Movie Review: Dream Wife (1953)

Genre: Romantic Comedy  

Director: Sidney Sheldon  

Starring: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Walter Pidgeon, Betta St. John  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: While on a trip to the oil-rich country of Bukistan, American businessman Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) is offered a marriage to the ruler's daughter Princess Tarji (Betta St. John), who has all the attributes of a perfect traditional wife. Back in the United States, Clemson breaks off his engagement with his workaholic fiancée Effie (Deborah Kerr), a State Department official finalizing a critical oil deal with Bukistan. Tarji accepts Clemson's marriage proposal and travels to the US, with Effie is assigned to chaperone the couple.

What Works Well: Some chuckles are found in the sharp contrasts between Clemson's idealistic vision of a dream wife dedicated to her man's every need and Effie's no-nonsense, all-business, always-on-the-phone modern woman.

What Does Not Work As Well: The tin-eared plot stumbles to develop the simple be-careful-what-you-wish-for battle-of-the-sexes premise, and sacrifices all common sense and cultural continuity in search of cheap laughs. From the State Department micromanaging a courtship to Tarji's quick acclimatization, the comedy disintegrates into silliness. The foundational cracks include the supposedly suave and sophisticated Clemson being dumb enough to propose marriage across oceans to a woman he barely knows, who can't speak his language, and who comes from a culture he does not understand. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr drift through the dross with noted disinterest.

Key Quote:

Clemson (arguing with Effie): I want a full-time wife and you want a part-time husband, it's as simple as that.



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Movie Review: Kiss And Make-Up (1934)

A romantic comedy with some musical numbers thrown in, Kiss And Make-Up embraces its frivolity in a breezy story about infatuation colliding with love.

In Paris, American Dr. Maurice Lamar (Cary Grant) operates a world-renowned luxury clinic providing cosmetic surgery for women seeking improved physical beauty. He does not notice that his super-competent secretary Annie (Helen Mack), who barely bothers to powder her nose, is in love with him. Instead, Maurice is fixated on his patient Eve Caron (Genevieve Tobin), and considers her his masterpiece.

Eve divorces her husband Marcel (Edward Everett Horton) and marries Maurice. They honeymoon in the south of France at an industry conference, where Maurice discovers that creating the perfect woman and being married to her are two different things. Meanwhile Annie and Marcel meet and start their own romance.

With Cary Grant in full debonair mode and warbling a couple of songs, Kiss And Make-Up gathers enough elegance and self-deprecation to survive diaphanous content. Director and co-writer Harlan Thompson has the budget to go all-in on aesthetics and extras, Dr. Lamar's Parisian clinic a haven of Greek mythology-inspired beauty, occupied by an army of beauticians and patients in various stages of undress. The film was released in the same month the Hays Code was adopted, and straddles its limits.

The plot has its heart in the right place, first celebrating the relentless pursuit of beauty only to shred the aura of haughtiness and mercilessly expose the hopeless fragility of perfection in the real world. The romance elements progress according to genre conventions, the correct two people ending up together but only after navigating the most convoluted path possible.

Helen Mack (acerbically grounded) and Genevieve Tobin (semi-innocently puerile) provide strong support as the two women vying for Dr. Lamar's attention. The large supporting cast includes the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS) Baby Stars of the day in mostly walk-on roles, although no members of this class progressed to notable careers. Ann Sheridan is uncredited in an early appearance. 

Kiss And Make-Up ends with a well-executed madcap car chase through the streets of Paris, almost entirely irrelevant to the plot but capturing the film's flighty spirit. Beauty is only skin deep, but can still cause a heap of trouble.



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Movie Review: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

A drama and romance, Only Angels Have Wings explores the psyche of men intent on conquering the dual risks of gravity and jagged terrain.

The setting is the remote port city of Barranca, in South America at the base of the Andes. Geoff Carter (Cary Grant) runs a ramshackle airline flying mail, supplies and rescue missions through mountain passes. The elderly Dutchy (Sig Ruman) owns the airline but is close to bankruptcy. Kid Dabb (Thomas Mitchell) is Geoff's loyal second-in-command and one of the pilots. 

