Tuesday, September 15, 2020

On This Day...Monkey Business (1952)

 Today, in 1952, saw the release of Cary Grant's 58th film Monkey Business.


Grant's character is Dr. Barnaby Fulton, a research chemist, who has been working on a formula to regenerate worn-out tissues in the human body. After taking the formula himself, he starts to feel younger which leads to complications and fun!!

 
Marilyn Monroe stars as Lois Laurel, a secretary at Dr. Fulton's company. Also starring as his wife, Edwina, is Ginger Rogers.


"If youth is anything like the nonsense displayed here, maybe it's just as well that nobody has really concocted anything that would force us older citizens back into it." - John McCarten, The New Yorker


"Grant has never been better than in his part as the absent-minded professor in search of the elixir of youth." - Motion Picture Herald


"...only Cary Grant could do Barnaby justice with the underplaying that avoids the mawkish and the silly." - Newsweek


Cary Grant showing that once an acrobat always an acrobat.


The skating scene with Marilyn Monroe, overseen by Howard Hawks and crew.


Cast:

Professor Barnaby Fulton     Cary Grant
Edwina Fulton                      Ginger Rogers
Mr. Oliver Oxly                    Charles Coburn
Lois Laurel                           Marilyn Monroe
Hank Entwhistle                   Hugh Marlowe
Dr. Siegfried Kitzel               Henri Letondal
Dr. Zoldeck                          Robert Cornthwaite
Mr. G.J. Culverly                 Larry Keating
Dr. Bruner                            Douglas Spencer
Mrs. Rhinelander                 Esther Dale
Little Indian                         George Winslow


Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe costume test pictures.



Lobby Cards:








Lobby card that has the alternative title "Be Your Age"


Spanish lobby card - "Vitamins for Love"


With Ginger Rogers and George Winslow.

Directed by Howard Hawks.
Distributed by 20th Century-Fox.
Running time: 97 minutes.


With Ginger Rogers and "Esther".

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

And the Winner is...!

Of all the praise and adulation that Cary Grant received during his film career, one award eluded him.

Although being nominated twice for an Academy Award, he never actually won one!

Grant had boycotted the Oscars for twelve years.

He did finally receive an Academy Award for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting, in 1970.


Frank Sinatra presented the Honorary Award.


Cary Grant did however appear in a number of films that were nominated for Academy Awards in various categories and some won too!

Listed below are all the Cary Grant films that had Oscar nominations...and winners!

BEST PICTURE
1932 - She Done Him Wrong
1937 - The Awful Truth
1940 - The Philadelphia Story
1941 - Suspicion
1942 - The Talk of the Town
1947 - The Bishop's Wife

BEST ACTOR
1940 - James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story (Winner)

1941 - Cary Grant - Penny Serenade
1944 - Cary Grant - None but the Lonely Heart


Nominated for Best Actor in Penny Serenade and None But the Lonely Heart.



BEST DIRECTOR
1937 - Leo McCarey - The Awful Truth (Winner)

1940 - George Cukor - The Philadelphia Story
1947 - Henry Koser - The Bishop's Wife

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1940 - Ruth Hussey - The Philadelphia Story
1944 - Ethel Barrymore - None But The Lonely Heart(Winner)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1937 - Ralph Bellamy - The Awful Truth
1937 - Roland Young - Topper
1946 - Claude Rains - Notorious

BEST ACTRESS
1937 - Irene Dunne - The Awful Truth
1940 - Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story
1941 - Joan Fontaine - Suspicion(Winner)

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
1939 - Only Angels Have Wings

BEST SOUND RECORDING
1937 - Topper
1940 - The Howard's of Virginia
1942 - Once Upon a Honeymoon
1947 - The Bishop's Wife(Winner)
1962 - That Touch of Mink
1964 - Father Goose

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
1940 - The Howards of Virginia
1940 - My Favorite Wife
1941 - Suspicion
1942 - The Talk of the Town
1944 - None but the Lonely Heart
1946 - Night and Day
1947 - The Bishop's Wife
1957 - An Affair to Remember

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1942 - The Talk of the Town
1955 - To Catch a Thief(Winner)
1957 - An Affair to Remember

BEST ART DIRECTION 
1938 - Holiday
1940 - My Favorite Wife
1942 - The Talk of the Town
1955 - To Catch a Thief
1959 - North by Northwest
1962 - That Touch of Mink

BEST FILM EDITING
1937 - The Awful Truth
1942 - The Talk of the Town
1944 - None but the Lonely Heart
1947 - The Bishop's Wife
1959 - North by Northwest
1964 - Father Goose

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
1953 - Dream Wife
1955 - To Catch a Thief
1957 - An Affair to Remember

BEST SONG
1936 - Suzy
1957 - An Affair to Remember
1958 - Houseboat
1963 - Charade

BEST WRITING FOR THE SCREEN (original story or screen play)
1937 - The Awful Truth
1940 - My Favorite Wife
1940 - The Philadelphia Story(Winner)
1942 - The Talk of the Town (Original Writing)
1942 - The Talk of the Town (Screen play)
1943 - Destination Tokyo
1946 - Notorious
1947 - The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer(Winner)
1959 - North by Northwest
1962 - That Touch of Mink
1964 - Father Goose


With Ingrid Bergman's Academy Award in 1957, that he received on her behalf for Best Actress in Anastasia(1956)


Presenting an Academy Award in 1958 with Jean Simmons.
It was to Sir Alec Guinness for "Bridge Over the River Kwai". 


