Cary Grant

7: 'Only Angels have Wings': the Peanut Song scene.

12. From 'MFW': the scene where CG is haunted in his office by the thought of Steve on the diving board.

14. bringing the glass of milk to joan fontaine in "suspicion."
15. "do you know what's wrong with you?" "what?" "absolutely nothing." ("charade")

24. And of course, from Notorious:

Ingrid Bergman: My car is outside.
Cary Grant: Naturally.

25: Cary screwballing for all he's worth, dancing like the acrobat he started out as, at a lavish ball at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich!

(I now only have 'Operation Petticoat' left on the boxset, and I don't have high hopes for it. It co-stars Tony Curtis, for pity's sake! Why isn't 'I was a male war bride' on DVD yet?)

i have never met anyone who does not like cary grant.

i only sort-of like cary grant.

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2342/3_32/55082381/p1/article.jhtml

also i said this on another thread but his interview on the some like it hot dvd is a must-see

When he's telling Hildy that "they'll build statues of you in the park" and then he does his impression of a statue.

"excuse me madame! are you referring to me?" with full hand gestures. his whole performance is impeccable tho...

"She's OOOLLDDD!"

Exactly. It's really sort of a daffy, fluffy, girly-girl vision of a suspense film. I'm not saying it's my favorite Cary Grant film but I do have a certain amount of affection for it.

-- Robbie Lumsden (9904464...), April 26th, 2004.

That line always cracks me up.

(sounds awful, but it's true... i love him, but i've never really gone for the serious, dramatic, greying older grant)

Cary Grant and LSD (long, worth reading)

based on his recent viewing of To Catch a Thief, Doctor Casino may need a talking-to on Archie Leach appreciation from Sotosyn.

unclear if there’s a “main” cary/archie thread but after a lifetime of finding him ok but not really getting ‘it’... I TOTALLY GET IT NOW

watching Cary Grant movies with eyes that work is a whole new experience & i love him so much

i had never seen Bishop’s Wife til today <3

The new biog by Scott Eyman is terrific.

And now Criterion Channel is about to offer a CG series in December.

My only issue with exploring his filmography is it seems that all the best ones are also the ones everybody talks about, so I keep searching for an overlooked gem of some kind if it exists. Haven't seen Bishop's Wife though.

It went in a direction I didnt expect, and Grant & Niven are wonderful in their scenes together. It’s great!

My Grant love was sparked by the Secret History of Hollwyood podcast, which recently begun a series on him. Just hearing the early details of his life story has completely entrhralled me.

The new biog by Scott Eyman is terrific.

It is (full disclosure: I know him through local South Florida acquaintances). Unlike other Grant bios, he doesn't try to Understand Him. He accepts him at his word as a made-up creation.

i will def seek it out!

Eyman's John Ford bio was fantastic, but I haven't read any of his others. (He's way too hard on The Fugitive, though).

Merrily We Go to Hell and Blonde Venus are both good early pre-breakout supporting roles for Cary Grant

I am currently enjoying People Will Talk

My favorite is Holiday; I keep meaning to make my housemates watch it.

I havent seen that! i will add it to the list

Holiday is the best.

Merrily we go to hell is kinda interesting because you’re watching the movie and then Cary grant shows up and ur like ‘no show me more of THAT guy’

From:
https://www.filmlinc.org/daily/george-cukor-films-favorites-film-society-2013/

Dan Callahan – RogerEbert.com and Senses of Cinema – George Cukor

Holiday is a very special movie, a magic movie, a movie that believably insists that you can create your own world with your friends. And it might not have worked. The Philip Barry play it is based on is always on the verge of becoming brittle and precious. But Cukor and Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant make it into the ultimate party movie for outsiders. There is one shot in Holiday that is emblematic of all Cukor's work: when Hepburn's Linda turns her toy giraffe to profile and says, “Looks like me!” It's the most cheerful disclosure of freakdom in all of cinema, and it says, “Just admit you're a freak. And then have your fun.”

I couldn't get into Holiday.... or any other Cukor movies to be frank. I really don't get it, because I love The Awful Truth, which is the same basic situation as Holiday.

Oh man, I am the opposite. Cukor is my guy! I love Hepburn & Grant in Philadelphia Story, so i def need to see Holiday asap

btw finished Talk of the Town (Mank! v v good! female character is underwritten but god Grant’s role is great, love him in this)

now watching Indiscreet w Bergman <3

Holiday is a special experience: the affectionate limning of a world within a world. It doesn't make the mistake of turning the younger sister into a bitch either; both have their reasons.

My keepers.

Wow, Only Angels Have Wings is pretty high up there.

Among the lighter comedies Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House and Monkey Business are keepers, with Grant-Monroe-Rogers very strong as an ensemble in the latter

I saw Holiday for the first time tonight & you’re all correct - it’s wonderful

also imo perhaps the closest to irl Archie Leach we see on film, from the vaudeville tumbling to the struggle upbringing & strongly held convictions, he seems a little more “natural”?

also Hepburn positively radiant. and that brother Ned is <3

the whole cast is terrific. would v much like to join the 5th Avenue Anti Stuffed Shirt Brigade

Ned is queer.