Entertainer Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) arrives in Barranca and is attracted to Geoff, although he is clear about never wanting to be constrained by a woman. Bonnie witnesses one of the pilots crashing in heavy fog, and is shocked at Geoff's casual attitude towards tragedy. Nevertheless, she decides to hang around.

An experienced pilot calling himself MacPherson (Richard Barthelmess) arrives with his wife Judy (Rita Hayworth), seeking a job. Judy has a romantic history with Carter, and MacPherson carries a suspect reputation due to an incident involving Kid's brother. Carter gives him a chance and MacPherson proves his flying skills. With financial pressure increasing to fly more missions, Carter and his men accept higher risks.

It takes a special breed of men to settle at the limits of civilization and fly suspect equipment through soaring mountains, and the women attracted to such men are also made of stern stuff. In Only Angels Have Wings, director Howard Hawks and screenwriter Jules Furthman create an unforgettably scrappy edge-of-the-world ambience enlivened by compelling characters dancing with death. Personal and financial desperation mix with brazen courage and adrenaline, and several memorable flying sequences celebrate the early days of commercial cargo aviation.

The film notably refuses to conform to any genre. Starting with the foundation of a frontier western mentality (all the pilots wear guns), Hawks crafts a unique character-centred drama with one-sided romantic entanglements, a cryptic sense of humour, a couple of organic musical numbers, breathtaking aviation scenes and no shortage of tragedy, injury and interpersonal tension. 

The unifying theme is a sense of close-knit family nourished by camaraderie forged by like-minded adventurous but interchangeable men. While they each have limits, none have the patience or inclination to grieve. The meagre belongings of the deceased are unceremoniously shared, and after a few songs are belted out focus quickly shifts to finding a replacement.

Cary Grant's Carter stands tall as a risk-taking leader, quick to bark out orders and push back on emotions. Full of prickly self-confidence, he leads by example and never hesitates to speak his mind to the men and women in his life. Nor does he care should anyone pack up and leave because of his forthright words - in fact, he frequently encourages them to do so, Barranca being no place for unsure personalities.

He is surrounded by colourful characters with their own stories. The doddering Dutchy is buckling under financial pressure and a life lived watching others die, while Carter's sidekick Kid is approaching his best-before flying date and now has to confront the man responsible for his brother's demise. And Richard Barthelmess as MacPherson emerges with the most interesting side-quest as a pilot quietly gritting his teeth to seek redemption in perilous skies.

Only Angels Have Wings bluntly advocates for women to accept men as they are or leave them alone. With Jean Arthur at her inquisitive best, Bonnie has to decide if loving Carter is worth daily heartstopping drama, while Rita Hayworth's Judy, having bounced from Carter to MacPherson, is clearly attracted to the thrill, although she may not admit it. Flying with the angels is treacherous, but also euphoric.

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Movie Review: Notorious (1946)

A romantic drama and spy adventure, Notorious is a gripping and multi-faceted thriller.

In Miami, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is a hard-drinking party girl. After her Nazi-sympathizer father is imprisoned for treason, she is recruited by government agent Devlin (Cary Grant) to infiltrate a dangerous Rio de Janeiro-based ring of former Nazis. During the journey to South America Alicia and Devlin start to fall in love, although she is conscious of her libertine reputation and he is trying to not get emotionally involved.

In Rio, Alicia reconnects with Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), a former family friend, and now a key member of the clandestine Nazi cartel. Alex always harboured a crush on her, and now she exploits his love to get into his house and start observing and reporting on his nefarious business associates. But Alex is jealous of Devlin, who in turn is conflicted between love and duty. The spy mission becomes much more complicated when Alex proposes marriage as a test of Alicia's loyalty.

Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock's most perfect film, Notorious is an exquisitely constructed romantic triangle residing within an espionage mystery. Written with devious clarity by Ben Hecht, the story offers three conflicted and sympathetic characters struggling against personal demons and larger existential forces. The romance crashes against imperatives of duty, commitment to others, and matters of personal and professional survival.

