BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Hot 888 Mama . . . says Melvyn Douglas as smug sophisticate Michael Grant, the perfect foil to Irene Dunne's title character, the virginal church organist Theodora Lynn, who lives with her two spinster aunts in her namesake Connecticut village and dashes off to big bad New York City with the seamy best sellers she writes to let off steam. It's as if Julie Andrews was playing a singing nun and an aging topless actress IN THE SAME MOVIE, instead of decades apart in THE SOUND OF MUSIC and S.O.B. The script for THEODORA GOES WILD is consistently clever, and the supporting cast doesn't miss a trick to sell the comedy. There's more than a grain of truth in THEODORA's depiction of New Yorkers as the biggest bumpkins of them all, something which still holds true in today's Weiner\Spitzer Era. The Connecticut Literary Circle Ladies seem dying to break into the chorus of THE MUSIC MAN's "Pick a Little, Peck a Little," if only Meredith Willson had written it in time! But whenever Miss Dunne drops into the husky rich bi*ch contralto of her "Caroline Adams" pseudonym, it's enough to melt the ice cubes in your martini!

historyhawk52 Irene Dunne carries the whole film on her back and is wonderful. She lights up the screen and is very believable. Melvyn Douglas does well with his role until the script paints him into a corner as a tongue tied whiner after Irene turns the tables on him. Frankly, there are too many contrived plot points in this film for me: the hallway scene with the drunken publisher, the governor's ball, and lastly stepping off the train platform with another person's baby just to shock the home crowd. The plot just gives under the strain. Bringing Up Baby, with similarly contrived events strung together from beginning to madcap end is a far more believable and funnier film even with a far wackier premise.

bkoganbing I'm not sure how Theodora Goes Wild would be viewed today because of changing demographics. Some of those small New England towns like Lynnfield are not bastions of conservatism any longer. Today the home of a well known author like Irene Dunne would be a tourist attraction.But back in the Thirties, this still was the New England of Calvin Coolidge and descendants of the town founder just don't go writing romance novels. But that's what Irene Dunne is doing only its under a pseudonym, lest the good people of Lynnfield make life uncomfortable for herself and her two maiden aunts.Irene's cover will be blown though when she meets her illustrator at her publisher. Melvyn Douglas is quite smitten with her and he follows her back to Lynnfield from New York and persuades her that she ought to live life a little and not just vicariously through her novels.Dunne takes his advice with a vengeance after he's thoroughly embarrassed her. But when Theodora Lynn does go wild she takes no prisoners. Coming out in public under her pseudonym of Caroline Adams, Dunne gets fame and notoriety confused. Today she would be big time tabloid fodder and pays Douglas back in a way he can only blame on himself.It's charming pair of leads with a delightful supporting cast that play their roles to perfection. A particular favorite of mine is publisher Thurston Hall who gets to do a drunk scene with Dunne, something the very proper Mr. Hall didn't often do.Irene Dunne got one of her five Oscar nominations for playing Theodora Lynn aka Caroline Adams, but lost in the big sweepstakes to Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld.I'm not sure how you could do Theodora Goes Wild today though. I can see the town billboard on the Massachusetts Turnpike: Welcome to Lynnfield, Home of Caroline Adams.

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".