Grant is awesome.

I love how sister and father aren't villains.

Ned is definitely queer, no question there at all.

And yeah sister & father are nuanced enough to just be dysfunctional rather than villains.

Such a great movie.

There's such genuine warmth in those scenes of them all hanging out in the playroom; it really feels like a group of friends you'd want to be part of.

I love that both of the Potters are academics, and that Linda recognizes Susan because she went to one of her lectures. They could so easily have had Nick be the one she recognizes, but this movie doesn't miss a chance to be cool.

Ned is so lovely. Poor guy.

it’s a lovely film, one of my very favorites

I don't think I properly appreciated the grace of CG's final pratfall until I read this post by Sheila O' Malley (who is consistently great on Cary). https://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=7533

yeah that was incredible

There's such genuine warmth in those scenes of them all hanging out in the playroom; it really feels like a group of friends you'd want to be part of.

otm

What endeared the father, despite his flaws, was what a good sport he was on learning Ned had given Johnny one of his father's ties.

Don’t get the overwhelming Holiday love but I guess Cukor just leaves me cold. I’ll try again.

Yes, I feel somewhat similar

Y'all are banned from the playroom!

Listen. The last man to say that to me was Archie Leach, just a week before he cut his throat.

What endeared the father, despite his flaws, was what a good sport he was on learning Ned had given Johnny one of his father's ties.

Yes, you can see why Julia loves him and why Ned and Linda find him so stifling and destructive; it's not that he wants to hurt anyone, he's not consciously monstrous, he just sees it as a moral good to network and make the right connections and pursue financial success. His response to Johnny and Linda is driven not by deliberate cruelty but just by sheer incomprehension and the belief that anything he doesn't understand must be wrong.

Don’t get the overwhelming Holiday love but I guess Cukor just leaves me cold. I’ll try again.

― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee),

wat

he's made films in every genre. There's gotta be something for you!

Yes, a long career and I’ve watched only a handful admittedly but not one has left a lingering impression.

i can't stand holiday but ayres is amazing in it.

"Can't stand"!

!!

lol seems like it'd make sense as a polarizer given how predicated it is on your wanting to hang out w these people (let alone associating them even faintly w prelapsarian grace)

part of my kate problem in general probably tho.

(as ayres is obv the ballast it makes sense that a hater would make an exception for him but it's also just a fantastic performance i think.)

I should point out that I'd only hag out with these people for a few minutes; their jokes would overpower me.

I can see why HOLIDAY (1938) could easily seem the peak of Leach's career. I've hardly ever seen such a joyous story.

The comment upthread about this character being perhaps close to the real, earlier Archie Leach was insightful too. There is something mysterious about the character's aspirations; they don't get well-defined; perhaps it's unsurprising that the fiancée isn't convinced by them.

But the thing about the Grant canon is how deep it is. I only just saw THE BISHOP'S WIFE and THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY-SOXER (both 1947) for the first time. Both are outstanding, the first almost comparable to IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, the second almost comparable to HIS GIRL FRIDAY or the like, at times, with its orchestration of farce. Grant made those the same year, they're better than almost anything any other actor could do, and they're not even placed in the top drawer of his oeuvre.

My wife takes it pretty well when I ask, "How does a girl like you get to be a girl like you?"

Meant to watch this for New Years, got to it a day late. Joke that made me laugh the hardest was Edward Everett Horton wandering the halls, saying “It seems to have been some sort of residence at one time...”

Edward Everett Horton C/D S/D?

saw Awful Truth for the first time, man it made me laugh so hard so many times, Grant & Dunne are fantastic

I watched TO CATCH A THIEF last night. Grant is much older, perhaps even too old for the role - but still slim and noticeably agile, which the whole premise of the cat burglar requires.

A bit of a daft film, much lighter than I'd expect from Hitchcock - as though he made 'light entertainments' as well as chillers and thrillers? Some fine duelling, bantering dialogue, sometimes risqué.

Some interesting discussion about this film in the archives, especially from Ward Fowler.

Speaking of Grant's age, something from Scott Eyman's bio stuck with me - to paraphrase, Grant looked about 45 for 25 years; then he looked about 60 for his last 20 years.

Scott Eyman wrote a Cary Grant bio?

yep! Rather good too.

Yes, I'm reading it at the moment. It got a good writeup in the LRB recently, so I treated myself for Christmas.

Cool. I liked The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930 a lot, have his John Wayne and Louis B. Mayer books but haven't read properly/pvmic

Actually my current screenname is based on something in his John Wayne book.

i am reading the Eyman bio atm too!

Book club! Oh wait.

He also wrote a book about R.J. Wagner, which seems to me, I dunno, possibly problematic.

He actually wrote two books with R.J. Wagner. I think Eyman alludes to their friendship in a recent episode of the "Maltin on Movies" podcast (can't remember exactly what he says), which mainly deals with the Grant bio for those interested.

This review is kind of funny: https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/chi-robert-wagner-you-must-remember-this-20140228-story.html
The Wapo was more charitable.

Holiday is the best.

