Cary Grant: The Complete Filmography - Watching All Of His Movies (2 Viewers)

[RMajidi]

Happy Birthday! Let us know what you think of The Return of Frank James BD as I think it's just okay for a Technicolor film as I think the PQ could be much better if derived from better elements.

Thank you for the well wishes, Robert.

Have rescheduled 'Frank James' for tonight instead. Introduced my daughter to 'Jesse James' a few days ago, which she loved and she can't wait to see the follow-up with me. Afterwards, I'll post any opinions on 'Frank James' on Robin's German Blu-ray thread so as not to derail this one.

Re Cary Grant: my family did indulge me last night and joined in a viewing of 'Father Goose'. They laughed in all the right places, and clearly enjoyed it, but were not enamoured of it the way I have been since my first viewing in the early eighties.

It was a fitting choice too for my birthday, as 'Father Goose' was also born in '64.

 

[bujaki]

Happy birthday, Ramin! I'm a tad older, having seen Father Goose several times during its premiere run. Charming, disarming film, what with Grant and Caron (one of my childhood loves--Lili, The Glass Slipper, also seen during their first runs). Many happy returns in three-strip colour by Technicolor.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Happy Birthday, Ramin! I've also just turned 52 recently.

1964 was a very, very good year, indeed!

While we only have FATHER GOOSE (1964) off of Television, my wife and I always enjoy viewing this one! Cary Grant can pretty much do no wrong (Although she finds HOLIDAY (1938) too tedious!), so far as we're concerned!

CHEERS!

 

[RMajidi]

Happy birthday, Ramin! I'm a tad older, having seen Father Goose several times during its premiere run. Charming, disarming film, what with Grant and Caron (one of my childhood loves--Lili, The Glass Slipper, also seen during their first runs). Many happy returns in three-strip colour by Technicolor.

Happy Birthday, Ramin! I've also just turned 52 recently.

1964 was a very, very good year, indeed!

While we only have FATHER GOOSE (1964) off of Television, my wife and I always enjoy viewing this one! Cary Grant can pretty much do no wrong (Although she finds HOLIDAY (1938) too tedious!), so far as we're concerned!

CHEERS!

Thank you Jose. Thank you Tony. Your kind wishes are much appreciated.

Enough about my birthday now, as the only reason I brought it up was that it proved an effective vehicle to get my family to finally watch 'Father Goose', thanks to Josh's timely review. Most certainly did not plan for it to derail this thread. Just the same, your greetings have been heart-warming. Thank you.

...and Tony, I had earlier suspected we might be of similar age due to a love for many of the same films and especially TV shows of that era. Nice to have confirmation of that.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#11 - My Favorite Wife (1940)
Viewed on March 17, 2016
Viewing Format: DVD (Warner)

Another Cary Grant discovery thanks to the TCM set. In this screwball comedy, Grant plays a man whose wife perished at sea during crash seven years earlier. Grant has since moved on and fallen in love with another woman (played by Gail Patrick) and the two are married. While on their honeymoon, his first wife (played by Irene Dunne) reappears, rescued from a shipwrecked island, and Grant is faced with the dilemma of having two wives. Dunne is clearly the better fit, but Grant is stricken with jealousy when he discovers that she wasn't alone on the island, but stranded with the handsome Randolph Scott. Hilarity ensues as Grant must juggle both wives (the newer does not know about the former), while coming to terms with his jealousy over Scott.

Grant and Dunne had previously appeared together onscreen in The Awful Truth, and their reteaming here is a welcome sight. Though the setup is different, the premise is similar enough that Grant and Dunne are able to engage in many scenarios that feel similar to their previous film. While My Favorite Wife doesn't have the electric energy of The Awful Truth, it's still a delightful comedy with two fantastic leads and a great supporting cast. Grant and Scott were real life friends and even shared a house whenever they would find themselves between wives/girlfriends; it's fun to see them playing off of each other here.

Like many titles produced by RKO from this time, the DVD is not perfect, but quite serviceable. The print is a little rough around the edges, but the majority of the film is clear and clean. It also has English subtitles. Overall, it's a good but not great presentation. The DVD includes a vintage short which I didn't get to see, as well as a delightful radio adaptation in which Grant and Dunne reprise their roles.

 

[Mike2001]

I became a huge fan of Irene Dunn with My Favorite Wife and The Awful Truth. But it was Love Affair that really sealed the deal. Having seen that first, I was never able to quite appreciate An Affair to Remember. Same sort of thing with Philadelphia Story and High Society. Philadelphia Story always seemed to be on the double bill at revival houses in the eighties (probably saw it 30+ times) and I really grew to love it. By the time I finally saw High Society, it seemed like a poor reflection of the original.

(By the way, cheers to the 52 year olds. I am also a member of that club, but from 1963 instead of 1964.)

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#12 - Houseboat (1958)
Viewed on March 18, 2016
Viewing Format: Vudu HDX 1080p Streaming Rental (Paramount)

After watching Father Goose, I was eager to find something similar with Cary Grant to watch, and on the face of it, Houseboat seemed to fit that bill. Grant stuck with multiple children? Check. Woman who enters his life who charms us and ultimate him? Check. Boats and being on the water? Check. Later-period Grant? Check. But as amusing as this fine film is, it doesn't quite reach the heights that Father Goose would attain several years later.

What this movie does have in its favor is Grant and Sofia Loren. As charming or as beautiful as you might think you are, when you watch them on the screen together, you know you're not. Their effortless screen chemistry is all the more remarkable when you learn that behind the scenes, they had had a passionate love affair which Loren had ultimately broken off before production of the movie began. As her character was falling in love with Grant onscreen, she was falling in love and marrying someone else. You'd never know it watching them.

As far as the plot, Grant is a widower with several children, who moves them away from the only home they've ever known to Washington DC, where he works for the State Department. His late wife's sister, who had always expressed an interest in him, has gotten divorced and also shows up in DC. When he's in need of a new place to move the family to, one thing leads to another, and they end up purchasing a houseboat. When a maid and nanny is needed, Sofia Loren enters the family. Which woman will Grant ultimately end up with? Will the children and father patch up their rocky relationships? Will you be charmed by the cast's photogenic perfection and screen chemistry? It's not Grant's finest, but it's a solidly entertaining movie that I probably did a disservice to watching so close to Father Goose. I want to watch this on its own one day and reevaluate it.

I had some technical issues with the Vudu stream that were most likely due to connection issues on my end and not the stream itself. I'm hesitant to say too much one way or the other because anything that seemed off was most likely something with my equipment. When the movie did play clearly, it looked decent enough. It looked like one of the early HD masters created for the DVD era, if I had to guess. The movie was filmed in VistaVision but none of that grandeur translated here. Again, I don't know how much was me and how much was the stream and how much was the transfer given to Vudu. For a $4 rental, it did the job. (This seems like a rare anomaly; usually my streaming works fine, and I'm happy to report that movies I've watched since have played fine, so I should be able to give a better technical review next time I watch a streaming title.)

 

[classicmovieguy]

The European and Australian DVDs of "Houseboat" were released on dual-layer discs, whereas the American release was single-layered. Owning both the US and Australian discs (I love this film a LOT) there is a marked difference in transfer quality although they both come from the same master - created in 2002.

Sophia and Cary are wonderful together, but the children steal the show. Charles Herbert as the grieving youngest son, with Paul Petersen (from "The Donna Reed Show") as the oldest, the most vocally critical and resentful of their absentee father.

Charles Herbert's glittering career as a child star in such films as "The Fly", "13 Ghosts" and "Houseboat" was marred by the revelation that his family had squandered his entire fortune but $1,700, leaving him penniless by the time he turned 21. Paul Petersen was a big support to Charles in his later years.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#13 - Monkey Business (1952)
Viewed on March 19, 2016 (Netflix 1080p stream) and April 17, 2016 (DVD) (Fox)

Monkey Business is a fantastic screwball comedy directed by the great Howard Hawks and featuring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers. It might be a little less frantically paced than His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby, but is every bit as delightful. In this more whimsical tale, Grant is a chemist working on a fountain of youth elixir. While his own formulations yield nothing, when one of his test subject monkeys is left unattended in the lab, the monkey concocts a potion that does the trick. The monkey hides it in the water dispenser, and Grant, and later Rogers, find themselves under the influence and engaging in hilarious hijinks. To say anymore would be to give away the delight in seeing these two master performers handle every ridiculous situation that gets thrown at them. The supporting cast is perfection: Charles Coburn as Grant's boss, an early Marilyn Monroe performance as the boss's secretary, and Huge Marlowe as Rogers's ex-flame. Grant is able to convincingly play an older, more tired version of his usual persona at the start of the film, but when he takes the youth serum, he's able to revert to the energy of his earlier Hawks performances. That's what sells the picture.

I watched this movie twice. The first time was a Netflix HD stream, and the second time was on a DVD. They both appeared to be using the same transfer. It looked like a DVD-era master, and the HD revealed some extra clarity, but the DVD was quite pleasing on its own. There's a restoration demonstration featurette on the DVD that suggests that the film received a photochemical restoration before digital restorations became commonplace. As such, the movie looks very good but lacks the perfection of, say, the new Suspicion Blu-ray. But that's a minor quibble that should have no impact on your choice to watch this movie. It's a good presentation of a fantastic film, and more than enough for the performances, writing and direction to come through.

If you're in the mood for something a little more on the ridiculous side, I highly recommend Monkey Business.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The European and Australian DVDs of "Houseboat" were released on dual-layer discs, whereas the American release was single-layered. Owning both the US and Australian discs (I love this film a LOT) there is a marked difference in transfer quality although they both come from the same master - created in 2002.

Is the Australian one PAL too? I'd love to grab a dual-layered NTSC version, I can play PAL but the speedup and pitch correction (even when well done) makes it not necessarily a first choice.

I keep hoping someone will license it out for a Blu-ray. If Warner doesn't have a claim on it, maybe Olive could grab it?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#14 - Indiscreet (1958)
Viewed on March 20, 2016
Viewing Format: Blu-ray (Olive)

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman reunited in director Stanley Donen's Indiscreet. Bergman plays an actress who become smitten with Grant, who everyone believes is married. The truth, however, is that he's merely pretending to be married in order to avoid commitment. Eventually she finds out the truth, and continues to pursue him. This light romantic comedy is simply charming from start to finish. It's also notable for its use of split-screens, which are well used here - I find it a charming technique.

I loved movies and collecting them ever since I was a little kid. Whenever I'd go to someone's house, the first thing I'd check out would be their VHS collection. Mine was huge for a kid (a mix of store bought and taped-off-TV and copied rentals) so I was always shocked that adults, who seemed to have unlimited money and no bedtimes, would not have huge collections of their own. I'd stay at my grandparents house frequently on weekends, and they didn't have many tapes, so I'd bring my own. I noticed that one of the very few was Indiscreet. Years later I tried to watch their VHS, but it looked so horrendous I couldn't get more than a few minutes into it. A few years after that, I tried to watch the DVD which I rented from Netflix, but it looked as bad as the VHS. So I never saw this until now. This year I've been trying to watch those few movies that they did had, and in watching this, I can absolutely see what my grandmother enjoyed about it. (I can't imagine my grandfather being any more than indifferent to it, but he'd occasionally surprise me, so you never know. I watched Albert Brooks's "Mother" with my grandmother and she didn't laugh once. I watched it again with my grandfather, and he was cracking up the whole time. He also bought me pizza when we watched it, which my grandmother never would have allowed if she had been home. She had even prepared meals for us to eat in her absence and put them away in tupperware, so when Debbie Reynolds's character opens up her freezer and has done the same, we just lost it. Sorry for the tangent. But it's as good a time as any to say, if you've never seen Mother, see it. Especially if, like me, you've got either a Jewish grandmother or mother.)

