1942 romantic comedyRating: 17/20
Plot: Hunky Leopold Dilg is innocent! He's too Cary Grant not to be. Nevertheless, he's been arrested for arson and its subsequent arson. He manages to escape and retreat to his friend Nora Shelley's house, a house that has unfortunately just been rented to renowned law professor Michael Lightcap. Their philosophies clash while they half-assedly battle for the affections of Miss Shelley. As expected, a threesome ensues. And it's fiery stuff!
Cary Grant isn't as good an actor as either of his two co-stars, the sophisticated Jean Arthur or the cute-as-a-button Ronald Colman, but the three of them have this classy chemistry and get some nicely written stuff to bounce off each other. The dialogue's funny even though it failed to draw a single laugh from my melancholy soul, but I liked some of the philosophical/political stuff in there, the characters almost working more like symbols than actual people. This is one of the most literate screwbally script I've heard. I also really liked how this thing was shot. The quick edits of the preface set up the story in a cool way, and there was some interesting camera work during conversations with characters with some breakfast panning and the use of a stairway rail. I also really liked shots that managed to squeeze all the characters on the screen without seeming completely unnatural like a lot of movies from this era. You get all kinds of scenes where things are going on in the foreground while Cary Grant can be seen on the other side of a window. Director George Stevens knows how to utilize every inch of my television screen. There's one shot that befuddled me though. I don't recall a lot of close-ups in this movie, but there's this extreme close-up shot of a character named Tilney as he starts to cry. There were a few reasons why I liked the tears at that point in the movie, but I thought the close-up was odd. And I have to confess that I didn't really care for the ending of the movie at all.
3 comments:
I agree with you, about the ending of this. I thought it was a bit unfair to Ronald Coleman that he does the right thing, and yet still loses the girl. I think that a lot of people treat this as a comedy, when its really not one. Its a political drama with some comedic elements. I always thought that Cary Grant was slightly miscast in this movie, as he has no real gravity about him, and I never believed him as a potentially violent political activist, but conversely there is no way that Jean Arthur leaves Ronald Coleman for some average Joe. So having the ultimate pretty boy in the role makes sense in that regard.
I like it a slight bit more than you, and give it an 18.
Also an 18 for me. This movie is mostly about star power, with some clever comedy and great dialogue thrown in. Everything about its concept and construction is a little strange for a film, but it is so entertaining on so many levels that it is a favorite film of mine. As for the end, they can't both have her (that would be a 90's movie), so I'm good with Cary since he got there first. Besides, Jean Arthur and her voice would not be a good fit for a justice's wife. Thanks for watching it. I noticed you already have "5", so you don't get another...for about five minutes it seems.
I think its strangeness is precisely what I liked about it...it had a very different feel than 1940s movies. And I did like how the comedy and drama blended together so well...
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