His Girl Friday (1940)

   "...one of those fast-moving and idyllic comedies in which the lovers behave like villains to each other..."

With Ralph Bellamy and Rosalind Russell.

His Girl Friday- Review is taken from 'The Films of Cary Grant' by Donald Deschner (1973):

"His Girl Friday" from a play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur" is a remake of The Front Page, the movie success of 1931 and stage hit of 1928.  The original has been changed this time into one of those fast-moving and idyllic comedies in which the lovers behave like villains to each other - sophisticated is the usual word for the genre.  Hildy Johnson has become a woman for this purpose.  She has been married to the fanatical editor and divorced from him because there was never time for love.  Coming to tell him she is going to marry a simple insurance man from Albany, she soon finds herself, against her will, back on her former job as reporter.  There follows the plot of The Front Page, with managing editor playing his tricks partly on the insurance man.  By the change the accent is shifted to the lovers' quarrel, and the original story loses much of its sense and punch.  Yet Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant give such entertaining performances that nobody in the roaring audience seems to notice the tastelessness, to say the least, of playing hide-and-seek with a man condemned to death.  The tragic elements of the original story are misused for boy-meets-girl nonsense.  Charles Lederer has written the new version with great skill and Howard Hawks has directed it with liveliness but with too great a concern for the deaf."  

- Franz Hoellering, The Nation

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 35- His Girl Friday (Lobby Card Style)

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The Philadelphia Story (1941)

   "...one of the few non-moronic pictures of the season."

With Ruth Hussey, James Stewart and Katharine Hepburn.

The Philadelphia Story - Review is taken from 'The Films of Cary Grant' by Donald Deschner (1973):

"The movie version of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story is years ahead of most screen dialogue.  Audiences won't know what all of it means,  but it's time that picture scripts got a little ahead of their public instead of ten paces behind 'em.  I've noticed that audiences like a certain amount of dialogue which is over their heads.  Producers ought to try it oftener.  

The Philadelphia Story is the yarn of smart and semi-smart folks trying to cure their emotional and intellectual blindnesses and frustrations with alcohol, and it's amazing how well alcohol works in this picture.  The W.C.T.U. doesn't know it, but it ought to stop this film, because it sells liquor better than any million-dollar advertising campaigns.  Tracy Lord's (Miss Hepburn's) drinking in company with that poetic guy from that New York scandal sheet, Spy, is what clears the atmosphere of her mis-planned love for John Howard and paves the way for her remarriage with Cary Grant.  It takes a binge to cure Tracy of her gosh-awful goddessness and give her a good dose of clay feet.  

Perhaps the highest honors in the picture really go to James Stewart for his souse scene in Cary Grant's library.  Mr. Grant is good as always, and deserves credit for playing subdued; he was a hell-raiser before the story opened, and is now the wiser and somewhat chastened ex-husband of the hard, too-exacting Tracy.  

The Philadelphia Story is one of the few non-moronic pictures of the season."

- Don Herald, Scribner's Commentator

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 38 - The Philadelphia Story (Lobby Card Style)

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Destination Tokyo (1943)

   "...Cary Grant gives one of the soundest performances of his career..."

Destination Tokyo - Review is taken from 'The Films of Cary Grant' by Donald Deschner (1973):

"Even moviegoers who have developed a severe allergy for service pictures should find Destination Tokyo, the high among the superior films of the war.  Certainly, in technical exposition and sheer, harrowing melodrama, the Warner Brothers' newest tribute to the armed forces rates very near the top of the list.  

What with the film running two hours and fifteen minutes, just everything that could and does happen to an American submarine - short of an unhappy ending - occurs aboard the Copperfin.  

As the Copperfin's captain, Cary Grant gives one of the soundest performances of his career; and John Garfield, William Prince, Dane Clark, and the rest of the all-male cast are always credible either as ordinary human beings or extraordinary heroes.  

- Newsweek

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 44 - Destination Tokyo (Lobby Card Style)

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Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)

   "...a talent for quietly underplaying comedy."

With Betsy Drake.

Every Girl Should Be Married - Review is taken from 'The Films of Cary Grant' by Donald Deschner (1973):

"Newcomer Betsy Drake seems to have studied, but not learned, the tricks and inflections of the early Hepburn.  Her exaggerated grimaces supply only one solid laugh - when Hero Grant mimics them cruelly and accurately.  In the past, Cary Grant has shown a talent for quietly underplaying comedy.  In this picture, he has trouble finding comedy to play."

-  Time Magazine

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 53 - Every Girl Should Be Married (Lobby Card Style)

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My (No.1) Favorite Film of the 1940's...Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Arsenic and Old Lace, an adaptation of a play by the same name, became one of the most popular comedies of the Hollywood Golden Era

Cary Grant maintained for a long time that it was one of his worst performances...many disagree...including me!

Its hilarious with all the double takes and gags...

The plot is based around two sweet but crazy old ladies, Abby and Martha Brewster (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair). Out of kindness, they poison a number of lonely old men.

Mortimer (Cary Grant), their nephew, newly married to Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane) discovers what his aunts are doing and gets caught up in the chaos!

When his brother, Jonathan (Raymond Massey), turns up with his friend, Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre), the chaos shifts up a gear.

Somethings you might not know...

• The film was shot in Hollywood in late 1941 but didn’t premiere until Sept. 1, 1944, at New York’s old Strand Theatre. The delay resulted because Warner Bros. agreed to a demand by the play’s producers, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, that the film not open until their highly popular play completed its Broadway run.

• “Arsenic and Old Lace’’ was a reunion between Grant and character actress Jean Adair, who had nursed him back to health when he contracted rheumatic fever during a theatrical tour 20 years earlier.

• Grant wasn’t the first choice for the film, but Bob Hope wasn’t available because of a schedule conflict (Capra needed to shoot the film just before reporting for World War II military duty).

• Grant, who donated his entire $100,000 salary to wartime charities, insisted, “Jimmy Stewart would have been much better [than me] in the film.’’ Stewart later starred opposite Josephine Hull in “Harvey’’ — for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane on set.

Publicity shots.

"Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops!"

The 1940's...

Between 1940 and 1949, Cary grant released 20 more full length films.

1940:

His Girl Friday 1940

My Favorite Wife 1940

The Howard's of Virginia 1940

1941:

Penny Serenade 1941

Suspicion 1941

The Philadelphia Story 1941

1942:

The Talk of the Town 1942

Once Upon a Honeymoon 1942

1943:

Mr. Lucky 1943

1944:

Destination Tokyo 1944

Once Upon a Time 1944

None but the Lonely Heart 1944

Arsenic and Old Lace 1944

1945:

No films released.

1946:

Night and Day 1946

Notorious 1946

 1947:

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer 1947

The Bishop's Wife 1947

1948: 

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House 1948

Every Girl Should Be Married 1948

1949: 

I Was a Male War Bride 1949