Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

weezeralfalfa It was 1936. Irene Dunne had just finished being the lead in the popular Kern masterpiece: "Showboat". In it, she had shown off her wondrous singing voice. One song required her to do a bit of comedy in blackface. This looked promising enough to recommend her for a lead in a straight comedy. This film is what they came up with. Apparently, it was quite popular in it's day. But I submit that it hasn't aged particularly well.The plot revolves around a scandalous novel, "The Sinners", written by a small town young woman: Theodora Lynn, who has adopted the pseudonym Caroline Adams, to hide her identity from her 2 elderly aunts she lives with, in particular, and the people in her town, especially the conservative Literary Circle. Thanks to the very conservative views of the town, Theodore has lived a very sheltered life, hardly having been beyond the borders of her town. As her illustrator Michael Grant(Melvyn Douglas)remarks, in her book, she imagines many of the things she would like to do, but is afraid of disapproval. Theodora seems to agree with this. Michael has acquired the ambition to help get Theodora out of her shell, and live some of the things she has written about. Initially, Theodora is hesitant, refusing to tell him where she lives(he finds out anyway), and panicking when he makes advances on her in his NYC apartment. For some reason, during his brief stay at Theodora's home, he irritates everyone by whistling tunes.. Theodora retaliates by playing and singing "Be Still My Heart". After finished, Michael whistles again, inducing Theodora to bang on the piano and muss her hair, her aunts to slam the door, breaking the glass portion and causing the cat to scream from having it's tail caught in the door. That should wake up the dozing audience! Then, Michael hitches his adopted dog to the front of the hand mower, as if he is pulling it, singing "Get Along Little Dogie" Again, this irritates the aunts. Against her objections, Michael finally induces Theodora to go berry picking in the woods with him, and go fishing with him, where they get further acquainted. Finally, Theodora gets the nerve to tell off the members of the Literary Circle, including her aunts, but good. She starts wearing very frilly evening gowns, and gets drunk to show she's not afraid of an occasional drink. "Theodora's gone wild" say the women in her circle. Eventually, she tells reporters that she is Caroline Adams, creating a sensation in her hometown. Michael, estranged from his wife, tries to dissociate himself from Theodora, fearing scandal relating to her will include himself, and embarrass his politically important father....I leave the finale for you to see. Available at YouTube.Thomas Mitchel does a good job making the town newspaper editor interesting, with limited screen time. ..Spring Byington is the most prominent of the Literary Circle, and has a surprise waiting for her at the end worth fainting for. ...Thornton Hall serves as Theodora's publisher and friend, and long shares her secret.

Lawson I'm not a fan of Irene Dunne because - much like with Katharine Hepburn - she has these affectations in her acting style that you either love or can't stand. To me, she usually seems like she's hoity-toitily overacting. As this movie began, I was pleasantly surprised by Dunne because she was playing a repressed small-town woman and thus didn't produce any of the grand gestures that are typical of her. Those come later (unfortunately), when she "Goes Wild," so to speak. I suppose the flashy role is why she got an Oscar nomination. It's a unique story that plays out unpredictably, and that made it watchable, even if I didn't quite buy the relationship between Dunne and Melvyn Douglas, and found their characters kinda off-putting.

richard-1787 I had heard about this movie for years, but only saw it tonight. The wait was my loss.To begin with, it stars two of the undeservedly forgotten luminaries of the movie industry: Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas. But more important is the content of this movie. It is all about small-minded bigotry in small-minded Americans. Given its time - the 1930s - that small-mindedness is linked to living in a small town. Unfortunately, today location has nothing to do with it: there are small-minded Americans in our biggest cities and our suburbs. But the movie has lost none of its relevance. It is very definitely a movie that calls out for a modern remake. Hollywood doesn't make movies like this anymore, and in this case, that is a loss for all of us.

MartinHafer If you are looking for an especially deep or meaningful film, then you might want to keep looking. However, if you ignore the silliness and trivial nature of the film and just watch it for its entertainment value, then you are in for a fun little ride! Irene Dunne plays an overly prim and proper lady who lives in a town dominated by fun-hating old biddies! The town is extremely similar to the one from the Hal Roach comedy, MISS POLLY, except that THEODORA GOES WILD is a good and funny film. Unbeknownst to all the old ladies, Dunne is in reality a romance writer who wrote a number one best seller!! She is terrified they will discover her secret and she is very careful to hide her double-life. This aspect of the movie is very reminiscent of the great Errol Flynn film, FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK (another film I strongly recommend).Into this careful balancing act arrives the very playful and slightly obnoxious Melvin Douglas. Through a bit of research, he figures out her two identities and just drops in on the town and makes Dunne crazy trying to shut him up and keep a lid on his odd behaviors. Eventually, though, the truth does come out and Dunne resigns herself to marrying Douglas and revealing who she really is. However, at this point, she realizes that Douglas ALSO has a secret to hide and when the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak, he is upset and pretends he doesn't know her!! Exactly why and how all this works out in the end is something you'll just have to see for yourself. Dunne and Douglas are terrific and the film, despite its ridiculous plot, is a lotta laughs and is a good example of a "screwball comedy".