    I'm not quite sure what the title had to do with anything, but this is still an enjoyable opportunity for John Barrymore and Carole Lombard to have some theatrical games of cat and mouse with a bit of help from the long suffering Walter Connolly's "Oliver" and the permanently sozzled "Owen" (Roscoe Karns). Barrymore is the acclaimed impresario "Jaffe" who discovers the improbably named "Mlldred Plotka", re-christens her "Lily Garland" and - despite herself - decides to make her a star. Turns out he's not a bad judge of character, but as her star ascends the relationship between them sours. She takes up an offer to move to Hollywood and that leaves him in the lurch. A few flops later and he's desperate to get her back. Might a chance meeting on a train manage to reconcile them or are things just too far gone for that now? The writing really does allow Barrymore and Lombard to play to their strengths here providing loads of thespian dramatics and ham as the plot motors along for an hour and an half. There's a diverting little sub-plot featuring a poster boy with a difference (Etienne Girardot) before a clever little denouement that just has to raise a smile. It's a classy comedy this with more than a little of the stage play to it's dynamic as Howard Hawks sits back and let's his stars entertain us.

Recommendations

Splendor

Veronica is a white-bread beauty searching for a good man in Los Angeles. While slam dancing at a Halloween rave, she meets Abel, a sensitive poet. Then she meets Zed, a supersexy tattooed drummer with incredible biceps. Who will she choose? Does she go for true love or cheap sex? She can't decide so she chooses both. But after managing to nurture a picture-perfect threesome, along comes Ernest, a rich movie director with deep baby blues that sweep Veronica off her feet. What's a girl to do now?

Splendor

6.2 1999