To Catch a Thief

• Title:  To Catch a Thief
• Director:  Alfred Hitchcock
• Date:  1955
• Studio:  Paramount
• Genre:  Action, Romance, Suspense
• Cast:  Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams, Brigitte Auber
• Format:  Technicolor, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"I stole once, a long time ago, I went to jail." - John Robie (Cary Grant)

"I know. The Germans bombed the prison and you all escaped, joined the Underground, and became heroes." - Danielle

"I joined because I wanted to make-up for some of the things I'd done. I've never stolen since." - Robie

"You're here in Europe to buy a husband, huh?" - Robie

"The man I want doesn't have a price." - Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly)

"Well, that eliminates me." - Robie

"John, Why bother?" - Frances

"It's sort of a hobby of mine, the truth." - Robie

A series of daring jewel robberies rocks France, specifically the resort communities of the French Rivieria. The police immediately suspect John Robie, a retired jewel thief once known as The Cat. Robie decides the only way he will be able to prove his innocence is to catch the thief himself.

Robie meets HH Hughson, an insurance broker from Lloyd's of London. His company has insured many of the stolen jewels, so he has a vested interest in finding the jewels so his company doesn't have to pay the claims. Robie convinces him to give him a list of potential targets. Hughson is a bit dubious, but agrees.

Robie then meets up with Jessie Stevens and her daughter Frances (Francie). Mrs. Stevens is widowed and extremely rich after oil was discovered on her husband's small Texas ranch. She's also loud, uncultured, rude, and obnoxious. Her daughter, Frances, has benefited from her mother's money, having attended a European "finishing school", and traveled the world. Frances is a bit spoiled, and very bored with her life of travel and suitors after her money. Robie and Frances immediately have an attraction.

Meanwhile, Robie had first gone to the restaurant of his friends from the French Underground movement, but they are convinced he's guilty and has gone back to his jewel-stealing ways. The only person from his previous life who thinks he's either innocent, or it doesn't matter if he's guilty, is Danielle - the wine steward's daughter, who flirts shamelessly with Robie - despite being young enough to be his daughter.

The story is told somewhat episodically, against the backdrop of seaside France. The tale alternates between the romantic encounters between John and Frances (swimming at the beach, a wild car ride ending in a romantic picnic, even the tour of a villa) and Danielle's flirting with John, and John's attempts to find the thief.

Robie also receives threatening notes at his hotel - which tell him to lay off his search. He misses one robbery entirely, because he is concentrating on the Stevens. He then goes to investigate a villa he's been staking out for several nights, despite getting a second note that tells him to stay away. He finds the wine steward, dead. The police report to the newspapers, this is The Cat. But Robie goes to the police and points out the steward had a wooden leg, it would have been impossible for him to climb on rooftops. The steward is also Danielle's father - and when he shows up at the funeral, Danielle accuses him of murder.

Robie then decides to set a trap of his own. He knows that an upcoming costume ball will be a perfect opportunity for The Cat to strike. He goes to the ball with Mrs. Stevens and Frances, and the police attend as well. He and Hughson switch places, and while Hughson dances the night away with Frances, Robie waits for The Cat. His gambit pays off and he catches the real thief - Danielle.

To Catch a Thief  is a lavish production, very colorful and big (the film as a 1:85:1 ratio, despite being shot on 35mm film). Cary Grant is in fine form, and Grace Kelly is brilliant as Frances. But the film has always felt very slow to me. Still, if you've never seen it - it is a must-see, a classic film of romantic suspense.

Recommendation:  See it!

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Next Film:  Tomorrow Never Dies

Suspicion

• Title:  Suspicion
• Director:  Alfred Hitchcock
• Studio:  RKO Radio Pictures
• Date:  1941
• Genre:  Mystery, Film Noir, Drama
• Cast:  Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Leo G. Carroll, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce
• Format:  B/W, Standard
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"I'm honest because with you I think it's the best way to get results." -- Johnnie

"Monkey-face, I've been broke all my life!" -- Johnnie

Suspicion starts like any light romantic comedy.  Johnnie (Cary Grant) meets Lina on a train and tries to pick her up, but she's unimpressed.  They run into each other again at a fox hunt.  He talks her for a walk on a Sunday, and makes a date for later that afternoon.  Lina announces this to her parents, but he breaks their date for that afternoon, and for a week, Lina is miserable because she hasn't seen him in so long.  However, he returns just in time for the hunt ball.  Very soon after, Lina sneaks out of  her parents house and the two are married at the registry office.  The two go on a whirl-wind European honeymoon, then return to a new house - where Lina discovers that Johnnie has no money.