After efficiently establishing the context of Alicia as a fun-loving but conflicted woman caught between her father's legacy and patriotism, Hitchcock pours the foundation of a deeply complex love story with one of cinema most celebrated and sensual kisses. At her Rio apartment Alicia and Devlin kiss, nuzzle and nibble for approximately three minutes, with Hitchcock unapologetically getting around the Hays Code's three second rule by introducing brief interruptions that only serve to heighten the scene's elegant eroticism.

But this is not a straightforward love triangle. Devlin is unimpressed with Alicia's promiscuous tendencies and desperate to maintain focus on his assignment. Alicia is quite unsure if she deserves to be loved by a man of integrity, upset at how easily he deploys her to pretend to love another man, and conscious of how quickly she can acquiesce to pleasure with others. And Alex's love of Alicia is perhaps the most pure, blinding him to her true purpose and distracting him from the business at hand. They will circle each other with a combustible mix of passion and doubt.

Despite the fascinating romantic triangle, the spy elements are not shortchanged. With Alex's coldly villainous mother (played to perfection by Leopoldine Konstantin) lording over all her son's affairs and the Nazi co-plotters quick to reveal their ruthless streak, Hitchcock conjures up one of his classic tense sequences. A swanky party at Alex's mansion, a supply of champagne running low, a stolen wine cellar key and a broken bottle come together at exactly the wrong time, with Alicia and Devlin tantalizingly close to uncovering the heart of the Nazi conspiracy while risking both her carefully constructed cover and their troubled illicit romance.

Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains make for a dream cast filled with texture and self-doubt, all three delivering the requisite mix of delicate courtship, surrender to affection and callous focus on self preservation. Ted Tetzlaff's cinematography features sparkling use of black and white saluting many noir fundamentals, with Alex's cold mansion providing opportunities for playful use of space from imposing and grand to close-up and personal.

Notorious is a collision of multiple agendas, and a dazzling example of weary characters grappling with difficult dilemmas and deliciously dangerous outcomes.

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Movie Review: Gunga Din (1939)

A military adventure epic, Gunga Din enjoys breathtaking scope and ambition, combined with a lighthearted tone and traditional themes of friendship and military honour.

It's the 1880s in India, and the British India Army in the Northwest Frontier is encountering organized attacks. Sergeants MacChesney (Victor McLaglen), Cutter (Cary Grant), and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) are a close-knit hell-raising trio, and are dispatched in command of a small contingent to repair telegraph lines in the village Tantrapur. They are forced into defensive action to repel an attack by Thuggees, a blood-thirsty military cult enjoying a resurgence.

Ballantine is close to leaving the military and wants to marry his sweetheart Emmy (Joan Fontaine). But the veteran MacChesney and treasure-seeking jokester Cutter conspire to keep him on duty. Meanwhile Cutter spots loyal water carrier Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe) emulating British troop procedures and pining to be taken seriously as a soldier, with a particular fondness for the bugle. The three sergeants are again sent to Tantrapur, this time at the head of a much bigger force to flush out the Thuggees. But the enemy is well-prepared, and the British are lured to a gold-embossed temple for a showdown.

Enjoying a mammoth budget and high production values, Gunga Din goes searching for expansive adventure in exotic lands (or at least the best studio sets money can buy). Produced by RKO Pictures and directed by George Stevens, the film is written for the screen by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur and inspired by a Rudyard Kipling poem (a Kipling character makes a small appearance at the end of the film as a reporter).

The result is a rousing story of enterprising soldiers loving life in the brotherhood of the army, with bloodthirsty action mingling with episodes played purely for laughs. The humour is understandably dated and the scenes setting up the jokes seem to take forever, notably antics related to using elephant medication to spike a bowl of punch.

But all is forgotten and forgiven when the action kicks into high gear, and Stevens orchestrates two breathtaking and prolonged combat scenes, drawing on the colourfully dubious history of the Thuggee cult. First the small British contingent is attacked by the Thuggees and has to improvise a defence. The second action set-piece is the climax and starts with a trap, imprisonment and torture before breaking into an impressive all-out battle between multiple large armies.

