Suspicion (1941)

  "...the film is the equivalent of the book you can't put down."

With Joan Fontaine.

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

"Two thirds of Hitchcock's Suspicion is very good, and that is enough to make a thriller.  During that time Hitchcock used all his smoothness and his sharp eye for detail to build up a situation in which a loving wife (Joan Fontaine) is in danger of being poisoned by an equally loving but less trustworthy husband (Cary Grant).  A best friend (Nigel Bruce, as a chubby ass) has already, mysteriously, fallen by the way.  The fact that Hitchcock throws in a happy end during the last five minutes, like a conjurer explaining his tricks, seems to me a pity; but it spoils the film only in retrospect, and we have already had our thrills.  A steep cliff, a letter from an insurance company, a glass of milk at the bedside - on such details and on the equivocal looks that foreshadow murder, Hitchcock fixes a fascinated gaze.  So long as the magic lasts (there's a slow beginning, by the way) the film is the equivalent of the book you can't put down.

-  William Whitebait, The New Statesman and Nation

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 40 - Suspicion (Lobby Card Style)

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To Catch A Thief (1955)

      " ...a high-polish job, a kind of reversion to the urbanities of a gentleman Raffles..."

With Grace Kelly.

To Catch A Thief - Review is taken from 'The Films of Cary Grant' by Donald Deschner (1973):

"Has Alfred Hitchcock over-refined his technique?  There are those who will say yes after seeing his To Catch A Thief, but this fan is quite happy with Hitchcock as he is.  In his latest mystery, the emphasis is less on the mystery than on the incidental mechanics that develop it, much as it was in Rear Window, though here the plot is even thinner.  

Nevertheless, it is a high-polish job, a kind of reversion to the urbanities of a gentleman Raffles, with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly ideal in the romantic leads."

- Philip K. Scheuer, Los Angeles Times

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 60 - To Catch A Thief (Lobby Card Style)

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Notorious (1946)

      "...with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant to bring glamour and sultry vitality to the leads..."

With Ingrid Bergman.

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

"The unease that assaults an artist transplanted bodily out of his native soil has affected even veteran director Alfred Hitchcock who, since his arrival in Hollywood, has consistently failed to live up to the standards of Thirty-Nine Steps and The Lady Vanishes.  A celebration is therefore in order for his most recent effort, Notorious.  With a highly polished script by Ben Hecht, and with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant to bring glamour and sultry vitality to the leads, Mr. Hitchcock has fashioned a film in the supercharged American idiom of the sort that made Casablanca popular.  With a minimum of tricks and an uncluttered story line, he tells of a beautiful American spy who marries an enemy leader and is rescued at Zero hour by her secret service superior when her husband tries to poison her.

- Hermine Rich Isaacs, Theatre Arts Magazine

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 49 - Notorious (Lobby Card Style)

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North by Northwest (1959)

      "...two of the very slickest operators before and behind the Hollywood cameras."

With Eva Marie Saint.

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

"If it does nothing else (but it does, it does), North by Northwest resoundingly reaffirms the fact that Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock are two of the very slickest operators before and behind the Hollywood cameras.  Together they can be unbeatable.  Each has his own special, career-tested formula.  Actor Grant's is a sartorial spiffiness and mannered charm; producer-director Hitchcock's is an outrageously simple yet effective blend of mayhem and humor at mayhem's expense, the whole usually framed by a famous piece of scenery that no one else had ever considered a suitable backdrop for melodramatic shenanigans.  The present shiny and colorful collaboration offers Grant as a dapper Madison Avenue advertising executive being chased by foreign agents over the slippery precipices of the Presidential faces carved into Mount Rushmore - a most unlikely bit of contrived suspense, but one that is hypnotizing while it jangles the nerves." 

- Newsweek

New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 66 - North by Northwest (Lobby Card Style)

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Quote From Today... To Catch a Thief (1955)

    "Why did I take up stealing?"

To Catch a Thief was Cary Grant's 60th full length feature film.

H. H. Hughson: You are a man of obvious good taste in everything. Why did you...

John Robie: Why did I take up stealing? To live better, to own things I couldn't afford, to acquire this good taste that you now enjoy and which I should be very reluctant to give up.

H. H. Hughson: Then you are frankly dishonest.

John Robie: I try to be.

Quote From Today... Notorious! (1946)

"Daisies and buttercups, wasn't it?"

With Ingrid Bergman.

Notorious! was Cary Grant's 49th full length feature film.

Devlin: I can't help recalling some of your remarks about being a new woman. Daisies and buttercups, wasn't it?

Alicia: You idiot! What are you sore about, you knew very well what I was doing!

Devlin: Did I?

Alicia: You could have stopped me with one word, but no, you wouldn't. You threw me at him!

Devlin: I threw you at nobody.

Alicia: Didn't you tell me what I had?

Devlin: A man doesn't tell a woman what to do; she tells herself. You almost had me believing in that little hokey-pokey miracle of yours, that a woman like you could change her spots.

Alicia: Oh, you're rotten.

Devlin: That's why I didn't try to stop you. The answer had to come from you.

Alicia: I see. Some kind of love test.

Devlin: That's right.

Quote From Today... North By Northwest (1959)

  "My name is Thornhill - Roger Thornhill"

North By Northwest was Cary Grant's 66th full length feature film.

