Screw ball comedies

  There’s a pitch in baseball called a screwball, which was perfected by a pitcher named Carl Hubbell back in the 1930s. It’s a pitch with a particular spin that sort of flutters and drops, goes in different directions, and behaves in very unexpected ways… Screwball comedy was unconventional, went in different directions, and behaved in unexpected ways… ”Andrew Bergman,“We're in the Money: Depression America and Its Films”

         Screwball comedies become popular in the thirties. Production Code , a strict censorship was enforced during that period. This was the time of transition from silent movies.The  Code meant the usage of language and sexuality had to be more subtle; so  dialogue and comedic pacing were key for a successful production. Movies with themes like open relationships,adultery,homosexuality were looked down upon. Screwball comedies  commonly addressed these .Screwball comedies gave writers and directors the opportunity to explore subjects that would never get through the Production Code as drama.
     To sum up,combine outrageous scenarios with slapstick humor, then add witty, fast-paced dialogue and light romantic situations and you have that wonderful cinematic treasure called the screwball comedy.It is the comedy of contrasts rich/poor ,educated/street smart , and more than anything the battle of sexes.

 Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night is considered as the pioneer in this genre. It is the classic model of a screwball comedy.Rebellious socialite Ellie Andrews marries King Wesley but her wealthy father has it annulled. Tired of her father's control,  she runs away, on the bus she meets street-smart reporter Peter Warne. They end up traveling together . Nearing New York, with their many adventures coming to an end, they find that they are reluctantly in love  . production started as a low budget drama, movie ended up in winning three Oscars, and was the biggest grosser that year.
 Then there was a flurry of screwball comedies,notable ones are,

• Midnight (1939),Showgirl Eve posing as  Baroness Czerny, to change her luck
• The Palm Beach Story (1942),  Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Colbert)  trying to pursue John , to finance her husband Tom’s business
• Easy Living (1937),gossip and mistaken identities make working girl Mary Smith (Jean Arthur) the hottest socialite in New York
• The Major and the Minor (1942),Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) disguises herself as a twelve-year-old in order to purchase a half-fare train ticket, but ends up having to hide her age from Major Phillip Kirby (Ray Milland) and 300 “junior wolf” cadets at a military academy.
• The Lady Eve (1941)
• My Man Godfrey (1936)
• Bringing Up Baby (1938)

  With the rise of sitcoms screwball became somewhat a standard TV show theme and was more or less abandoned by filmmakers.
recent movies using this theme are,

• Down with Love, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days  (battle of the sexes)
• You've Got Mail, Two Weeks Notice (the contrast between the wealthy and the middle class )
• Intolerable Cruelty, (divorce and re-marriage)
•  Overboard(1987)
• The Big Lebowski
•  Flirting With Disaster
• Just Married

references:  wikipedia,modern times,xroads,greencine