Suddenly, instead of a light romance, the film resembles Gaslight.  Over and over, Lina picks up on her husband acting weirdly, or suspiciously.  But she has no proof, no idea what's really going on, and every time Johnnie's money troubles seem to catch up with him, he suddenly comes up with the money he needs (such as a £2000 pound windfall that Johnnie claims he got from the track).  Lina notices her husband is fascinated with detective and murder stories... but at first thinks nothing of  it.  But when Johnnie's dear friend, Beaky, dies under mysterious circumstances, Lina goes to their mutual friend Isobel, a mystery writer.  Isobel talks about her recent mystery, where a man causes another man to walk over a weakened foot bridge and fall to his death.  Isobel says that morally it's murder if the first man knew the bridge was weak.  She then casually says "It's the same with Johnnie's friend, Beaky."  Beaky had died after drinking a large amount of  brandy in a drinking contest - despite his allergy to brandy.  Lina freaks at this, because she knows that Johnnie knows about Beaky's allergy, and that Beaky would sometimes still drink brandy even though it caused him to have fits, and trouble breathing.  Later, Isobel, her husband, Lina, Johnny, and a strange blond woman dressed as a man have a dinner party.  Johnnie's dinner conversation though not only focuses on murder but on untraceable poisons.  Lina's so freaked she won't let him into her bedroom that night.

Things finally come to a head when Lina decides to go home to spend a few days with her mother.  Johnnie insists on driving her.  On a winding road, Lina thinks he's trying to kill her, but he pulls her back into the car, then yells at her.  When they talk, Lina comes to the conclusion that Johnnie was considering suicide as a way out of  his money problems, and for her to get his insurance money to settle his debts for once and for all.  Lina throws herself  into his arms, and they drive back towards their house.

In Gaslight, Ingrid Bergman gradually comes to realize that her husband is a criminal who only married her to have access to the empty house next to hers, where he thinks there's a treasure.  The husband manipulates his wife, trying to make her think she's going insane - and she's only saved at the last minute by a kind policeman.

Suspicion is much more unsettling.  Cary Grant is very menacing - and switches from his "happy go lucky", "everything is fine" personality to someone who is truly scary like lightening.  He clearly seems to not only not want to work, but to only have a talent for losing money - and he routinely borrows money to pay off  his most insistent debtors.  Yet, at the same time, Joan Fontaine's Lina, seems almost paranoid.  We see her getting little pieces of evidence that her husband's up to no good, such as when she goes to visit him at his office, and learns from his employer and a family friend (played brilliantly by Leo G. Carroll) that Johnnie was fired weeks ago after £2000 went missing from the business.  But each time she finds something out, he has an explanation and she forgives him and realizes that she loves him.

What makes the film brilliant is that because of Grant's superb acting, and the way he flips back-and-forth between menace and light-hearted kindness, one is never sure of his motives.  Does he want to kill his wife for her money?  It doesn't appear so, he never actually does anything to her.  Yet, at the same time, he's almost slimy in the way that he always has an answer for everything.  At times, Lina seems very alone, but at others she has no problem going out - she visits Isobel with no problems, and sees other friends who seem jealous of  her relationship with Johnnie.  Suspicion is a masterful, and short (only 99 minutes) film with no concrete endings.  I highly recommend it.

Recommendation:  See it!

Rating:  5 of  5 Stars

Next Film:  Swing Time

The Philadelphia Story

• Title:  The Philadelphia Story
• Director:  George Cukor
• Date:  1940
• Studio:  MGM
• Genre:  Romance, Comedy
• Cast:  Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart
• Format:  Black and White, Standard
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

The film opens with Katherine Hepburn throwing out Cary Grant.  Two years later, newspaper headlines announce the upcoming wedding of  Tracy Lord (Hepburn) to a man named "George".  Tracy is a spoiled, self-centered, upper crust, old money, Philadelphia socialite.  She's recently estranged from her father, because he's recently had an affair with a New York dancer.

Grant, an alcoholic playboy, returns to Philadelphia from two years abroad, because he wants to re-kindle his relationship with her, and stop her wedding.  However, he's not completely obvious about what he wants.

