Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett wrote a screwball comedy about lexicography, Howard Hawks directed it, and Barbara Stanwyck walks into a house of eight encyclopedia-writing professors as their primary source on American slang. It is the funniest possible argument that research is a contact sport. Screening from a 35mm print. If you want a Sunday matinee that will actually make you laugh out loud, this is it.
What to expect
A 35mm print of a 1941 Paramount comedy, projected for a repertory crowd that laughs on cue rather than politely. Stanwyck and Cooper carry it, but the eight bickering professors are the engine. 111 minutes, no intermission, and a mid-afternoon slot that leaves the whole evening open afterward.
Good to know
- 1 to 66th Street-Lincoln Center; theaters are on West 65th Street
- Screens from a 35mm archival print
- Runtime is a little under two hours
- Only one screening this weekend, so book in advance
- One of the most crowd-friendly titles in the series - safe for a date or a group
- Wheelchair accessible with assistive listening devices
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Common questions
Who wrote it?
Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett wrote the screenplay, with Howard Hawks directing. It stars Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.
Is it on film?
Yes, from a 35mm print. Nine titles in the Bibliomania series screen from 16mm, 35mm or 70mm archival prints rather than digitally.
Do I need to know the series to enjoy it?
Not at all. It plays perfectly as a standalone screwball comedy, though the encyclopedia premise is exactly why the programmers slotted it into a series about research.
More this weekend