We are watching Holiday right now, and are a bit freaked out by the fact that it seems to be Christmas, and yet there is not a single shred of a Christmas decoration anywhere in the Seton house. It's so odd.

I noticed that! The opening scenes must be taking place more or less on Christmas, and yet there's no indication that anyone in the movie celebrates it; it seems like all the Setons do for Christmas is go to church.

Few, was worried this was going to be an RIP thread. Hang in there, Cary!

Phew, lol

Working my way there slowly, roughly in order. Have now seen 13 of the 16 films he made between 1932 and 1933. He's just such a delightful presence all the time. He even brings it in a full (and terrifying) Mock Turtle costume.

The opening scenes must be taking place more or less on Christmas,

I think it's actually Christmas Day, going by some things they say about days of the week. It's so weird.

My wife and I saw "I Was a Male War Bride" last week on DVD. Cary Grant was perfectly fine in it as he usually was in a comedy role. But he was just about the only good thing in it.

The plot was sub-basic sitcom. Howard Hawks and Grant were wasted on this film. Ann Sheridan was only just adequate. But it would have taken greater genius than those three possessed to make this into more than a plodding, predictable rehash of some very tired material.

Scott Eyman's biography is even better than I dared hope.

Yeah, it was so good that I'm thinking of getting the John Wayne one even though I don't care one bit about John Wayne.

just watched The Bishop's Wife, a perfectly serviceable Cary Grant Charm Delivery Vehicle that i never need to see again. i was intrigued by this bit in the wikipedia entry: "the film didn't do very well at the box office at first. Market research showed that moviegoers avoided the film because they thought it was religious. So, Goldwyn decided to re-title it Cary and the Bishop's Wife for some US markets".

i'm trying & failing to think of other movie titles that include the IRL name of the lead actor... other than abbot & costello, are there any other examples of this strange phenomenon?

Being John Malkovich obv

There's a lot of old timey comedians who would do this because their stage name would also be the name of the character - Mexican comedian Cantinflas, George Formby.

The Bishop's Wife is just okay.

i'm trying & failing to think of other movie titles that include the IRL name of the lead actor... other than abbot & costello, are there any other examples of this strange phenomenon?

I can't (things like JCVD and Being John Malkovich don't really count as the actors are actually characters in the films) and I honestly think it's only convention and squeamishness that prevents it. After all, it's why a good number of people go to see a film if it's not part of a franchise (OK, that's an increasingly small number of films), so marketing could save themselves a lot of work by just calling a film Robert Pattinson's Tenet or whatever.

Cheech and Chongs Up In Smoke, etc

I can't (things like JCVD and Being John Malkovich don't really count as the actors are actually characters in the films)

That kicks out Abbott and Costello too tho. But as far as that goes, the Portuguese title for one Jackie Chan film (Police Story 2 I think?) is Jackie Chan Is The Protagonist.

ha, I was just wondering if a Chan film was one.

Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (you got a threefer right there)

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff

Particularly keen on this formulation being employed more often

The Last Temptation of Christ, Willem Dafoe
The English Patient, Ralph Fiennes
Three Men – Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson – and a Baby 
An Officer and a Gentleman, both Richard Gere perhaps

its hilarious to me that karloff is personally identified as a murderer. hard to imagine a modern equivalent: The Green Room Attacked By A Nazi, Patrick Stewart

What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Johnny Depp? Leonardo DiCaprio

I honestly think it's only convention and squeamishness that prevents it

Yeah, though it's always been accepted in tv.

moviegoers avoided the film because they thought it was religious

In 1947 ... will wonders never cease.

His name could almost be City Guess if you squinted

Movie Titles with the Star’s Name in Them

(Though most are actors playing characters that have their name.)

ha thats awesome, its just what i need, thanks for posting that

There's also the weird example of Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) in which actor Charlie Ruggles is one of the principal cast but does not play "Ruggles." What were the odds.

the Portuguese title for one Jackie Chan film (Police Story 2 I think?) is Jackie Chan Is The Protagonist.

― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, November 30, 2021 6:00 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I think there was a Jackie Chan movie marketed in the U.S. as Jackie Chan's First Strike also. Not quite as good as Jackie Chan is the Protagonist, though.

JRN i can confirm that bc i actually watched it last night, lol

How was it? I haven't seen it since whenever it came out in theaters here.

i would say just watch the highlights on youtube, but the whole thing is only like 75 minutes. scene where he fights a gang using an a-frame ladder is a career highlight. also kills a guy using spiny sea urchins, which i believe is a cinematic first.

Lateraling over here from watching Jean Arthur in Easy Living on the Sturges thread (actually there are more than one) to rewatching The Talk of the Town. Ronald Colman is kind of a dud which makes this not quite up to its close silbing The More the Merrier but it is still nearly as good. Cary is very watchable, even with his Magwitch limp.

Jean Arthur apparently complained about Cary Grant upstaging her with his mugging which of course she would. She is superb in this, hitting all her notes, including one in particular involving eggs, doing a little hair-involved improv in the mirror in another bit. Haters need not watch.

Speaking of Jean's hair, need to travel back to the other thread. Ta-ta!

Been working my way through the Indicator Mae West box and Cary really brought out the best in her.