Thu Aug 25, 2011 6:40 pm
http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=film&article=910
Hollywood's chased romantic hero
Film
Cary Grant film series plays the Castro Theatre
Published 08/25/2011
by Tavo Amador
Was any classic Hollywood star as different in real life from his reel image as Cary Grant (1904–86)? For 30 years, he epitomized the romantic American leading man, despite an English accent that betrayed the former Archibald P. Leach's cockney roots. He personified cool, yet privately was anxious and insecure. Unlike Clark Gable, who boldly pursued women on screen, tall, dark, handsome Grant ran away from them. Gary Cooper was often shy in films, but he also played cowboys and adventure heroes. Although Grant married five times, he had a long relationship with Randolph Scott, whom he met on the set of the aptly titled Hot Saturday (1932). For the next 12 years, as bachelors and between marriages, they lived openly together, photographed doing domestic chores. Scott, a gorgeous action star, once described himself as Grant's "wife." In My Favorite Wife (1940), there's more chemistry between them than with their leading ladies. Grant also briefly lived with openly gay silent screen star-turned-decorator William Haines. Yet he claimed to be straight – probably a case of sexual identity conflicting with behavior.
Either by accident or design, however, hints of his sexual ambiguity are evident in many movies. His leading ladies sensed this and wanted to prove that all he needed was the right woman. In She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel (1933), Mae West, with her drag queen persona, seduced him, making him a star. Women loved watching the heroine get her man. Men fantasized that females would pursue them like they did him. Consequently, Grant's relaxed image earned him second place in the American Film Institute's list of the top 25 male legends. Several of his best films play the Castro Theatre, Aug. 31 to Sept. 6.
In The Philadelphia Story (1940), Grant is society girl Katharine Hepburn's ex-husband. She's engaged again – an obvious mistake – so he, nobly, interferes. Openly gay George Cukor directed from Philip Barry's comedy, which marked Hepburn's comeback after being declared box-office poison. James Stewart, playing a reporter, won the Best Actor Oscar. Cukor took Grant and Hepburn on Barry's Holiday (1938). She's an heiress fascinated by his challenges to capitalist values. (Wed., 8/31, matinee/evening)
Grant is frantic in Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). His maiden aunts poison elderly men, burying them in their basement, while his mad uncle thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. Fiancee Priscilla Lane accepts that romance isn't his top priority. Leo McCarthy's The Awful Truth (1937) has Grant and Irene Dunne planning divorce, only to wonder if they should. A landmark screwball comedy. (Thurs., 9/1, matinee/evening)
In Alfred Hitchcock's cold-war thriller North by Northwest (1959), Grant is chased by enemy agent James Mason and cool, blonde Eva Marie Saint. To whom will he surrender? The sequence along Mount Rushmore created a sensation. With a young Martin Landau and Leo G. Carroll. Reportedly at Grant's insistence, Audrey Hepburn had to pursue him across Paris in Stanley Donen's exciting Charade (1963). She was never sexier, but he's a hesitant, complex conquest. With Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, and James Coburn. (Fri., 9/2, matinee/evening)
Although initially a flop, Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby (1938) is the quintessential screwball comedy. Ditzy heiress Katharine Hepburn, unusually sexy and aggressive, races after Grant's paleontologist, while he searches for a missing dinosaur bone and avoids the eponymous leopard. In one revealing sequence, Grant answers the door wearing Hepburn's frilly negligee. "Because I just went gay all of a sudden!" he explains to a startled Charles Ruggles and May Robson. Hawks' Monkey Business (1952) finds scientist Grant testing a rejuvenation formula on a chimpanzee. He and wife Ginger Rogers accidentally imbibe some and regress to teenage behavior. His interest in secretary Marilyn Monroe seems academic. With Charles Coburn. (Sat., 9/3, matinee/evening)
In Hawks' I Was a Male War Bride (1949), French captain Grant marries an American WAC, the terrific Ann Sheridan. To return to America with her, he pretends to be a woman. He was rarely as butch as when in drag. Bringing Up Baby is the co-feature. (Sun., 9/4, matinee/evening)
Rosalind Russell is His Girl Friday (1940) – reporter Hildy Johnson, a part originally played by a man. She's also editor Grant's ex-wife, but he treats her like one of the boys. A cynical, comic masterpiece of machine-gun dialogue. Hawks directed, brilliantly. Only Angels Have Wings (1940) is set in South America. Grant is a pilot flying risky missions. Plain, husky-voiced Jean Arthur and smoldering Rita Hayworth both want to take him higher. Whom will he pick? Directed by Hawks. (Mon., 9/5, matinee/evening)
Hitchcock's superb Notorious (1946) highlights Grant's passive/aggressive misogynism. He manipulates ravishing Ingrid Bergman, the daughter of an ex-Nazi living in Rio de Janeiro. A feverish Bergman nearly rapes him. With Claude Rains. Hitchcock exploits Grant's sadism in Suspicion (1941). Exquisite bride Joan Fontaine wonders if he's trying to kill her. The revised ending makes her seem paranoid, but until then, Grant is charming and scary. Fontaine won the Best Actress Oscar, the only performer in a Hitchcock movie to get an Academy Award. With Cederic Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, and Dame May Whitty. (Tues., 9/6, matinee/evening)
Hollywood's chased romantic hero
Film
Cary Grant film series plays the Castro Theatre
Published 08/25/2011
by Tavo Amador
Was any classic Hollywood star as different in real life from his reel image as Cary Grant (1904–86)? For 30 years, he epitomized the romantic American leading man, despite an English accent that betrayed the former Archibald P. Leach's cockney roots. He personified cool, yet privately was anxious and insecure. Unlike Clark Gable, who boldly pursued women on screen, tall, dark, handsome Grant ran away from them. Gary Cooper was often shy in films, but he also played cowboys and adventure heroes. Although Grant married five times, he had a long relationship with Randolph Scott, whom he met on the set of the aptly titled Hot Saturday (1932). For the next 12 years, as bachelors and between marriages, they lived openly together, photographed doing domestic chores. Scott, a gorgeous action star, once described himself as Grant's "wife." In My Favorite Wife (1940), there's more chemistry between them than with their leading ladies. Grant also briefly lived with openly gay silent screen star-turned-decorator William Haines. Yet he claimed to be straight – probably a case of sexual identity conflicting with behavior.