In the interludes between the business of combat, Hecht and MacArthur have fun with tense travel exploits across hazards including a rickety bridge. The film salutes the ingenuity of British soldiers but also wields the double-edged sword of local water carrier Gunga Din entranced by the foreign army and proving his worth by playing a crucial role in battle. The humble local and loyal servant is instrumental in the White Saviors' quest to tame the land, for better or for worse.

McLaglen, Grant and Fairbanks share decent chemistry and pull off the raucous friends routine where arguments, fisticuffs and pranks are just as likely as acts of valour. They are less than convincing as soldiers of any sort, but with the military combat scenes staged on a broad canvas, they don't need to be. Joan Fontaine gets a couple of scenes as the token fiancée, here reduced to a symbol of naggy disruptiveness, but is otherwise wasted. Montagu Love is the gruff base commander Colonel Weed, and Robert Coote is the pantomime frenemy as the stuffy and unpopular Sergeant Higginbotham.

Well staged and infinitely enthusiastic, Gunga Din defines cheeky escapism.

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Movie Review: The Eagle And The Hawk (1933)

A World War One aerial combat drama, The Eagle And The Hawk is a contemplative anti-war film exploring the psychological damage caused by prolonged exposure to death.

From their base in England, American volunteer pilots Lt. Jerry Young (Fredric March) and his buddy Lt. Mike Richards (Jack Oakie) are redeployed to an airbase near the front lines in France. Young blocks the deployment of the brash Lt. Henry Crocker (Cary Grant), who is an undependable pilot but an ace gunner.

Young and Richards are tasked with missions to take photographs of enemy positions, and they frequently skirmish with enemy aircraft with plenty of casualties on both sides. Young proves to be a brilliant pilot, but many of his gunners are killed, and the deaths start to take an emotional toll. Crocker is finally called-up to the front lines and becomes Young's gunner, although the two men never get along. Young is celebrated as a role model and receives plenty of accolades, but finds it increasingly difficult to cope with the pressure.

Directed by Stuart Walker, The Eagle And The Hawk packs plenty of heartfelt emotion into 68 minutes of running time. The film is based on the book Death in the Morning by American author John Monk Saunders, who was a member of the Air Services during the Great War but was deeply frustrated by his lack of front-line service and committed suicide at age 42 after battling poor health.

By elevating Young to the status of a revered ace pilot with the military world at his feet, the story earns the freedom to have its say about battle consequences through the eyes of a hero. The screenplay by Seton I. Miller and Bogart Rogers fully embraces a downbeat, depressing view of war and its ramifications. Young views war as a ridiculous premise where inexperienced men are sent to die, and the celebrations, salutes, songs, medals and glorification are all part of a perverted deception to camouflage the unacceptable as gallant.

The film needs a strong central performance to work, and Fredric March is intense in his portrayal of a thoughtful man celebrated as an exemplary role model for killing other men. He is unable to cope both with the death of his own gunners and with the fiery destruction he inflicts on the enemy. As the victims become younger, Young's descent into the emotional wreckage today defined as post-traumatic stress disorder is convincing and difficult to watch.

Less impressive is Cary Grant, still learning his craft, and never quite striking the right tone. His Henry Crocker oscillates between aloof and hot-headed, and Grant doesn't get a grip on the character. Carole Lombard has one extended scene and makes an impression as the mysterious woman offering Young a temporary distraction.

Many of the aerial dog fight scenes are generally muddled and pilfered from other productions, and other than a few harrowing moments in the sky, the film is better when the actors are grounded. The Eagle And The Hawk is less about combat with the enemy, and more about the fight against the soulless private demons unleashed by war.

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Movie Review: To Catch A Thief (1955)

A romantic thriller, To Catch A Thief is heavy on allure and light on plot. The story of a retired cat burglar clearing his name showcases exotic locations and fancy gowns, to the detriment of narrative momentum.

In the French Riviera, John Robie (Cary Grant) is a retired jewelry thief nicknamed "the Cat" and a former member of the French Resistance. When a spate of audacious jewelry thefts hits the region, all deploying the Cat's signature rooftop entry technique, suspicions naturally fall on Robie. He tries to find refuge among his old Resistance buddies including restaurant owner Bertani (Charles Vanel) and his head waiter Foussard (Jean Martinelli), but they treat him with mistrust. Nevertheless Bertani arranges for Foussard's feisty daughter Danielle (Brigitte Auber) to help Robie escape.

To clear his name, Robie teams up with reluctant insurance company representative H. H. Hughson (John Williams) and tries to get ahead of the burglar by predicting who the next victims will be. His sleuthing leads him to rich widow Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis) and her gorgeous daughter Frances (Grace Kelly), who soon uncovers Robie's motives and starts seducing him. But as the thefts continue, Robie finds it increasingly difficult to claim innocence and stay ahead of the law.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, To Catch A Thief is a rather flimsy excuse for a film. The entire script (by John Michael Hayes) could have been written on the back of a napkin over drinks on a sunny patio in the south of France, and the suspense elements are clumsy and tired. Much more of a romance than a thriller, the story is a thin excuse to bring two of Hitchcock's favourite performers together for a whirlwind on-screen love affair: the icy but smoldering blonde matching wits with the debonair but potentially dangerous man.

And an easy pleasure is derived from the glamourous setting for two charismatic stars in sparkling form. Once Kelly enters the movie her chemistry with Grant shines bright, and from then on Hitchcock's main concern is to showcase Kelly in a succession of stunning outfits. She delivers the requisite purring sexuality as Frances simultaneously peels away Robie's layers of deceit and seduces him into submission.

Otherwise there is cinematic flab and fat everywhere. Between Robie latching onto Frances and the climax where the burglar is unmasked, about an hour of screen time needs to be killed, and Hitchcock stumbles about looking for unlikely plot points, the sloppy editing and lack of logical continuity not helping matters. He throws in a superfluous but well-executed high speed car chase and a bungled robbery that telegraphs the obvious conclusion to come.

Finally To Catch A Thief resorts to an exceedingly tiresome costume party, giving up on pretending to care about plot and giving in to what it really is: an extravagant fashion show featuring handsome stars having a breezy vacation and enjoying expensive outfits on location.

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Movie Review: His Girl Friday (1940)

A screwball comedy with a lot to dislike, His Girl Friday tries to find laughs in a love triangle and a death row drama, and fails on both counts.

Ace reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) arrives at the offices of The Morning Post newspaper with her new fiance and insurance salesman Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy) to tell her ex-husband and Post boss Walter Burns (Cary Grant) that she is quitting journalism to settle down with Baldwin. Burns wants to win his girl back and immediately starts scheming to disrupt Hildy's plans to join Baldwin and his mother (Alma Kruger) on a train to Albany.

Burns finds ways to make Baldwin's life miserable while tantalizing Hildy with an opportunity to delve into a breaking story: a sad man named Earl Williams (John Qualen) is about to be hanged for the crime of shooting a police officer, but his execution may be politically motivated to garner votes in an upcoming election. Hildy can't resist a potential scoop and heads to the prison's press room to interview Williams and investigate local political machinations.

Directed by Howard Hawks as an adaptation of the 1928 stage play The Front Page, His Girl Friday mostly consists of characters shouting across rooms, talking over each other, and hollering down the phone, and often all three at once. While there is an undoubted loony energy to all the verbal sparring, it is badly dated, surprisingly unfunny, and more often than not, quite cruel.

At the heart of the film's problems are the two acutely unlikeable male characters. Walter Burns is conniving, manipulative, self-centred, mean-spirited and singularly selfish. Admittedly the film is intended as a jaundiced view of newspapermen, but Burns is also supposed to be the main romantic interest. He instead leaves a cold, slithery trail at the core of the film. His competition is Bruce Baldwin, a meek wimpy man who does not stand a chance against Burns' buzzsaw tactics. Neither man comes close to deserving Hildy, and the romantic elements never spark in any direction.

The rest of the plot is equally uneven. The Earl Williams story descends into numerous newspapermen, law enforcement types and corrupt politicians bellowing past each other, the comedy again not working as it squirms uneasily next to themes of ignored depression, on-screen suicide, and extrajudicial state executions treated as a joke.

Rosalind Russell almost saves the film on her own with a confident, sassy display as Hildy Johnson, with enough style, smarts and instincts to keep up with fast-breaking stories and Burns' shenanigans. But the one good performance cannot overcome a stage-bound, distractingly vociferous yelling match full of distasteful characters.

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Movie Review: The Grass Is Greener (1960)

A miserable adaptation of a dull play, The Grass Is Greener is a hopelessly dated mostly unfunny romantic comedy set in an English estate.

Victor, Earl of Rhyall (Cary Grant) and his wife Hilary (Deborah Kerr) have had to open their English countryside estate to tourist traffic in an attempt to make ends meet. Their only other source of income is a modest mushroom farming operation. One day American oilman millionaire Charles Delacro (Robert Mitchum), part of a tour group, barges in on Hilary in the private section of the house, and after five minutes of banter they fall in love.

Hilary contrives a trip to London and spends a few days with Charles, enjoying a whirlwind affair. But Victor will not give up on his wife without a fight, and with the help of his former girlfriend and sharp-tongued society girl Hattie Durant (Jean Simmons) concocts a plan to invite Charles to the estate to defend the honour of his marriage.

It's difficult to imagine that The Grass Is Greener was ever current or funny, either on stage or on film circa 1960. As directed by Stanley Donen, this is a stilted, witless, stage-bound and endlessly talky comedy of British manners that would have appeared old in the 1940s. The four stars are utterly wasted, the script not finding any genuine passion or plausible pretexts to create neither appealing drama nor dreamy romance.

Grant, Kerr and Mitchum fire off their lines with little conviction while Simmons parades around in a succession of Dior outfits and provides some spark, but too little and too late. At least the set design, and most of the film is in one room, is understandably lavish and colourful, given the setting.

The script by Hugh Williams and Margaret Vyner (who wrote the play) tries to make some intelligent commentary about the institution of marriage, and throws in some remarks about the differences between British and American sensibilities. Very little of it works or rings true, as the endless scenes drag on in a remarkable display of more is less, not helped at all by lazy and static directing from Donen.

The Grass Is Greener just turns into a sickly brown all over.

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Movie Review: Operation Petticoat (1959)

A wartime comedy featuring the misadventures of a stricken submarine and her crew, Operation Petticoat offers some mild laughs but quickly becomes an exercise in routine waters.

It's December 1941, the US has just entered the war and somewhere in the South Pacific, the USS Sea Tiger is sunk in a Japanese air raid while still tied to the dock, having never experienced any action. Captain Matt Sherman (Cary Grant) is eager to get his submarine back to the surface, patched up and into the war. But the US military is still in a state of disarray and unable to fulfill Sherman's requisitions for essential replacement parts and supplies. Lieutenant Nick Holden (Tony Curtis), a suave fixer and ladies' man, arrives as a replacement officer with no real interest in the war but plenty of ideas on how to get things done. Sherman appoints Holden as the new supplies officer, and soon Holden is efficiently securing all that the submarine needs through ingenious scavenging adventures.

Somewhat repaired but still with plenty of mechanical and operational problems, the Sea Tiger sets sail, and at a port of call Holden finds five stranded US military nurses and brings them on-board, ostensibly as a rescue mission and to transport them to a safer harbour. With five beautiful single women now living within the sub's tight confines, the crew members are understandably sent into a tizzy. Mishaps are accompanied by unlikely romances as Sherman evades Japanese raids, tries to keep his sub in a semi-functional state, and deals with accident-prone women and Holden's neverending scheming.

Directed by Blake Edwards and later adapted into a television show, Operation Petticoat is a lighthearted look at the frolicking that takes place within the less than perfect margins of war. This is a colourful, sun-drenched corner of a global conflict where a ton of effort is applied for not very much gain. Men improvise just to create a semblance of a mission, nothing works as it should and anything that does work is stolen, modified and pressed into action.