Stewart's a newspaperman, a reporter, who dreams of being a real writer, and has written one book of short stories.  But he's currently working at a gossip magazine, and is paired with a female photographer.  He's bribed to cover Tracy's wedding.

Grant and Stewart arrive at Tracy's -- however, the pacing of the film is slow, much slower than is needed for the type of "screwball" romantic comedy that Cukor is trying to build.  I think the film may have been better off in the hands of  Howard Hawks.  Or, for a melancholy feel, Billy Wilder.  But in Cukor's hands, it clunks along.

There are some very funny, witty, clever lines of  dialogue -- but there's also scenes that make one wince, such as Grant insulting Hepburn until she cries -- and he's supposed to be in Philadelphia to woo her back?

Hepburn, meanwhile, starts off as a nearly liberated woman, wearing silky pantsuits, and telling her mother and younger sister, that she dis-invited her father from the wedding because of  his affair.

Meanwhile, Hepburn ends up having an illuminating conversation, not to mention a few kisses with James Stewart, while she's drunk.  The next day, her wedding day, she can't remember exactly what she did.  At first, evidence suggests she slept with Stewart, which ticks off  her fiance', George.  However, Stewart clears the air by explaining nothing happened.  George forgives Hepburn -- but, to her credit, she doesn't forgive him for jumping to conclusions about her and she cancels the wedding.  Then, as she's announcing this to the guests -- Grant, who's feeding her lines to make the embarrassing situation more graceful, proposes.  She accepts, and the wedding goes on -- with Hepburn marrying Grant.  It's also suggested that Stewart's female photographer should marry him, so at least Stewart isn't left in the cold.

The problem with the film -- well, it's almost like a updated "Taming of  the Shrew".  Yes, Tracy Lord is a spoiled, pampered woman who has difficulty expressing her emotions, and thus seems to be an ice queen.  She compared to a "goddess" several times in the film, and never favorably.  However, her abilities at horseback riding, swimming, and sailing suggest she's a true "outdoorsy" woman -- and a woman who doesn't need a man, she needs to be allowed to do her own thing, probably in a career.  I also felt she had much better on-screen chemistry with Stewart's character, a nearly penniless writer, than Grant's -- who's also a spoiled playboy.  Tracy and Dexter (Grant) had split before because they grew bored with each other, and her coldness drove Dexter to drink (his drying out is a sub-plot of  the film), but there's no reason to believe they won't tire of each other again.  Stewart, meanwhile, is an "every man" sort, as always, but his honesty would keep Tracy on her toes, and she probably wouldn't get bored of  him.  And, should she start to take advantage of him -- he'd call her on it.  I could also see Stewart prodding her into opening some type of writing or artsy-related business, such as a publishing house, art gallery, or artist's colony.  Not that Tracy's an artist, but she does have a head for business, and she seems genuinely interested in Stewart's book, not just flattering him.

There are a couple of misses in the film as well - Tracy's ill-fated second husband-to-be really should have been played by Ralph Bellamy-- we know she's not going to marry him, the romantic triangle is between Hepburn, Grant and Stewart, so why not cast the guy who never gets the girl?  Howard Hawks would have been a better directing choice -- and would have ramped-up the pacing of  the film.  The scenes with fast dialogue are some of  the best, but at 112 minutes the film runs a little long, and drags in places.  Hawks could have speeded up the dialogue and the plot (such as in his wonderful His Girl Friday).  And, as much as I like Grant - I don't think the film works with the plot of  Tracy Lord going back to her first husband.  On the one hand it makes her look like an on-screen Elizabeth Taylor, and on the other it seems terribly old-fashioned, almost as if to suggest a woman can't really be divorced.

Recommendation:  Worth seeing, but at times slow.
Rating:  3 out of  5 Stars
Next Film:  The Princess Bride

Notorious

• Title:  Notorious
• Director:  Alfred Hitchcock
• Date:  1946
• Studio:  RKO
• Genre:  Drama, Film Noir
• Cast:  Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
• Format:  Standard, Black and White
• DVD format:  R1, NTSC, (Criterion Collection, single disc)

"Waving the flag with one hand and picking pockets with the other, that's your patriotism."  -- Alicia