The Blu-ray from Olive is by far the best the movie has ever looked on home video. It's a little bit dirty and a little bit faded, but it is completely watchable and a delight to do so. When you've seen just how terrible it can look, to see it like this is a revelation. The disc doesn't include subtitles or any bonus features, but the picture is pretty good, the audio is clear, and it's certainly far better than its ever looked at home before.

 

[Matt Hough]

#13 - Monkey Business (1952)
Viewed on March 19, 2016 (Netflix 1080p stream) and April 17, 2016 (DVD) (Fox)

Monkey Business is a fantastic screwball comedy directed by the great Howard Hawks and featuring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers. It might be a little less frantically paced than His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby, but is every bit as delightful. In this more whimsical tale, Grant is a chemist working on a fountain of youth elixir. While his own formulations yield nothing, when one of his test subject monkeys is left unattended in the lab, the monkey concocts a potion that does the trick. The monkey hides it in the water dispenser, and Grant, and later Rogers, find themselves under the influence and engaging in hilarious hijinks. To say anymore would be to give away the delight in seeing these two master performers handle every ridiculous situation that gets thrown at them. The supporting cast is perfection: Charles Coburn as Grant's boss, an early Marilyn Monroe performance as the boss's secretary, and Huge Marlowe as Rogers's ex-flame. Grant is able to convincingly play an older, more tired version of his usual persona at the start of the film, but when he takes the youth serum, he's able to revert to the energy of his earlier Hawks performances. That's what sells the picture.

I watched this movie twice. The first time was a Netflix HD stream, and the second time was on a DVD. They both appeared to be using the same transfer. It looked like a DVD-era master, and the HD revealed some extra clarity, but the DVD was quite pleasing on its own. There's a restoration demonstration featurette on the DVD that suggests that the film received a photochemical restoration before digital restorations became commonplace. As such, the movie looks very good but lacks the perfection of, say, the new Suspicion Blu-ray. But that's a minor quibble that should have no impact on your choice to watch this movie. It's a good presentation of a fantastic film, and more than enough for the performances, writing and direction to come through.

If you're in the mood for something a little more on the ridiculous side, I highly recommend Monkey Business.

I have the Fox DVD and have been meaning to rewatch it for a long time. Your comments have spurred me on to place it in the queue for viewing at some point this week in the evening.

 

[RMajidi]

#14 - Indiscreet (1958)
... we just lost it. Sorry for the tangent. But it's as good a time as any to say, if you've never seen Mother, see it. Especially if, like me, you've got either a Jewish grandmother or mother.)

The Blu-ray from Olive is by far the best the movie has ever looked on home video. It's a little bit dirty and a little bit faded, but it is completely watchable and a delight to do so. When you've seen just how terrible it can look, to see it like this is a revelation. The disc doesn't include subtitles or any bonus features, but the picture is pretty good, the audio is clear, and it's certainly far better than its ever looked at home before.

That was a magical little tangent, giving us a glimpse into the life of the young Josh.

 

[Mike Frezon]

That was a magical little tangent, giving us a glimpse into the life of the young Josh.

Especially since he's so old now...



I agree. That was fun!

 

[Bernard McNair]

Thank you for this most enjoyable thread Josh. I believe that I have seen most of Cary Grant's films and cannot recall one that I have not enjoyed him in. Gunga Din is outstanding and I look forward to your views on Charade. Father Goose is a gem and a film I have revisited many times over the years. I am envious of the many Cary Grant treats that still await your journey.

