Three-Cornered Moon (1933)

The golden age of screwball comedy was brief but glorious, and exactly when it began and ended is a source of some debate. Three-Cornered Moon is often cited as the first real example of the genre, but whether screwball or not, it's a delightful and charming comedy that, at 77 minutes, knows better than to outstay its welcome. The script is literate and sophisticated, making comedic a situation that at the time would have been rather desperate. Claudette Colbert is winning as the relative center of calm and sanity in the storm of lunacy. Her soft, round face is a mask of sensibility covering both determination and exasperation. She holds her own against the scene-stealing efforts of Mary Boland, who creates a character whose obliviousness and ditziness could be irritating in less expert hands. Boland knows quite well how to deliver her laugh lines so they land exactly where they're supposed to, as well as how to clear them out to make room for the next one -- while at the same time giving them a freshness to disguise the technique beneath it all. Altogether Moon is a bit too soft to be the kind of knockabout it wants to be, but it's a pleasing trifle nonetheless. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide