File:The_Awful_Truth_(1937_poster).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
OverviewAI-generated
The Awful Truth is a 1937 American black-and-white film in the comedy of remarriage genre. Directed and produced by Leo McCarey, the picture features a cast including Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy, and Alexander D'Arcy. The screenplay was written by Viña Delmar and Sidney Buchman, with Joseph Walker serving as director of photography. Additional crew members include film editor Al Clark, composer Ben Oakland, and production designer Lionel Banks.
Produced by Columbia Pictures, the film was distributed by the same studio and later by Netflix via video on demand. It has a runtime of 87, 90, or 91 minutes depending on the source. The film received an Academy Award for Best Director and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, and Best Film Editing. Its tagline is "Danger! Wild woman on the loose!"
Synthesized by Vinony from 40 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.2Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other's attempts to find new romance.
Cast
- Irene Dunne as Lucy Warriner
- Cary Grant as Jerry Warriner
- Ralph Bellamy as Dan Leeson
- Alexander D'Arcy as Armand Duvalle
- Cecil Cunningham as Aunt Patsy
- Molly Lamont as Barbara Vance
Themes
- husband wife relationship
- upper class
- aunt niece relationship
- romcom
- aunt
- neighbor
- misunderstanding
- divorce
- dog
- heiress
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Key facts
- Directed by
- Leo McCarey
- Screenplay by
- Viña Delmar
- Based on
- The Awful Truth , 1922 play, by Arthur Richman
- Produced by
- Leo McCarey
- Starring
- Irene Dunne Cary Grant Ralph Bellamy Alexander D'Arcy Cecil Cunningham Robert Allen
- Cinematography
- Joseph Walker
- Edited by
- Al Clark
- Production company
- Columbia Pictures
- Distributed by
- Columbia Pictures
- Release date
- October 21, 1937 ( 1937-10-21 )
- Running time
- 91 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $600,000 ($13.4 million in 2025 dollars)
- Box office
- Over $3 million ($67 million in 2025 dollars)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Part of
- National Film Registry
- Genre
- comedy of remarriage
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Director
- Leo McCarey
- Screenwriter
- Sidney Buchman
- Cast member
- John Tyrrell
- Composer
- Ben Oakland
- Producer
- Leo McCarey
- Production company
- Columbia Pictures
- Cinematographer
- Joseph Walker
- Duration
- 87
- FilmAffinity ID
- 979922
- Distribution format
- video on demand
- Image
- Dunne-Grant-Asta-The-Awful-Truth.jpg
Show 11 more facts
- publication date
- 1937-10-21
- film editor
- Al Clark
- title
- The Awful Truth
- nominated for
- Academy Award for Best Picture
- production designer
- Lionel Banks
- distributed by
- Columbia Pictures
- color
- black-and-white
- Commons category
- The Awful Truth (1937 film)
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- review score
- 87/100
- capital cost
- 600000
Sources (15)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Awful Truth is a 1937 American screwball comedy film directed by Leo McCarey, and starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. Based on the 1922 play The Awful Truth by Arthur Richman, the film recounts a distrustful rich couple who begin divorce proceedings, only to interfere with one another's romances.
This was McCarey's first film for Columbia Pictures, with the dialogue and comic elements largely improvised by the director and actors. Irene Dunne's costumes were designed by Robert Kalloch. Although Grant tried to leave the production due to McCarey's directorial style, The Awful Truth saw his emergence as an A-list star and proponent of on-the-set improvisation.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Awful Truth” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.