 

[Nelson Au]

I've been alway putting off watching Father Goose. Maybe because it's one of the later films, maybe because Cary is not in full-on Cary mode without his grey suit. But the enthusiasm here has convinced me. . I have the DVD, but I'll purchase the Olive blu ray.

I've also put off House Boat. So you've convinced me.

In shopping around, I also discovered a title I have no knowledge of from Criterion. A new release called Only Angels Have Wings with Cary and Jean Arthur.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#15 - That Touch Of Mink (1962)
Viewed on March 21, 2016 and April 12, 2016
Viewing Format: Blu-ray (Olive)

That Touch Of Mink is a wonderfully charming, if slightly dated, romantic comedy about an executive (played by Grant) who attempts to seduce a woman he's met through unusual circumstances (played by Doris Day). As the film begins, Doris Day plays a career woman searching for her next job, on her way to an interview, when Grant's chauffeured car drives through a puddle and splashes her outfit. Though he doesn't stop to offer assistance, Grant feels bad about this, and is guilted further by one of his subordinates (Gig Young) at the office. When Young is sent to find Day and bring her to the office so that Grant may apologize, Young instead plans to have Day show up to put Grant in his place, a plan that Day is very much on board with. But when Day comes face to face with Grant, she's smitten, and he sweeps her off her feet on the most over the top, classy, New York, early 1960s night on the town you can imagine. As their date concludes, Day reveals that she is not looking for casual romance but a commitment, something that Grant is unwilling to give. Instead of coupling, they part for the night, but each secretly longs for the other. Throughout the rest of the film, they meet up under varying circumstances and each tries to sway the other to their particular brand of romance. The locales vary as the romance continues. A romantic trip to Bermuda fizzles; another romantic adventure spurned by jealousy finds our leads separately racing through New Jersey.

Grant and Day have easy, effortless screen chemistry that makes the entire film a breeze to watch. Gig Young is great in a supporting role as Grant's coworker and confidant; Audrey Meadows (Alice from the Honeymooners) is equally great as Day's best friend and roommate. Look out for appearances by John Astin, Alan Hewitt, Dick Sargent, John Fiedler, and Richard Deacon in supporting roles, and hilarious cameos by Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra.

That Touch Of Mink is an easy, breezy movie that just floats by and charms you while it lasts. It's somewhere between a screwball and a sitcom, and the presence of many supporting actors best known for their TV work helps blur the line between big screen adventure and small screen escapade. The Wikipedia article on the film alleges that Grant hates how it turned out, but doesn't cite a source; in the Evenings With Cary Grant book, it's never mentioned how he feels about the film. (That book does mention that although Grant made 72 features in his career, he only counted 68 out of them on his own personal list of films he made out. The films that he apparently disowns include Devil And The Deep, Born To Be Bad, When You're In Love, and People Will Talk. The first of those three were made during his contract period, either for Paramount or for other studios he was loaned out to, so it strikes me as possible that he simply didn't remember those features. But People Will Talk was made in the 1950s and was a prestige production. It's surprising perhaps to see it disowned, although the plot seems ridiculous by today's standards. But I digress…) Of all of the Cary Grant movies I've watched so far during this swing, That Touch Of Mink remains one of the most effortlessly charming of the bunch. I liked it so much that I ended up showing it to my fiancé after I had seen it, and she also wound up loving the film, especially Grant.

