rfkeser Review of That Wonderful Urge

That Wonderful Urge (1948)

Stubbornly unfunny attempt at screwball comedy

[5/10 · 9 July 2000]

Using the same plot as MGM's LIBLED LADY and EASY TO WED [aggrieved heiress vs. undercover reporter], Fox tried to resuscitate the romantic screwball comedy. However, aside from a few stray witty lines, nothing seems to work: not the comic business that Tyrone Power adeptly performs, not the Katharine Hepburn accent essayed by Gene Tierney, and certainly not scenes like the jailhouse exchange of bedbugs [what were they thinking?] Power and Tierney supply ample star power, and all the cast members are perfectly competent, but the whole enterprise resists laughter. Perhaps it's the brief but awful organ music in the score.