[Thornhill and Vandamm meeting each other for the first time in Townsend's office, where Vandamm has stolen his identity; they both size each other up silently]

Phillip Vandamm: Good evening.

[beat]

Phillip Vandamm: Not what I expected. A little taller, a little more polished than the others...

Roger Thornhill: Well, I'm so glad you're pleased, Mr. Townsend!

Phillip Vandamm: But I'm afraid just as obvious.

Leonard: What the devil is all this about? Why was I brought here?

Phillip Vandamm: Games? Must we?

Roger Thornhill: Not that I mind a slight case of abduction now and then, but I do have tickets to the theatre tonight, and a show I was looking forward to and I get, well, *unreasonable* about things like that.

Phillip Vandamm: With such play-acting, you make this very room a theatre.

[Leonard, Vandamm's co-conspirator, enters]

Phillip Vandamm: Ah, Leonard. Have you met our distinguished guest?

Leonard: He's a well-tailored one, isn't he?

Phillip Vandamm: My secretary is a great admirer of your methods, Mr. Kaplan. Elusive, however misguided...

Roger Thornhill: Wait a minute. Did you call me "Kaplan"?

Phillip Vandamm: Oh, I know you're a man of many names, but I'm perfectly willing to accept your current choice.

Roger Thornhill: "Current choice"? My name is Thornhill - Roger Thornhill! It's never been anything else!

On This Day...Suspicion (1941)

Cary Grant's 40th full length feature film, Suspicion, was released today in 1941.

Synopsis:

After a chance meeting on a train, Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) and Lina McLaidlaw(Joan Fontaine) have a whirlwind romance and are married. Johnnie was well known in society circles while Lina is a shy sort. They return from a lengthy European honeymoon to a beautiful house Johnnie's arranged for them. She's a bit shocked to learn, however, that her new husband has no means of support, and seems to live off money he borrows from friends. 

She soon learns he has a darker side, however, and loves to gamble. Johnnie loves mystery novels, and Lina begins to suspect he would go to any lengths to keep his lifestyle secure. She's certain that a business deal he's dreamed up with his longtime friend Beaky (Nigel Bruce) is a scam on his part. When the police inform her that Beaky died in Paris, she's certain her husband is behind it all. Her main concern, however, is whether she will be the next victim.

"Miss Fontaine is beauteous, and Cary Grant finds a new field for himself - the field of crime, the smiling villain, without heart or conscience." - John Mosher, The New Yorker.

"The film is well cast all down the line. Cary Grant in particular is just right for that part..." - Otis Ferguson, The New Republic.

Did You Know?

Joan Fontaine liked the character of Lina in this movie so much, that she sent Alfred Hitchcock a note after she read the novel, "Before the Fact", by Francis Iles, offering to play the part for free, if necessary.

Cary Grant did not warm up to Joan Fontaine, finding her to be temperamental and unprofessional.

Cary Grant was paid $112,500 for his work in this film, while Joan Fontaine earned $69,750. At that time, Hitchcock was still being paid a weekly salary as director, and he was not happy about the amount his two stars were paid.

Cary Grant's first role in a Alfred Hitchcock movie. He also starred in three more: Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959).

With Joan Fontaine and Nigel Bruce.

Cast:

 Cary Grant ... Johnnie Aysgarth
 Joan Fontaine ... Lina McLaidlaw
 Sir Cedric Hardwicke ... General McLaidlaw 
 Nigel Bruce ... Gordon Cochran Thwaite aka Beaky
 Dame May Whitty ... Mrs. McLaidlaw 
 Isabel Jeans ... Mrs. Newsham
 Heather Angel ... Ethel
 Auriol Lee ... Isobel Sedbusk
 Reginald Sheffield ... Reggie Wetherby
 Leo G. Carroll ... Captain Melbeck

With Joan Fontaine.

Lobby Cards:

International Posters:

Spanish.

French.

English.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Produced by RKO Radio.

Running time: 99 minutes.

With Joan Fontaine and Alfred Hitchcock on set.

On This Day...To Catch A Thief (1955)

 On this day in 1955, Cary Grant's 60th full length feature film was released at the Venice Film Festival.

Its official release was earlier in the month...its just that I missed it!!!!

Cary Grant plays John Robie, "The Cat", a reformed jewel thief who now lives on the French Rivera. Grace Kelly stars alongside as Frances Stevens.

It was Cary Grant's third film with director Alfred Hitchcock and his first film in colour!

With Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis and John Williams.

Jessie Royce Landis would later play Cary Grant's mother in his last collaboration with Hitchcock, North by Northwest.

"Grant gives his role his assured style of acting, meaning the dialogue and the situations benefit."
- Weekly Variety

"Grant once again demonstrates he is the master of timing, getting laughs where a lesser talent would draw a blank." - Daily Variety

"...Cary Grant and Grace Kelly ideal in the romantic leads." - Los Angeles Times

Cast:

John Robie                       Cary Grant

Frances Stevens                 Grace Kelly

Mrs. Stevens                      Jessie Royce Landis

H.H. Hughson                   John Williams

Bertani                               Charles Vanel

Danielle                             Brigitte Auber

Foussard                            Jean Martinelli

Germaine                           Georgette Anys

Publicity shot.

"The names Grant...Cary Grant!" This scene wouldn't look out of place in a Bond film!

Lobby Cards:

Directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock.

Distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Running time: 103 minutes.