The Blu-ray from Olive is a little bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, it's more than a little dirty, as Robert Harris points out in his review of the movie. If you were invited to a 35mm repertory screening and showed this print, you'd probably be very satisfied, but we've come to expect more on Blu-ray, where more can be done. So while I wish the element used had been cleaned up better, and while I wish some of the minor fading had been attended to, on the whole it's a good enough release. It's far superior to any home video version that's come before, blowing the non-anamorphic DVD out of the water. Nowadays technology can make it seem that a movie from 1962 was shot yesterday; that hasn't been done here, but the movie looking like it was shot in 1962 isn't such a bad thing. For a hint at how bad it looked before this disc, check out the Netflix streaming version, which appears to be extracted and blown up from a non-anamorphic standard definition transfer - there's no detail or color fidelity there, and it's riddled with digital noise. The Blu-ray is a very welcome relief by comparison. My fiancé did not notice any issues when watching the movie (if it had been unwatchable, she would have let me know). The Blu-ray does not include any subtitles or bonus features, but fortunately, the picture and audio are clear and easy to understand.

That Touch Of Mink comes highly recommended, especially for anyone looking for the suave, sophisticated, classy city bound comedies from the late 1950s/early 1960s. It's Grant near the end of his career, but he's got the confidence thing down so well that it's just a pleasure to watch him in each scene.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Is the Australian one PAL too? I'd love to grab a dual-layered NTSC version, I can play PAL but the speedup and pitch correction (even when well done) makes it not necessarily a first choice.

I keep hoping someone will license it out for a Blu-ray. If Warner doesn't have a claim on it, maybe Olive could grab it?

It's PAL.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#16 - Kiss Them For Me (1957)
Viewed on March 25, 2016
Viewing Format: DVD (Fox)

Kiss Them For Me is another one of Cary Grant's late career World War II pictures, and the first of four collaborations between the star and director Stanley Donen. I got this blindly as part of the "Cary Grant 7-Movie Collection" DVD set which I picked up on sale at Amazon for $15. (The other titles included are Fox's An Affair To Remember, Born To Be Bad, I Was A Male War Bride, Monkey Business, People Will Talk and MGM's The Pride And The Passion.) Each disc within the set was originally a single title release, and as such, the include their respective bonus features. Unfortunately, there's not much. But even lacking the more generous extras on the Warner discs, the set is still a great value, especially if you can find it for under $20. Only one of the seven titles has been released on Blu-ray (An Affair To Remember).

In this film, which is set during WWII, Grant plays a Navy pilot who sneaks away to San Francisco on a four day leave (which may or may not have been authorized) with two of his fellow pilots. They arrange for a posh hotel, and soon are hooked up with a group of girls, including Jayne Mansfield. The pilots, especially Grant, just want to relax. A Navy officer discovers there whereabouts and demands they return immediately, as the leave hadn't been properly authorized, but they are given the chance to stay if they agree to make some morale-raising speeches to workers at a local shipyard, which is owned by a wealthy but crass businessman. Grant starts falling for the businessman's fiancé (played by Suzy Parker), and is resistant to his new assignment. In a short period of time, Grant must figure out his romantic situation, his Navy status, and deal with some of the effects of what we'd now call PTSD.

Billed as a comedy, the movie does have its share of ridiculous and hilarious scenarios, but at its core has a deeply dramatic center. These men have been faced with the horrors of war day in and day out, and at the first chance they get to try to decompress, they're asked to speak to others about the glories of war - a propaganda they know doesn't match their reality. There are no real villains here, and perhaps not even heroes, just people trying to cope with the unimaginable in the most ridiculous ways possible.

The DVD from Fox presents the move in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, enhanced for widescreen televisions. This was probably a brand new master at the time of its original release, and it's a solid presentation. However, the movie does look perhaps a little faded, and I would love to see what a new scan of the elements and digital cleanup could achieve. But until that day comes, this DVD is more than satisfactory. It's clean and clear and the audio is easy to understand. English subtitles are provided. I think the disc also had a trailer.

I was expecting a lighter, sillier movie like Operation Petticoat when I put this on, but it turned out to be a much more serious affair, and yet, not a straight drama either. The blend works well, and the cast plays phenomenally well together, each actor really selling their character's anguish or optimism. The movie was not a success on its original release, and received negative reviews, but I think it's worth reevaluating today. This has been one of my favorite finds so far.

 

[classicmovieguy]