Edwards finds plenty of opportunities to have fun in the war's backwaters, up to and including painting the submarine a bright pink and contriving to stage a climax where the American Navy unwittingly engages in battle against itself. And somewhere within the mayhem is the subplot of a large abducted pig, that starts out funny but is stretched to tedium once the wronged farmer invades the submarine seeking compensation.

But the film essentially starts and ends with two flimsy premises: the contrast between the rather stodgy Sherman and the freewheeling Holden; and the theoretically hilarious conflict created by women on a submarine. While there is enough substance to make the friendly stand-off between the two men worth exploring, the final third of the film deteriorates quickly as all but one of the women are treated with disdain, with a focus on their breasts getting in the way of everything, their inability to operate a shower, and their propensity for touching every dial at the worst possible time.

Rather overlong at more than two hours, ultimately the film fades due to a lack of significant investment in most of the major characters. While a little bit of Holden's background is brought to the fore, all the other men and women are left to flounder in the sea of stereotypical characters, devoid of any humanizing context, motivation or ambition.

Cary Grant and Tony Curtis supply adequate star power. They occasionally bounce well off each other, but mostly stay within themselves. Grant goes through the movie with a mostly bamboozled expression, as Sherman is befuddled first by the Japanese raids, then by the incompetence of the supply chain, then by Holden's audacity, and finally by the buxom nurses invading his submarine. Curtis is a bit more engaging as he expresses stony faced determination with a twinkle in the eye, as Holden works hard to stay as far away as possible from anything resembling a war while maximizing his pleasure and fun quotient. The rest of the rather thin cast includes Joan O'Brien, Dina Merrill, and Gavin MacLeod.

Operation Petticoat is amusing and offers bright moments; it's also as obvious as a bright pink submarine on a bright sunny day, sailing on the surface and belching black smoke.

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Movie review: Charade (1963)

A stylish spy thriller with a dash of humour, Charade thrives on a hip vibe generated by a crackling mystery, a stellar cast, and a cool Parisian setting.

Regina "Reggie" Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is trapped in a loveless marriage with a husband she barely knows. While she is on vacation, suave stranger Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) seems to make it a point to meet her. Reggie returns to her Paris apartment and is startled to learn her husband Charles is dead, having been thrown from a train, and has left her next to nothing. At Charles' funeral service, three grim strangers show up: Tex (James Coburn), Scobie (George Kennedy) and Gideon (Ned Glass). They all seem eager to confirm that Charles is indeed dead.

Joshua reappears and befriends Reggie, while in the following few days Tex, Scobie and Gideon start to make their menacing presence felt with veiled and obvious threats. American Embassy official Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) connects with Reggie to warn her that Charles was illegally in possession of $250,000 that belonged to the United States government, and that the three henchmen are his former crime accomplices and likely won't stop at anything to find the missing money. Reggie has no idea where her ex-husband has stashed the loot, but soon realizes that even with Joshua's help her life is in grave danger, she can trust no one, and nothing is at it seems.

The premise is simple: a plucky damsel in distress is surrounded by a throng of potentially dangerous men. The bad guys are chasing a classic MacGuffin in the form of a missing cache of World War Two money stolen by four soldiers while on a mission behind enemy lines. Elegantly directed by Stanley Donen, Charade is an engaging Hitchcockian thriller handled with a light touch, the Peter Stone screenplay (based on the 1961 short story The Unsuspecting Wife) featuring a romp through Paris with romance and humour injected in just the right amounts to brighten the mood.

The Henry Mancini music score and title song, as well as the animated opening credit sequence by Maurice Binder, announce Charade as a slick example of 1960s film making. Donen aims for chic smoothness, and achieves it through personality and pacing. Even during the more serious action and danger scenes Donen leaves no doubt Reggie will emerge unscathed, and numerous hints wink at the many plot twists. Charade unfolds like a fun trip through a handsomely-trimmed maze; there are a few surprises around some corners, but never any doubt about the final destination.