She accepted the Oscar on his behalf.

Cary Grant was also honored with presenting Honorary Academy Awards to his fellow actors and friends.


Sir Laurence Olivier in 1979.


And to James Stewart in 1985.


Always the Winner!

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

On This Day...I Was A Male War Bride(1949) and People Will Talk(1951)

Today's date sees the release of Cary Grant's 54th and 56th full length feature films, I Was A Male War Bride and People Will Talk.

I Was A Male War Bride (1949):


Cary Grant plays suave French captain Henri Rochard.


Ann Sheridan co-stars as his assistant, Lt. Catherine Gates, who shares in their love-hate relationship!


"...Under Howard Hawks's direction, the end product is one of the most sparklingly original comedies of the year." - Newsweek


"Cary Grant is a past master at playing the handsome he-man thrown for a loss by a difficult dame or an undignified situation." - Scholastic Magazine

"...Cary Grant, as the French captain, and Ann Sheridan, as the WAC who married him, put their all into the fun and manage to keep things moving at a fast pace." - Philip T. Hartung, The Commonweal


With Ann Sheridan.


Although only appearing in the closing scenes, Cary Grant in his horse tail wig and WAC uniform has become the iconic image of the film.


Cast:

Captain Henri Rochard           Cary Grant
Lt. Catherine Gates                 Ann Sheridan
Captain Jack Rumsey             William Neff
Tony Jowitt                             Eugene Gericke
WACS                                    Marion Marshall, Randy Stuart
Innkeeper's Assistant              Ruben Wendorf
Waiter                                     Lester Sharpe
Seaman                                   Ken Tobey
Lieutenant                               Robert Stevenson
Bartender                                Alfred Linder
Chaplain                                 David McMahon
Shore Patrol                            Joe Haworth
Trumble                                  John Whitney
Sergeants                                William Pullen, William Self
Shore Patrol                            John Zilly
Sergeant                                  Bill Murphy



On location.

Lobby Cards:










Directed by Howard Hawks.
Distributed by 20th Century-Fox.
Running time: 105 minutes.


People Will Talk (1951):


Cary Grant plays Dr. Noah Praetorius, a doctor with a mysterious background who comes under investigation.


Jeanne Crain plays a patient who is treated by Dr. Praetorius, after attempting suicide. She eventually marries the doctor, but is unsure of his motives.


With Finlay Currie and friends.


"We've no space to go into particulars - to discuss the inventiveness and skill of Mr. Mankiewicz' story telling, the cleverness of his people's talk or the arch humor of his expose.
Neither can we do more than mention the delightfulness and the good sense of the performance of Cary Grant as the professor, of Jeanne Crain as the troubled girl, of Finlay Currie as the mysterious companion and of Hume Cronyn, Walter Slezak, and many more.
All we can say is that a picture so mature and refreshingly frank as to hold that an erring young woman might be rewarded  with a wise and loving mate is most certainly a significant milestone in the moral emancipation of American film, not to mention an unexpected portent to greet an eager reviewer on his return.
People Will Talk should foment chatter, but that should be all to the good."
- The New York Times.


With Julia Dean and Katherine Locke.

"And once again, Hollywood's ranking "genius" - the only man to win four Academy Awards in two years - has something to say and says it frankly and funnily.
The film, which has a three-way plot, concentrates on one of the strangest and most adult love affairs ever to emerge from Hollywood...Grant...turns in one of the most intelligent performances of his nineteen-year Hollywood career." - News Week

"Cary Grant is excellent as Praetorious..." - Ann Helming, Hollywood Citizen-News.


With Jeanne Crain, Walter Slezak and Sidney Blackmer.


With Jeanne Crain.

Cast:

Dr. Noah Praetorius         Cary Grant
Annabel Higgins             Jeanne Crain
Shunderson                      Finley Currie
Prof. Elwell                     Hume Cronyn
Prof. Barker                    Walter Slezak
Arthur Higgins                Sidney Blackmer
Dean Lyman Brockwell  Basil Ruysdael
Miss James                      Katherine Locke
John Higgins                   Will Wright
Miss Pickett                     Margaret Hamilton
Mrs. Pegwhistle               Esther Somers
Technician                       Carleton Young
Business Manager            Larry Dobkin
Nurse                               Jo Gilbert
Dietician                          Ann Morrison
Old Lady                         Julia Dean
Secretary                          Gail Bonney
Student Manager             William Klein
Haskins                            George Offerman
Mabel                               Adele Longmire
Coonan                            Billy House
Photographer                   Al Murphy
Toy Salesman                  Parley Baer
Cook                                Irene Seidner
Gussie                              Joyce MacKenzie
Night Matron                   Maude Wallack
Bella                                Kay Lavelle
Doctor                              Ray Montgomery
Students                           Paul Lees, Wm. Mauch, Leon Taylor


You can look at this two ways!!


Lobby Cards:





Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Distributed by 20th Century-Fox.
Running time: 109 minutes.
Based on the play "Dr. Praetorius" by Curt Goetz.