Master Class

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Go to the nine-minute mark and watch the last 57 seconds. Nobody does elegant slapstick like Cary Grant...nobody. His timing is just so, and he uses just enough economy with the broad stuff. A touch more or less and his bits wouldn't be half as funny. Grant was as expert at this sort of thing as Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton were at their specialties.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 1, 2009 at 6:49 PM

comment #1

lehigh says ...

The Awful Truth is my favorite Grant comedy. Go to the one minute mark of this scene to watch him underplay a joke, yet still milk it for all it's worth.

I believe he had vaudeville training and even was a straight man for the Marx brothers on stage. No attractive leading man is going to get those kind of chops these days.

Being an acrobat didn't hurt either.

I have an immense amount of affection for him.

Posted by lehigh at January 1, 2009 10:08 PM

comment #2

lipranzer says ...

That's similar to the great moment in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE where he's just casually talking about a play he saw the other night where you see a dead body right off, and he opens the window seat and sees a dead body and freaks. He was a master at that.

Although my favorite moment from BACHELOR (not one of my fave Grant movies though) was this bit of wordplay that David Bowie later borrowed for his song "Magic Dance":

You remind me of the man.
What man?
The man with the power.
What power?
The power of voodoo.
Who do?
You do.
Do what?
Remind me of the man.

Posted by lipranzer at January 1, 2009 11:12 PM

comment #3

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Huh, never knew Bowie borrowed that bit of dialogue from a Cary Grant flick. Learn something new every day.

Luckily, that little Labyrinth trivia factoid doesn't interfere in the slightest with me naughtily enjoying the prurient images of a pubescent Jennifer Connelly.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at January 2, 2009 5:18 AM

comment #4

Rich S. says ...

You know you could say that nobody did anything as well as Cary Grant. Even Archie Leach realized it when he said HE wished he could be Cary Grant. The man could do it all.

And yet he never won an Oscar. Like Hitchcock and Kubrick, maybe the ultimate indictment of the "award."

Posted by Rich S. at January 2, 2009 6:24 AM

comment #5

Floyd Thursby says ...

In I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE, Grant and Ann Sheridan have to share a bedroom, she getting the bed and he getting an uncomfortable wooden chair. Grant's twisting his body into all sorts of contortions to try to find a comfortable position rivals the best work of Keaton and Chaplin.

Posted by Floyd Thursby at January 2, 2009 6:48 AM

comment #6

Al-Aurens says ...

I loves me some Cary Grant, but I was underwhelmed by The Awful Truth; I suppose that I was expecting a laugh riot. I think my favorite Grant is His Girl Friday, followed by The Philadelphia Story.

Posted by Al-Aurens at January 2, 2009 7:30 AM

comment #7

renorambler says ...

There was a recent doc on grant that aired on pbs that went through much of his early vaudeville and physical comedy background. I adored him before seeing it but think the man was severely underrated as an actor. So many great movies (and still good in a number of poor ones).

Posted by renorambler at January 2, 2009 9:20 AM

comment #8

figaso says ...

When's the Grant bio-pic coming and who's got the balls to try and play him?

1. Clooney
2. Clooney
or
3. Clooney

Gonna love those early LSD trips Cary took thru a glorious, technicolor �60's Beverly Hills...Sounds like a Coen bros pic to me.

Any ideas?

Posted by figaso at January 2, 2009 11:13 AM

comment #9

vaskark says ...

Helpful tip: To get to a certain point in a youTube clip just add this to the end of the url: #t=XmYs (e.g. #t=9m0s).

Grant was a terrific actor.

Posted by vaskark at January 2, 2009 3:25 PM

comment #10

vp19 says ...

Hearing people call for George Clooney to portray Cary Grant reminds me of everyone who wanted Burt Reynolds cast as Clark Gable more than three decades ago. Reynolds wisely knew it was a no-win situation, so he declined, and James Brolin ended up playing Gable in the horrid biopic "Gable & Lombard" (Jill Clayburgh was cast as Carole). BTW, if you were to do a Lombard bio today, whom would you cast?

Do I see a lot of Grant (and William Powell, for that matter) in Clooney? Indeed. But if the script isn't good, it will be as ludicrous as Grant's attempt to play Cole Porter (in "Night And Day").

Posted by vp19 at January 3, 2009 10:17 PM

comment #11