"I've always been scared of women, but I get over it." -- Devlin

In Hitchcock's Notorious, Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia, whose father's been tried for treason, found guilty and jailed.  We later learned that he "died in his cell", which is only marginally better than "shot while trying to escape".  Bergman is indifferent to her father's death, knowing he was a traitor (or as he put it in a recorded conversation - loyal to German and his own pocket) - but seems apolitical.  She is, however, a hopeless alcoholic, even driving drunk.  She meets Devlin at one of her parties, and quickly discovers he's an American agent.  He brings her to his bosses to use as an agent.  Reluctantly, she agrees and the two fly off to Rio.  It's interesting to note that Alicia's friends had also wanted her to take a vacation, but suggested Cuba!!!  Anyway, once in Rio, Alicia and Devlin discover what the job is that Devlin's un-named agency wants her to do.  She's to become romantically involved with Claude Rains' character, a man she knew as a young girl, and someone who seems to be supporting some shady scientists, though to what end is unknown - that is what Alicia is to find out.  Devlin isn't happy about Alicia's assignment, because the two have fallen for each other. Alicia, however, agrees.  She quickly forms an attachment to Rains -- and even marries him.  Devlin, meanwhle, becomes her handler - but gets more and more angry to see the woman he loves with another man.

Despite it's fantastic cast - Notorious is a very, very slow moving film.  Yes, the tension does build up, especially when Rains' mother discovers Alicia is an agent and begins to poison her coffee, but the pacing is so slow as to be irritating instead of suspenseful.  I actually found Rains to be the most fun - it's nice to see him in a juicy "bad guy" role as opposed the to lighter characters he normally plays.  Bergman is excellent as the newly minted tough-as-nail agent, but her easy submission into taking the poisoned coffee (and not realizing there might be a reason she feels so sick) undercuts her strong woman personna.  Grant, of course, rescues her at the end, but the film still has a strange ending (they leave the house, but we don't know, for sure, if Grant got to her in time for the poisoning to be reversed).  All in all - I think Notorious is a good example of a film that would work better as a TV series.  I'd have loved to see a pair of secret agents - one male, one female, who gradually fall for each other - and eventually marry.  It could be especially interesting if the woman still must "honeytrap" other spies as part of her job.  A TV series, however, could gradually work the relationship of  "Alicia" and "Devlin" -- making it more realistic, as well as dealing with the difficulties of a couple in such a dangerous profession.

But, getting back to the film, Grant is fantastic in Notorious - giving a subtle performance, and projecting a core of steel and violence.  I loved that.

Overall, though Notorious has it's good points and an excellent cast, it's like a novel by a great writer who needs an editor and without one writes books which are overly long.  The film really needed to be tightened up, the pacing improved, and the ending needs to be more concrete and less confusing.  Still, I would recommend it.

Recommendation:  See it.
Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  The Philadelphia Story

North by Northwest

• Title:  North by Northwest
• Director:  Alfred Hitchcock
• Date:  1959
• Studio:  MGM
• Genre:  Suspense
• Cast:  Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Leo G. Carroll, Edward Platt, Martin Landau
• Format:  Technicolor, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Hello?  Hello, Mother?  This is your son, Roger Thornhill..."  -- Roger (Cary Grant)


"Apparently, the poor sucker got mistaken for George Kaplan." -- Anonymous Spy 1
"How'd he get mistaken for George Kaplan, when George Kaplan doesn't even exist?" -- Anonymous Spy 2

North by Northwest is a very fun, enjoyable, romantic (in both senses) and exciting Hitchcock film.  The film's entire plot rests on a case of mistaken identity.  Grant is Roger Thornhill, an Madison Ave (NY) advertising executive, who is meeting some friends and business associates in a hotel bar, when he realizes he needs to send a telegram.  He raises his hand to call over the hotel telegram boy just as he's calling out for George Kaplan.  This is observed by two foreign agents, and thus the snowball starts to roll downhill.  The agents assume Thornhill is Kaplan, and kidnap him, taking him to a house in the country.  There, he is questioned, and forced to drink a bottle of  bourbon.  They then pour Thornhill into a car, hoping he will have a nasty accident.  Thornhill, however, is somewhat familiar with drunk driving, and he's able to make his escape, though he is spotted by the police and arrested for drunk driving.

The next morning, Thornhill and his lawyer, played by Edward Platt attempt to explain what happened.  Of course, there is no evidence at the country estate that anything happened, and the hostess who answers the door puts on a performance, claiming she was worried after he'd gotten tipsy at a dinner party.  Thornhill pays his $2.00 fine.