On closer examination there are plot holes to be sure, as well as some incongruous character reactions as Reggie demonstrates remarkable composure and reaches for clever quips in the face of sudden danger. The flame of romance between Joshua and Reggie also has the potential to flounder on the jagged rocks of a 25 year age difference between Grant and Hepburn. That hurdle is mostly cleared by making Reggie the romantic instigator, a stance that fits in with her relief and liberation at the end of a loveless marriage. Hepburn and Grant develop an easy chemistry and glide over the rough patches on a large dose of star charisma.

The supporting cast is deep in talent. George Kennedy waves a steel claw to good effect, James Coburn does the same with a Texan accent, and Walter Matthau adds bureaucratic oiliness. Filled with unscrupulous villains chasing a cheeky heroine, Charade wins on charm.

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Movie Review: The Philadelphia Story (1940)

An overrated high society romantic comedy, The Philadelphia Story is contrived and stagey, but maintains a certain allure thanks to a committed cast.

At her lavish family estate, Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) is about to get married to the stuffy George Kittredge (John Howard). Tracy's former husband  C. K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) shows up uninvited hoping to win his former wife back, as do two gossip reporters Macaulay "Mike" Connor (James Stewart), a frustrated author, and Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) a photographer with a crush on Mike. Tracy's young sister Dinah (Virginia Weidler) would like Tracy to reconcile with Dexter, although that marriage ended quite badly. Tracy's estranged father Seth (John Halliday) also suddenly shows up, adding to the pre-wedding stress.

As the big day approaches, Tracy finds herself becoming attracted to the down-to-earth Mike, and she starts to question her commitment to George. Dexter takes every opportunity to remind Tracy that she is a cold, perfect goddess who demands to be worshipped, and that she cannot tolerate any imperfections in her men. George and Mike pile on the pressure by also pointing out to Tracy all her haughty faults. To deal with her mounting confusion Tracy drinks to excess at the pre-wedding party, which only causes more romantic chaos among the three men now after her heart.

The Broadway play is translated to the screen with stellar casting. Hepburn financially backed the stage production and starred in it, and the movie helped restore her to the front ranks of Hollywood stars. With the suave Grant and ordinary-man Stewart playing to their strengths, The Philadelphia Story never lacks in charisma and star power. The dialogue is passably witty, while Virginia Weidler as Dinah and Ruth Hussey as Elizabeth offer grounded support.

But director George Cukor is never able to break free of the stage, and the film often bogs down in long-winded, talky scenes which play well on the stage but suffer from lack of energy and animation on the screen. The three leads all deliver their lines with a knowing twinkle in their eye, undermining any cinematic coherence, and the camera placement and actor movements all contribute to the sense of filmed theatre.

The material is too thin and laboured to fully make up for the lack of energy. The story may have played well to the upper classes of the day, but it has aged quite poorly, both as a romance and a comedy. The character's motivations and conversations never come close to being realistic. The fundamental premise of a series of guests showing up uninvited, hanging around the bride for hours on end, and unabashedly criticizing her values and behaviour to force an entire personality reassessment hours before the big wedding, just rings hollow. Matters are entirely not helped by an over-dependence on the consumption of gallons of alcohol as a transformational plot device.

The 1956 musical remake as High Society dramatically increased the colourful glamour quotient, dispensed with most of the introspection, and allowed the music to unlock the more timeless whimsical ingredients. Although it does glow with star wattage, The Philadelphia Story is unfortunately stuck in time, and on the stage.

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The Movies Of Cary Grant

All movies starring Cary Grant and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

The Eagle And The Hawk (1933)

Kiss And Make-Up (1934)

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Gunga Din (1939)

Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

His Girl Friday (1940)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Suspicion (1941)

Without Reservations (1946, uncredited cameo)

Notorious (1946)

Monkey Business (1952)

Dream Wife (1953)

To Catch A Thief (1955)

An Affair To Remember (1957)

Indiscreet (1958)

North By Northwest (1959)

Operation Petticoat (1959)

The Grass Is Greener (1960)

Charade (1963)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.