Cary Grant: The Complete Filmography - Watching All Of His Movies (1 Viewer)

[BobO'Link]

-I'd love to see someone do a proper restoration and release of Amazing Adventure. The disc I saw was actually crap, but the movie was a delight even in a butchered form. I think it's ripe for rediscovery if someone would give it a chance.

I've been lusting for this since I got into DVD collecting! I first saw it as a kid, in the 60s, and then, decades later, on one of those MC multi-film releases. I've been looking for a "good" copy ever since...

 

[Nelson Au]

The copy of Monkey Business I picked up is from a Marylin Monroe series of releases. That makes sense that could be a blu ray from the Monroe direction.

I picked up the DVD of Amazing Adventure last year as part of my effort to keep up with Josh. It will be a first time viewing for me. Didn't know it was butchered, but I didn't expect a great restored print either. I'll try to watch it soon.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Awful Truth coming from Criterion in April!!

 

[Joel Arndt]

Awful Truth coming from Criterion in April!!

Yes, saw that. Fantastic news! And you know with Grover Crisp and his team behind the restoration it will look as flawless as possible.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It's been available as a 4K DCP for repertory theaters for a year or two - I missed the local screening but heard good things. Can't wait!

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Josh, thought I’d post about another Grant film I finally got around to watching. I watched Dream Wife, i had no idea what the story was about so I had no idea what I was going to watch!

Once again, thanks a lot for taking the time and effort to make links for each title to your reviews. It made for quick work to find the title. I read it this morning and I’d agree with it. But given the people involved, I figured it might be interesting and hopefully be quality work.

The thing that totally surprised me about it was the topic given the era it was made. Maybe I’m not fully aware, but I did not know or think that in the early 1950’s, there are women who have a more modern attitude towards female roles. So it was amusing that Deborah Kerr’s character would subvert the Princess and expose her to the modern world and freedoms American women have.

I was surprised by Walter Pigeon’s role as it wasn’t much of a role for an actor of his standing. It was fun to see an early Richard Anderson appearance, with both actors about to appear together in Forbidden Planet a few years later. I was also surprised to see Steve Forrest. Les Tremayne was also amusing to see in the cast who’d later appear with Grant in North by Northwest.

I’ll try to catch a few other Grant titles in my unwatched pile and I hope to add a few more. It was nice to take a little break and come back.

 

[Nelson Au]

I followed up with Kiss Them For Me. Another film I had very little to no knowledge of other then the basic plot synopsis.

It looked like quite a lavish production, though I agree Josh, the print looked faded. The location filming was a nice surprise being that San Francisco is my home town. I didn’t know this was Ray Walston’s film debut. Or Warner Klemperer was in the cast. I probably had seen Suzy Parker in the Twilight Zone ages ago, but didn’t really knew anything about her. Though I know who Mansfield is, this is the first film one of her films I’ve seen.

The story does seem odd. I can see it was a comedy but the inclusion of the war time trauma that the three fliers were trying to escape from felt awkward. It seemed so odd either the way it was written, directed or acted how Grant’s character was acting towards all attempts to get him and his pals to go and give pep talks to raise moral for the war effort. I get it and it felt very much like what Alan Alda and MASH later did much better.

The oddness was also because it was a Stanley Donen film and was between the better Hitchcock/Grant collaborations before and after this film. Also because it was so close to the superior Indiscreet with Donen as well, An Affair to Remember, and later Operation Petticoat. Though he did do Pride and the Passion too in 1957, another title I have not seen yet, but seems to not be too many people’s favorite.

Looks like I missed out on that 7 film Cary Grant box set as I was looking for a copy. While I have several of the films in that set already, it looks like it’s very difficult to find a copy of People Will Talk and I thought it might be easier to get that film in that box set. I’ll keep an eye out for it and maybe I can be lucky and get a copy for the same $15 you did Josh. I’m sure a copy will make itself available. . From the reviews here of The Pride and the Passion, seems like a bargain purchase of that film would be a good way to sample it without buying the blu ray. Though that might be a smart move to grab before it goes OOP.