Thornhill then returns to New York, searches Kaplan's hotel room and goes to the United Nations building to meet Townend, the man who kidnapped him the previous night, he thinks.  But the man he meets isn't the Townsend (James Mason) who kidnapped him.  Before he can get any answers, or straighten out the mess, Townsend is killed by a thrown knife.  Thornhill, like an idiot, picks up the knife -- and his picture is snapped as he does so.  With no other choice, he goes on the lam, sneaking aboard a train bound for Chicago, because that was where Kaplan was scheduled to go.

Meanwhile, we meet "The Professor" (Leo G. Carroll) and his merry band of spies.  They discuss the issue of Thornhill, and their fake agent "Kaplan", as well as their real agent who will be in danger, if they step in and clear Thornhill.  "The Professor" declares they must do nothing.

On the Chicago-bound train, Thornhill meets Eve Kendall, who hides him.  Grant and Kendall immediately have a connection, trading flirty dialogue.  In Chicago, Kendall arranges for Grant to meet Kaplan; but we also see her talking to Leonard (Martin Landau), Townend's chief  henchman on the phone.  Kendall's directions lead Thornhill to a dry, dusty, deserted road in the middle of a cornfield.  He's attacked by a crop duster.

Thornhill survives that, confronts Kendall, and Grant's performance is excellent.  He's very icy and cold when he confronts her -- subtlely seething with anger that she betrayed him like that.  He then follows her to an auction.  Townsend (Mason), his henchmen, and "The Professor" as well as Kendall are all there.  When it looks like he's going to be caught by Townend's goons, Grant makes a scene at the auction and gets himself arrested.  But he's released and taken to the airport by Carroll.  "The Professor" explains more of  the plot, before taking him, by plane, to South Dakota.

There, by the Mt. Rushmore monument, the film winds down to it's conclusion.

Hitchcock uses a lot of very high angle shots in North by Northwest, almost like a kid with a new toy, but it does work.  Grant is fantastic as the confused innocent.  Eva Marie Saint plays Kendall with icy maturity, even in her more romantic scenes with Grant.  The supporting cast is great.  Leo G. Carroll, of  The Man from U.N.C.L.E. plays a very Waverly-like character as the un-named head of some un-named security organization.  In fact, the entire film almost seems like a pilot for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. at times, but with a much bigger budget.  Martin Landau is menacing, and quiet, as Leonard, James Mason's henchman.  And James Mason himself  has a cold, sophisticated, frightening evilness about him.  Edward Platt, of  TV's Get Smart , as a brief  but fun role as Thornhill's overworked lawyer.  Overall, the film is great fun.  The bi-wing crop duster chasing Grant in the cornfield, and the climatic chase across the face of  Mt. Rushmore are famous movie scenes, that are also quite enjoyable to see in tact and in context.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  4 of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Notorious

Indiscreet

• Title:  Indiscreet
• Director:  Stanley Donen
• Date:  1958
• Studio:  Republic Pictures
• Genre:  Romance
• Cast:  Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman
• Format:  Technicolor, Widescreen
• Format:  R1, NTSC

"I'm the wrongest woman you've ever seen and I'm going to pay him back with interest!"  -- Ingrid Bergman

Probably one of Cary Grant's less-known romances, I picked it up in a bargain bin someplace.  However, the presence of Ingrid Bergman makes the film watchable.  The plot is also a bit backwards or reversed -- where else would one see a woman get extremely angry and plotting her revenge when she discovers her lover of several months is not married.

Bergman plays Anna, a well-known actress of some acclaim.  She's wealthy and independent, and bored stiff by the parade of suitors at her door.

Grant is Philip, a diplomat, who bores easily and thus has come to the conclusion he should remain a bachelor.

Anna and Philip meet thanks to another couple and go to a dinner together, they have a marvelous time, and Anna invites Philip to her apartment for a "nightcap".  Philip accepts the invitation, then tells her he's married, he's separated from his wife, and he can't get a divorce.  And so begins their affair.  Philip turns down a job in Mexico and accepts a job working for NATO in Paris, then flies to London every weekend to spend time with Anna.  The two attend ballets and gallery openings and they enjoy dinners and long walks.  They spend several months together in their "illicit" affair.  And slowly the two fall in love.

