ROMANTIC VS. SCREWBALL COMEDY, CHARTING THE DIFFERENCE, (2002), Wes D. Gehring

Famous comedy pairs, such as Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant to Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, have made screwball and romantic comedies a big seller at the box office. These seemingly timeless genres are as popular today as ever!

This book takes a closer look at the precise meanings of the terms screwball and romantic. Film fans and scholars alike tend to lump film with laughter and love under a screwball/romantic umbrella and use the terms screwball and romantic interchangeably. In reality, there is a distinction: the screwball variety places its emphasis on “funny,” while the more traditional romantic comedy accents “love.”

Covering over 60 titles each of romantic and screwball comedy dating from the 1930s to the present, this research tool not only demonstrates how screwball and romantic comedy are two distinct genres, but also highlights pivotal social and artistic changes which impacted both genres. Includes 24 black and white movie stills, countless quotations from selected films, an annotated bibliography, and a two-part filmography. It is an informative resource for film students and scholars and a thoroughly engaging read for film buffs. (Book Cover)

Contents

Illustrations

Forward by Steve Bell

Preface

Chapter One Introduction

Chapter Two Screwball Comedy

Chapter Three Romantic Comedy

Chapter Four Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn

Chapter Five Screwball and Romantic Comedy in the Modern Era: Since 1960

Chapter Six Epilogue

Selected Filmography

Selected Annotated Bibliography

Index

About the Author