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Cary Grant on DVD

by Jeffrey M. Anderson

I Was a Male War Bride (1949, Fox)
In this fourth of five collaborations between director Howard Hawks and Cary Grant, the latter plays a French (!) soldier who falls for an American WAC Lieutenant (Ann Sheridan). To get into the United States, they invoke a law that makes Grant into a war bride. The film advertises Grant in drag, but that -- thankfully -- only takes up a few minutes near the end of the film. Instead, Hawks concentrates on one of his favorite dynamics, the back-and-forth banter between two smart and equal characters and exposing hypocrisy. It's certainly a lesser Hawks, but with a strong script by Charles Lederer (His Girl Friday), Hagar Wilde (Bringing Up Baby) and Leonard Spigelgass, it's very entertaining. Includes a theatrical trailer.

In addition, these other Cary Grant films have been released on DVD:

Born to Be Bad (1934)
Directed by Lowell Sherman, this was made before Grant found his "Cary Grant" persona. In it, he plays a dairy farmer who becomes involved with the scheming Loretta Young.

Kiss Them for Me (1957, Fox)
Stanley Donen's comedy follows three Navy men as they travel to San Francisco for an unscheduled furlough. Grant is unusually good as a cynic who thinks he has the military all figured out, but model Suzy Parker turns in perhaps the worst performance in a major Hollywood film that I've ever seen (with the possible exception of Estella Warren in Planet of the Apes).

People Will Talk (1951, Fox)
Grant stars as a professor who undergoes a McCarthy-like investigation instigated by a jealous colleague. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.