Things begin to unravel when Philip is "offered" a job in New York, a job he has to take that will take him away from London for five months.  Anna is heart-broken that he will leave her.  But Philip has a surprise, he talks her into toasting him at midnight, on her birthday, the next day -- when he's supposed to be on a boat for the US.  Anna's brother-in-law confronts him about his secret -- he's not married, he's single.  Philip explains he came up with the lie of a non-existent wife to avoid having to say "He's not the marrying kind", but admits his plan to surprise Anna on her birthday.  The brother-in-law, finding out from Anna that she plans to fly to the US to meet Philip, talks her out of it by saying, essentially, "but he plans on surprising you by being here".  Unfortunately, he slips up and also tells her Philip is single, which enrages Anna.

That night there's a big dance at the same place where Philip and Anna had their first date.  Anna seethes through the entire evening; and plots her revenge when she sees an old suitor at the dance, and someone sends her a red rose - she assumes it's from the old suitor.  There is a very nice scene of country dancing by the way!

That night, supposedly their last night together, Anna plays games with Philip.  Bergman's performance, like the scene where she loses it when she learns the truth about Philip, is brilliant.  She can bring so many emotions to relatively simple dialogue!  The next night, her birthday, Anna's filled her flat with roses and candles, and plans for David to meet her for dinner, half an hour before Philip is due to surprise her.  David, fortunately, is struck down with appendicitis and doesn't make it.  Anna attempts to substitute Karl, her Chauffeur for David, only to have the mess backfire on her.  Fortunately, Philip comes in to give her a second chance, after all he did propose to her!  And they all live happily ever after.

Again, a fairly standard romantic movie, not a lot of entanglements.  If  David, Anna's old suitor, has actually been a character in the film and not just someone who's mentioned (even if played by Ralph Bellamy) it would have worked a bit better and given the film some more tension.  But still, the leads are good actors, and it has a slightly unusual plot.

Recommendation:  Not bad if you're in the mood for romance

Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars

Next Film:  It Happened One Night

His Girl Friday

• Title:  His Girl Friday
• Director:  Howard Hawks
• Date:  1940
• Studio:  Columbia Pictures
• Genre:  Comedy, Romance
• Cast:  Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
• Format:  Standard, Black and White
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"There's nobody else on The Paper who can write!"  -- Walter Burns

"All they've been doing is lying, all they've been doing is writing lies, Why don't they listen to me?"  -- Molly

"There are 365 days in a year one can get married, How many times - you got a murderer locked up in a desk?"  -- Walter

"His Girl Friday" is based on the play, "The Front Page", but whereas in the original play the reporter was a man - in this version, he's a she, -- and therein lies the fun.  Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) goes to her old stomping grounds, the Morning Post, to officially resign and tell her ex-husband, Walter, that she's going to get married again, to an insurance salesman named Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy).  Walter, still in love with Hildy, but even more, in need of  her talent as a writer, does everything he can to stop this, including get poor Bruce thrown in jail three times.

Meanwhile, a convicted murderer is going to be hanged the next day.  Walter and his paper have maintained the man's innocence, and tried to get a reprieve for him.  Walter manages to get Hildy to go and interview the condemned man.  Hildy does, and when she's out of the room one of  the other hardened "newspapermen" read her story and remark on the quality of the writing.  But Hildy, angered at yet another of Walter's jokes on Bruce, rips up the story.  She swears, yet again, to quit.  Then Earl Williams, the convicted man, escapes.  Hildy, like all the other reporters, starts covering the story, and really gets caught up in it when first Williams, then his girlfriend, Molly, show up in the press room.  Hildy calls Walter over to the courthouse, and they are trying to decide what to do.  The sheriff, cops, and mayor show up.  Williams is found in the roll-top desk, Hildy and Walter are arrested.  Then a process-server arrives from the governor -- for the second time that night he tries to deliver the governor's reprieve for the convicted man.  Hildy and Walter are freed.  Walter convinces Hildy to marry him.  Hildy also realizes that she is:  "a newspaperman";  as the story has fired her blood, and the dream of  marriage to a dull insurance salesman and a boring life in Albany is just that - a pipe dream, not her at all.

"His Girl Friday" is a great film -- it's funny, and the main plot of a manhunt for a escaped felon is still relevant today.  The film is known for it's incredibly fast, overlapping dialog, which it does have, and it definitely adds to the warp drive feel of  the film.  Grant and Russell have great chemistry together, and the audience knows from their first scene together that Hildy belongs with Walter - not plain vanilla Bruce.  But the film is also interesting in that it's very much a woman's liberation film.  Hildy, a woman, is successfully making her way in a career that is still, seventy years later, traditionally held by men, thus the use of  the term "newspaperman" throughout the film rather than reporter or journalist, though those terms pop-up as well.  And though Hildy talks about giving up her career for marriage, family, children, etc -- in the end she chooses something very novel for the 1940s - to have both, her career, and her marriage.  Because Walter would expect her to work right alongside him, just as she had done before, and Hildy's realized that what she really wants is to have both.