Back to Kiss Them For Me, I started to drift out 3/4 of the way though, but I stuck with it. I thought it had a few moments, but it was uneven. I was a little lost why Grant has his buddies wanted to fly back to Pearl at the end except to be with their comrades and continue to fight. But they just didn’t seem to want to accept that new assignment to stay home and be promoting the war effort. I can see why this film wasn’t well received. I can’t say as I wasn’t around in 1957, but perhaps the audience didn’t want to be reminded of WW2 given the escapist type of films coming from Hollywood at the time.

 

[Nelson Au]

I finally watched The Talk of The Town in the Cary Grant box set that includes Holiday, Only Angels Have Wings, The Awful Truth, and His Girl Friday. Kind of unfortunate if you own this set that Criterion has released brand new blu rays of several titles. But that’s great news for those films! I did watch the Criterion of Only Angels Have Wings over the one in this set.

I’d hesitated to watch The Talk of the Town because from the synopsis it wasn’t what I like to see Grant in. But I finally wanted to see it. It was much different then what I’d imagined. I did read your review Josh and yes, I wasn’t expecting some of the screw-ball comedy elements. And there was something about the Professor that seemed familiar but not. I have never seen a Ronald Coleman film before! But his voice was a very distinctive and unique voice, to quote Maxwell Smart. And that’s where I figured it out. Coleman was in The Prisoner of Zenda and it’s one of Don Adam’s favorite films and Adams does a Coleman impression in Get Smart in a send up of The Prisoner of Zenda and a second two-parter Get Smart episode. But that wasn’t all, there was something familiar about his voice. I can’t place it but it seems like I’ve heard it before somewhere else. I’ll figure it out I hope.

As a result, I’ve added The Prisoner of Zenda and Lost Horizon to my amazon cart. I’ve read about the restoration of Lost Horizon and it was on my list of titles to collect. So I know have another reason to see it. Plus it has Amanda, Spock’s mother-Jane Wyatt.

At the start of the film Professor Lightcap was such a stuffy shirt and not having seen a Ronald Coleman film before, i had no frame of reference for who this character was, so maybe it helped me as he was such a stiff and unlikeable guy at first. This was also one of the first films I’d seen Jean Arthur in outside of Only Angels have Wings where she wasn’t as appealing as I recall having only seen it once so far. Here she is much more appealing and has a nice screen chemistry with the male leads. There’s a couple of titles she is in that I’ve not seen yet either and I’ve been meaning to, Mr Deed Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, so essentially, a lot of Capra titles. I’ll be collecting those soon enough!

As for Cary Grant, it was an interesting character study outside of the Cary Grant persona as he wasn’t there. He was playing a new character, one who I sort of recognized from Father Goose if Leopold Dilg was the same guy. Or at least a derivation of that. The funny part was he was always hungry and eating!

I’m guessing this sort of story of a man up against a mob/majority was a sort of Capra staple, the social drama as Wikipedia calls it. It was an interesting film with such a heavy story of corruption and yet, mixed with comedic elements. It was a very enjoyable film! And I think Coleman stole the show. He made a big impression. It’s interesting, if the Wikipedia entry on this film is correctly quoting Cary Grant, that Cary Grant was very concerned about the original title, Mr. Twilight. He felt it might imply the film was about a single male character, and Coleman in the credits who had the more positive role might steal the show. I think he does steal the show regardless.

I was also not expecting the love triangle aspect of the story and I really wasn’t sure how it was going to end, would Nora pick Leopold or Professor Lightcap.

Edgar Bergman was another face I was unsure of as I recognized him, but wasn’t sure who he was. He was so familiar.