Either by accident or design, however, hints of his sexual ambiguity are evident in many movies. His leading ladies sensed this and wanted to prove that all he needed was the right woman. In She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel (1933), Mae West, with her drag queen persona, seduced him, making him a star. Women loved watching the heroine get her man. Men fantasized that females would pursue them like they did him. Consequently, Grant's relaxed image earned him second place in the American Film Institute's list of the top 25 male legends. Several of his best films play the Castro Theatre, Aug. 31 to Sept. 6.
In The Philadelphia Story (1940), Grant is society girl Katharine Hepburn's ex-husband. She's engaged again – an obvious mistake – so he, nobly, interferes. Openly gay George Cukor directed from Philip Barry's comedy, which marked Hepburn's comeback after being declared box-office poison. James Stewart, playing a reporter, won the Best Actor Oscar. Cukor took Grant and Hepburn on Barry's Holiday (1938). She's an heiress fascinated by his challenges to capitalist values. (Wed., 8/31, matinee/evening)
Grant is frantic in Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). His maiden aunts poison elderly men, burying them in their basement, while his mad uncle thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. Fiancee Priscilla Lane accepts that romance isn't his top priority. Leo McCarthy's The Awful Truth (1937) has Grant and Irene Dunne planning divorce, only to wonder if they should. A landmark screwball comedy. (Thurs., 9/1, matinee/evening)
In Alfred Hitchcock's cold-war thriller North by Northwest (1959), Grant is chased by enemy agent James Mason and cool, blonde Eva Marie Saint. To whom will he surrender? The sequence along Mount Rushmore created a sensation. With a young Martin Landau and Leo G. Carroll. Reportedly at Grant's insistence, Audrey Hepburn had to pursue him across Paris in Stanley Donen's exciting Charade (1963). She was never sexier, but he's a hesitant, complex conquest. With Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, and James Coburn. (Fri., 9/2, matinee/evening)
Although initially a flop, Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby (1938) is the quintessential screwball comedy. Ditzy heiress Katharine Hepburn, unusually sexy and aggressive, races after Grant's paleontologist, while he searches for a missing dinosaur bone and avoids the eponymous leopard. In one revealing sequence, Grant answers the door wearing Hepburn's frilly negligee. "Because I just went gay all of a sudden!" he explains to a startled Charles Ruggles and May Robson. Hawks' Monkey Business (1952) finds scientist Grant testing a rejuvenation formula on a chimpanzee. He and wife Ginger Rogers accidentally imbibe some and regress to teenage behavior. His interest in secretary Marilyn Monroe seems academic. With Charles Coburn. (Sat., 9/3, matinee/evening)
In Hawks' I Was a Male War Bride (1949), French captain Grant marries an American WAC, the terrific Ann Sheridan. To return to America with her, he pretends to be a woman. He was rarely as butch as when in drag. Bringing Up Baby is the co-feature. (Sun., 9/4, matinee/evening)
Rosalind Russell is His Girl Friday (1940) – reporter Hildy Johnson, a part originally played by a man. She's also editor Grant's ex-wife, but he treats her like one of the boys. A cynical, comic masterpiece of machine-gun dialogue. Hawks directed, brilliantly. Only Angels Have Wings (1940) is set in South America. Grant is a pilot flying risky missions. Plain, husky-voiced Jean Arthur and smoldering Rita Hayworth both want to take him higher. Whom will he pick? Directed by Hawks. (Mon., 9/5, matinee/evening)
Hitchcock's superb Notorious (1946) highlights Grant's passive/aggressive misogynism. He manipulates ravishing Ingrid Bergman, the daughter of an ex-Nazi living in Rio de Janeiro. A feverish Bergman nearly rapes him. With Claude Rains. Hitchcock exploits Grant's sadism in Suspicion (1941). Exquisite bride Joan Fontaine wonders if he's trying to kill her. The revised ending makes her seem paranoid, but until then, Grant is charming and scary. Fontaine won the Best Actress Oscar, the only performer in a Hitchcock movie to get an Academy Award. With Cederic Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, and Dame May Whitty. (Tues., 9/6, matinee/evening)
Bruce Calvert
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com