It should be noted that the popular 1980s romantic detective series, Moonlighting and Remington Steele, were referencing "His Girl Friday" in particular, with their use of fast paced, over-lapping dialog, and both a strong man and a strong woman in a adversarial romantic comedy.  That is, Hildy, wasn't exactly going to sit around and wait for "her prince" to come to her -- or even to go out searching for a man, but she was capable of  being happy with both a man who loved her and a career.

Recommendation:  See it!  You simply must!

Rating:  5 of 5 Stars

Next Film:  Raiders of  the Lost Ark (Indiana Jones)

Charade (1963)

• Title:  Charade
• Director:  Stanley Donen
• Date:  1963
• Studio:  Universal
• Genre:  Suspense, Romance, Mystery
• Cast:  Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy
• Format:  Technicolor, Widescreen
• Format:  R1, NTSC

"It is infuriating that your unhappiness does not turn to fat."  -- Sylvie to Regina

"Any morning now, you could wake-up dead, Mrs. Lambert."  -- Threat spoken to Regina

"Being murdered in cold blood is not nonsense!  Why don't you try it sometime?"  -- Regina to Peter

Audrey Hepburn is Regina Lambert, who returns to her flat in Paris, determined to ask her husband for a divorce, only to find the flat completely empty, the electricity shut off, and a police officer waiting to tell her that her husband has been murdered -- thrown off a train.  Shortly thereafter, a man claiming to be from the CIA (Walter Matthau) informs her that her husband was wanted for stealing $250,000 in gold during World War II along with four other men.  What follows is a complicated suspense movie of  multiple identities, miscellaneous murders, revenge, and a search for the missing money.  Cary Grant alone, who keeps showing up around Audrey Hepburn, has at least four names.

This film is directed like a classic Hitchcock film, though the director is actually Stanley Donen - better known for his musicals.  There is some romantic tension between Hepburn and Grant as well, but not as much as is typical for a Cary Grant-led romantic comedy.

Overall, though a bit long, it's still a fun film.  I picked up my copy at Suncoast on sale for $4.99 -- back when there was a Suncoast Video, simply because with Grant and Hepburn as leads I figured I couldn't go wrong and I was right.  The film is very enjoyable.  Cary Grant is excellent as the mystery man Hepburn isn't sure she should trust or not.  And Audrey Hepburn is excellent and believable as the only one in the film who really has no idea what's going on.  Also, there's two surprises at the end:  where the money was hidden (a classic - I love it, tho' the idea has been played with since in several formats) and who Cary Grant "really" is - another classic.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  4 of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Charade (1953)

Bringing Up Baby

• Title:  Bringing Up Baby
• Director:  Howard Hawks
• Studio:  RKO Radio Pictures
• Date:  1938
• Genre:  Classic, Romance, Comedy
• Cast:  Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant
• Format:  Black & White, Standard
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC, 2-disc Special Edition

Bringing Up Baby is a classic and very funny "screwball comedy".  It's a simple joy to watch.  Cary Grant plays a "zoologist" (Considering he's building a brontosaur skeleton for a museum, he's more likely an archeologist, anthropologist, or paleontologist -- Zoologists study living animals) who keeps running into Susan Vance (Hepburn) -- an heiress who seems to never stop talking or take five seconds to consider the consequences of  her actions.  Grant is also due to get married -- something Hepburn foils by keeping him busy on her Aunt's estate in Connecticut.  Though there is very little plot, the film is brilliantly funny -- from Hepburn and Grant walking out of a very fancy restaurant pressed close together to hide the fact that Hepburn has lost the train and backside of  her skirt -- to various shenanigans chasing her pet leopard, Baby, the film is laugh out loud funny.

Cary Grant plays an out-of-his-depth professor perfectly -- confused and confounded throughout - until he finally realizes how he feels about Susan.  Whereas, Katharine Hepburn is at her screwball comedy best, talking a mile a minute without ever making sense.

The dialogue in the film is fast and furious, and frequently overlaps -- working to add to the pace and the hilarious nature of  the film.  Truly, not a film to be missed.

Recommendation:  See it! -- What are you waiting for?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Next Film:  Broadcast News