Showing posts with label Joan Bennett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joan Bennett. Show all posts

Monday, April 3, 2023

Big Brown Eyes (1936)

   "But like a fine pair of binoculars in the hands of a child, the story moves constantly in and out of focus."

With Joan Bennett.

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

"As for Big brown Eyes, the most brutal thing I can say is that it is a typical production. Which, callously translated, means that if the Head Men would let the Director. Inherently it has all the elements of the exceptional motion picture earn his salary by doing his job
without their interference, this mild entertainment would have been electrifying
. But like a fine pair of binoculars in the hands of a child, the story moves constantly in and out of focus.

It seems incredible, to me, and I say it with the utmost sincerity, that ostensibly mature minds can consistently force inane and irrelevant attempts at humor into the life blood of a smoothly-running story. There are a couple of sequences in Big Brown Eyes that literally groan under the imbecilic dose of moronic piffle which block the filmic flow and destroy the dramatic validity.No wonder they say the things they do about Hollywood... The one faint disappointment was the work of Cary Grant, who seemed slightly ill at ease as the two-fisted detective. Grant has turned in one capable performance after another. In this, he just somehow didn't click. Perhaps it is that his innate good breeding subconsciously rebels against the role of a good-natured plebian. But don't misunderstand. His portrayal offered no point for criticism; it simply had, with the exception of one scene, nothing to recommend it. But watch for his brief little impersonation of a girl friend on the make, a clever bit of pantomime.

Director Raoul Walsh did his best with what freedom was given him: and his best is plenty good. But the production as a whole just doesn't make the grade as a compactly, well woven unit. It has everything but that one subtle, all-important quality; cohesive forward movement. If you are interested in cinematic study, see it, or go if you arent unduly particular, and want an innocuous evenings entertainment" 

Paul Jacobs, Hollywood Spectator


New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 -
Number 22 - Big Brown Eyes (Lobby Card Style)

Part Of


For more, see also:

Quote From Today April 2, 2022

On This Day April 2, 2021


Sunday, October 9, 2022

Quote From Today... Wedding Present (1936)

"Next year I'll be eligible for the Kentucky Derby..."

With Joan Bennett.

Wedding Present was Cary Grant's 24th full length feature film.

Marriage License Clerk: [Reviewing a marriage license] 

Do you solemly swear that the statements are?... Say! What's the matter with you? You've got the day of your birth down here August 4, 1934. That makes you two years old!

Charlie: That;s right. Next year I'll be eligible for the Kentucky Derby... and if you were marrying a girl like mine, you'd feel that young yourself.

Friday, October 9, 2020

On This Day...Wedding Present (1936)

 Wedding Present was Cary Grant's 24th full length film and released on this day in 1936.

Synopsis:

Charlie Mason (Cary Grant) and 'Rusty' Fleming (Joan Bennett) are reporters for a Chicago tabloid who are romantically involved. Charlie's mischievous shenanigans cause Rusty to move to New York. Charlie resigns his job and, along with gangster friend 'Smiles' Benson, he pursues Rusty to win her back before she marries a stuffy society author.


With Joan Bennett.


With Inez Courtney and Joan Bennett.

"Cary Grant plays the crazy reporter turned editor in a lackadaisical manner, mouthing most of his lines and acting more like a caricature than a character." - Howard Barnes, New York Herald and Tribune


"His (Paul Gallico) screwball star reporters as played by Miss Bennett and Grant, are not only pitched in farfetched concepts of the craft but they're loaded down with so many and frequent shifts of mood that the task of following them is made no easy one for the average fan." - Ben Bodec, Variety


With Joan Bennett.

Cast:

Joan Bennett ... Monica 'Rusty' Fleming
Cary Grant ... Charlie Mason
George Bancroft ... Pete Stagg
Conrad Nagel ... Roger Dodacker
Gene Lockhart ... Archduke Gustav Ernest
William Demarest ... 'Smiles' Benson
Inez Courtney ... Mary Lawson
Edward Brophy ... Squinty
Purnell Pratt ... Howard Van Dorn
Douglas Wood ... Willett
George Meeker ... Gordon Blaker
Damon Ford ... Mike Haley
Lois Wilson ... Laura Dodacker
Mary Forbes ... Mrs. Dodacker
George Offerman Jr. ... Sammy Smith
John Henry Allen ... Jonathan


Lobby Cards:








Directed by Richard Wallace.
Distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Original by Paul Gallico.
Running time: 81 minutes.

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Leading Ladies...Part 2.

So here are the actresses who starred in two films each alongside Cary Grant.

Jean Arthur:


Only Angels Have Wings (1939) and Talk Of The Town (1942)

Also appeared in the following radio shows:

Only Angels Have Wings (May 28th, 1939)
Talk Of The Town (May 17th, 1943)

Joan Bennett:


Big Brown Eyes (1936) and Wedding Present (1936)

Ingrid Bergman:


Notorious (1946) and Indiscreet (1958)

"She wears no make-up and has big feet and peasant hips, yet women envy her ability to be herself." 
- Cary Grant

Nancy Carroll:


Hot Saturday (1932) and Woman Accussed (1933)

Betsy Drake:

Every Girl Should Be Married (1948) and Room For One More (1952)

Also appeared in the following radio show:

Every Girl Should Be Married (June 27th, 1949)

"Betsy was a delightful comedienne, but I don't think Hollywood was ever really her milieu. She wanted to help humanity, to help others help themselves." - Cary Grant


Joan Fontaine:

Gunga Din (1939) and Suspicion (1941)

Sophia Loren:

The Pride and the Passion (1957) and Houseboat (1958)

"I was fascinated with him, with his warmth, affection, intelligence, and his wonderfully dry, mischievous sense of humor." - Sophia Loren

Ginger Rogers:

Once Upon A Honeymoon (1942) and Monkey Business (1952)

Ann Sheridan


Enter Madame (1935: as Clara Lou Sheridan) and I Was a Male War Bride (1949)

Mae West:

She Done Him Wrong (1933) and I'm No Angel (1933)

Loretta Young:


Born To Be Bad (1934) and The Bishop's Wife (1947)