DVD Review: The Cary Grant Box Set, Part One

Cary Grant will forever be known as one of Hollywood's most seductive and interesting stars. Even twenty years after his death, Grant still owns the imaginations of film lovers. Perhaps it's because there's still more charisma hidden within Grant's scattered ashes than there is in any major leading actor today. Or perhaps it's because the old silver screen air of mystery is now officially dead, and icons such as Grant can no longer exist outside our memories. Society today is overburdened with the slightest minutiae of a celebrity's life; teenage girls can rattle off attractive movie star facts faster than young boys of our parents' generation could recite baseball stats. Today's public seems to thrive on the image of the tarnished star; gossip magazine sales have skyrocketed from last year's high-profile celebrity break-ups and unfortunate trials. In a world like this, such a character as Grant would never have existed. The rumors of his bisexuality would have either been proven or disproven by the height of his fame; there would have been more of a public outcry against his use and approval of LSD; and every bit of glamour would have been stripped away from his image, until no longer could Cary Grant, the character, and Archie Leach, the man within, have been separate.

To celebrate this long-dead Hollywood image - as well as Sony's DVD box set, released today - the Modern Pea Pod devotes this week to Cary Grant. Day by day, we'll show you some of the best and some of the worst of Grant's canon. So bust out a nicely tailored suit, make yourself a nice drink, and drop some acid. It's time to remember our man Archie Leach.

His Girl Friday
(Howard Hawks, 1940)
Without doubt the most high-profile entry in the set, His Girl Friday is a delightful (if confusing) film where Grant plays his quintessential role of the jilted husband. While it isn't as well-written or well-acted the same year's award-winning Grant release The Philadelphia Story, it does have its charms. The film centers around a divorced husband, Walter Burns (Grant), and his ex-wife Hildy Johnson, (Rosalind Russell) who work together at a newspaper based on the City News Bureau of Chicago until Hildy decides to retire in favor of domestic bliss with an insurance salesman (veteran "other man" actor Ralph Bellamy). Through a series of comic hijinks perpetrated by Burns, however, Johnson is tricked into covering the biggest story of the year.

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