Dunham16 Many single people in the time the film is set in Britian lived historically in the United States in horrific extended family environments. The were bully hazed at home and were at the time less likely to find available, smaller residences in which they could live comfortably on their current assets or income. Academy award winning Joan Fontaine captures the essence of single people living this way in forties America albeit the film is set in rural Britain. Cary Grant could not be more splendid once selecting her as his target reasoning giving her hope she could give him money. The one reason this superb film is not given a perfect 10 is director Hitchcock's way of downplaying the anxiety and horror of single people living then in America under parallel conditions because in every other way the film is dynamite. With Nigel Bruce, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and dame May Witty in other starring roles the casting is as dynamite as is the storyboard.

Kirpianuscus first, it is a real interesting film. because, in many scenes it seems be an experiment to mix different pieces from different genres. it is, in same measure, a dark comedy, a thriller, mystery and quiz. the occasion to discover a different Cary Grant, exploring his art for romantic comedy in admirable manner and occasion for Joan Fontain to guide the viewer on the web of innocence, rumors, fear and need to know the truth. the end is a compromise. brutal, uncomfortable but, maybe, part of experiment, solution to escape from the predictability or the scissor of censors. a strange film because it contains the lines who define Hitchcock universe but, in same measure, seems profound different. and, finally, this is far to be a bad thing.

vincentlynch-moonoi This is one of my favorite Cary Grant films, although it is certainly not at the top of my Alfred Hitchcock picks. I thought I had already reviewed it, and was coming on the site to update because I had just upgraded to the new Blu Ray edition. A comment about that first. I do not feel that the upgrade from regular DVD to Blu Ray is, in this case, worth it; the improvement is marginal.Joan Fontaine (Lina) is a bookish, almost spinsterish young woman who stumbles upon an intriguing ne'er-do-well (Johnnie Aysgarth), played by Cary Grant. When Fontaine hears her parents (Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Dame May Witty) in a conversation where they discuss the unlikelihood of her ever marrying, she falls in love with Grant, almost in spite of her parent's viewpoint. But, she soon is in real love with Grant, and they marry rather quickly. Into the picture comes Nigel Bruce as sort buffoonish 'Beaky', whom Grant sort of watches out for...or does he. In one incident after another, Grant disappoints Fontaine: first he turns out to have no job or income, then he gets a job...and secretly loses it, and then he sells her father's prize chairs without her permission. She begins to like Beaky, and it begins to appear that Grant may plan on murdering the silly man to gain his money in a business deal. Sure enough, Bruce dies, and Grant's involvement seems almost a certainty. And then, the question becomes: will he also murder FOntaine...by poisoned milk? Or does he finally become a man?Cary Grant is my favorite actor (or at least tied with Spencer Tracy). And he is perfect for his role here...and plays it to maximum effect. On the other hand, although I don't dislike her, I'm not a fan of Joan Fontaine...but in watching this film this time around, I have to admit that Fontaine (who won the Academy Award for this performance) literally steals the show. Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Dame May Witty have very minor roles here. Important to the film, but very brief. Nigel Bruce's role is more substantial, and he is good in it, but I sometimes tire of him always playing the buffoon.It's difficult to find much wrong with this film. It is in Hitchcock's more subtle career phase...which I much prefer. Apparently the film is MUCH different than the novel; the film leaves out all of Grant's infidelities. And, instead of being a real cad (as in the book), the film becomes more a tale of a woman with suspicions. Today, I'm sure the film would be a very much different one.

merrywater One of Hitchcock's best movies in my opinion. It predates and foreshadows a number of later movies, such as Gaslight, The Two Mrs Carrols, In a Lonely Place etc. The balance between comedy, drama and thriller is great, and a bit unusual for its time too. It's possible that with another lead than Cary Grant, Hitchcock would have pursued a more horror-oriented course: Grant played rather a screwball character here, also in comparison to his roles in Notorious and North by Northwest.The two most memorable sequences concern a glass of milk and a policeman's starring at a (bad) Picasso replica. The latter has been discussed here on IMDb, and is in my belief merely one of the director's many whims. Besides, he did fancy Spanish painters cf Dalì's participation in the making of Spellbound. I do not find it likely that Hitchcock by this scene wanted to comment on the state of the female protagonist's mind, or to make a reference to the glass of milk scene. Why in heaven would he had thought that to be necessary?!(Being the most influential director of all times, Hitchcock frequently has to be over-analyzed. For instance, the brief close-up of a record label in Psycho, showing that Norman Bates was listening to the Beethoven Symphony called 'Eroica', has been interpreted as a sexual reference - 'Erotica' - to go with Bates's weird persona. On the other hand, the word 'sexual' actually occurs overtly in the movie: the psychiatrist says it when explaining that Bates is not a transvestite. So, why would Hitchcock have to subtly use a Beethoven title to bring on the subject?)