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By
NICK ZEGARAC
This Signature Series
effectively brings together some stellar examples
of the suave, urbane sophistication and
lighthearted good humor that was Cary Grant.
However, the absence of "Bringing Up Baby" and
"Dream Wife" from this DVD collection is
-- quite
simply -- inexcusable!" After all, if we're going
to call something a "Signature Collection"
shouldn't it represent the "signature" roles said
actor played? ("Bringing Up Baby" is an RKO title,
"Dream Wife" is an MGM title, and Warner owns the
rights to all MGM/Warner/RKO titles.)
Having said that, this box set is comprised of 3
hilarious comedies ("Mr. Blandings Builds His
Dream House," "My Favorite Wife," "The Bachelor
and the Bobby-Soxer"), one highly enjoyable
musical ("Night & Day") and one thrilling WWII
drama ("Destination Tokyo").
"Mr. Blandings" is a sort of 1940s rendition of
"The Money Pit" -- about a couple desperately
trying to build their dream house despite
overwhelmingly hilarious adversity. It co-stars
Melvyn Douglas and Myrna Loy. "My Favorite Wife"
is the most outstanding of the three comedies. It
stars Irene Dunne (who previously costarred with
Grant in "The Awful Truth"), as Grant's wife -–
presumed dead at the start of the film, but
resurfacing shortly thereafter to throw a monkey
wrench into Grant's second marriage to Gail
Patrick. "The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer" is a
quaint romantic triangle between Grant, Shirley
Temple and Myrna Loy: He's a playboy writer
unwillingly but romantically tied to a 17-year-old
schoolgirl (Temple) but more interested in her
older sister (Loy). "Night & Day" is a tuneful -–
if slightly mundane -- musical loosely based on
the life of composer Cole Porter. Actually,
there's no hint of Porter's real life in it at
all, other than Grant assigned to play the
flamboyantly homosexual real-life man as a
playfully womanizing heterosexual. Faux reality
aside, the film contains wonderful production
numbers including "You're The Top" sung by Grant,
and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," a Mary Martin
specialty that stops the show. "Destination Tokyo"
is a stark shift from all the lighthearted
playfulness discussed thus far. Grant is the
captain of a submarine during WWII, sent to gather
information for the coming Doolittle Raid. John
Garfield is magnificent as the torpedo man with a
bitter grudge against the Axis powers. A tad
weighty on war time propaganda, this film is
nevertheless, engaging.
All of the films have been given an upgraded
treatment by Warner Brothers and the clean up most
definitely shows -– most noticeably on "My
Favorite Wife" which previously looked very poor
on home video formats. Overall, the gray scale on
each of these films (with the exception of "Night
& Day" which is in Technicolor) is wonderfully
balanced with clean whites and solid blacks.
There's very little in the way of age related
artifacts for a collection of digital transfers
that will surely <i>not</i> disappoint. There is
some pixelization and edge enhancement present on
"Destination Tokyo," as well as considerable film
grain present in several rear projection shots
from the same film, but these are to be expected
in films of this vintage. Of special note: the
Technicolor transfer on "Night And Day" suffers
from periodic mis-registration that creates
distracting halos or out of focus images from time
to time. At its best the color is rich and well
balanced. The audio is mono for all the titles,
but very nicely balanced. Of special merit: the
songs in "Night And Day" are wonderfully spatial.
It is somewhat disappointing that the Cary Grant
Bio currently airing on Turner Classic movies as
part of their month-long tribute has not been
included as part of this boxed set. We get only
scant features here -– some audio commentaries,
that are resourceful, if brief -– some theatrical
trailers and some publicity stills. Perhaps Warner
is waiting to do a Cary Grant Vol. II. We'll see.
This is definitely one to add to your collection.
Even if the transfers had not been so beautifully
rendered, owning a bit of that old Cary Grant
magic is never a waste of money. |