I didn’t think the film felt long. It was great fun to watch the Professor melt and become less stiff and more passionate about correcting a wrong and shifting from the cerebral academic to the more street wise arena he was so sheltered from. On that note, I thought his man, Tilney was also an interesting character as he was able to inform Lightcap and give him advise. He also said he, like Lightcap lived a sheltered or cloistered as he said, life. So it was difficult to deal with new experiences. It was also interesting to see his reaction as Lightcap suddenly changes and shaves off the beard. He was reacting to such a shift with sadness.

I’m glad I finally saw this film as it was a very entertaining film. It’s going to lead me to add a few more titles to my collection of the classic films. And I’m surprised such a title I was putting off was one I really liked a lot more then I expected to. Though I’m not sure it’s going to be one I view too often. We will see.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Lost Horizon is a top five film for me. Ronald Colman is magnificent in it. I hope you like it!

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Josh. I’ve only read a few things about Lost Horizon, mainly about how long the search for was for lost footage, so it might as well be a total unknown to me. It’s going to be a brand new experience for me. I’ll let you know what I think of Lost Horizon plus The Prisoner of Zenda.

I’ve just ordered it along with several other titles including the ones I mentioned above and also the 1927 film, Wings which should be interesting to see as well.

 

[stevenHa]

Also for Ronald Coleman, you should watch Random Harvest and especially A Double Life. Maybe someone knowledgeable can confirm if there was an ego issue between Grant and Coleman over who was a bigger screen idol during the making of Talk of the Town ?

 

[Konstantinos]

I'm happy to report that 2 days ago I saw the last film I had to complete Cary Grant's filmography.
The Pride and the Passion
well.... it was.. good. but I think Cary Grant is not fitted very much for period films.

So, having completed all of his filmography, I think I came to the conclusion that for me personally Cary Grant is at his very best in those black and white comedies. He pulls it off so great (I don't think anyone else can in this genre), and seems so natural in such films!
Of course there are the Hitchock films too, but I think he absolutely shines in the comedies.

it's the first actor (after James Dean with 3 films - hehe) that I've completed his filmography.

 

[revgen]

Has anybody bought the French blu-ray of The Eagle and the Hawk (1933)?
LINK

Just curious. There doesn't seem to be any reviews or feedback about this release anywhere.

 

[Matt Hough]

Talk of the Town is on TCM this week (Monday, I think). I don't know if it'll be a high definition element shown or not, but I certainly plan to record it to see.

 

[RMajidi]

My son arrived home last night for a brief spell. In the evening, we all settled in for the blissfully unearthed transfer of The Philadelphia Story on Criterion’s Blu-ray. Beautiful.

Right at the start though, after the MGM logo, he asked me to pause the film as he had something to share, and then dug this up on his smartphone.

Belongs more on the Alamo thread, perhaps?

 

[RMajidi]

As to Ronald Colman. To think that he is such a great actor that he first made it big in the silent era, before anyone could hear that majestic voice of his.

What a revelation it must have been to audiences when they finally got to hear him speak. He’s certainly a favourite of this household, and we’ve been busily collecting whatever films of his that we can find.

 

[bujaki]

I've seen a number of Colman's silent films and all of his talking pictures (except The Story of Mankind). In my opinion, his best performance is in that glorious melodrama, Random Harvest.

 

[bujaki]

Has anyone else noticed how awkwardly Colman always walks across the frame in all his movies?

 

[Matt Hough]

I watched The Talk of the Town on TCM this afternoon, and though it looked sharp, there were definite problems with the transfer. The left side of the frame frequently was lighter and lacking the density of the center and right hand side. Needs work if it's ever to receive a disc release.

And I agree thoroughly with you, Josh, that the scenes where Grant and Colman share the screen are just delectable. Both actors can hold the screen effortlessly making for great interplay between them especially since they are theoretically on opposite sides of the matter.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Konstantinos! Congratulations you completed viewing every Cary Grant film! That’s an accomplishment not too many people can claim! .