Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection (1936)

Mixed bag of mainly pleasant Paramount programmers

This cheap DVD collection contains 5 Paramount films from the mid thirties before Cary Grant hit the really big time. Only hindsight tells us that he was more than the conventional good looking leading man but each film has some point of interest even if all are fairly routine Paramount programmers of the period.

- "30 Day Princess" is a Ruritanian romance with the charming Sylvia Sidney in a dual role as an out of work actress who is employed to imitate a princess. Grant plays a cynical reporter here and gives a very stiff and humourless performance. This film was a change of pace for Sidney who excelled as a tragedienne and she is delightful but the film is very light weight.
- "Kiss and Make-up" is a tenuous pre-code send up of the beauty industry with Grant as a scientist running a beauty clinic. The gossamer Genevieve Tobin plays his masterpiece creation and the film is an uneasy mixture of satire and music. Grant sings a charming song "Love divided in two" in his shaky tenor and even Edward Everett Horton sings too. To really take off, this film needed Lubitsch directing and a star like Maurice Chevalier but Grant is OK.
- "Wings in the Dark" is a neat drama with Grant playing a blind flier opposite stunt woman Myrna Loy. They make a pleasant team and Loy's customary underplaying works well here making convincing the unlikely romance and melodrama.
- "Big Brown Eyes" is a very amusing film with Grant cast as a detective and Joan Bennett as a manicurist then reporter who together solve a crime. The film is well directed by Raoul Walsh, moves quickly and has some provocative characters, including a shot of two young criminals on a bed together which could imply something the censorship would not allow. Bennett is very entertaining here, chewing gum and tossing off her tart lines like Jean Harlow. She is also very pretty. Walter Pidgeon is suave and menacing as the heavy.
- "Wedding Present" is a poor screwball comedy with mannequin like Bennett and Grant paired again as reckless reporters falling in and out of love. There is far too much talk and the screwball fails, mainly because Bennett is very wooden here, but Grant was by 1936 a much more relaxed comedian and he does his best to hold the film together.

The prints are generally good ("Wings in the Dark" is the worst) but there are no extras included. For Grant fans, the set is compulsory buying. April 25, 2008

"Love Divided by Two"

DVD set, Universal Studios, and though the prints aren't perfect, they are completely watchable - good audio. And after all - five rarely seen Cary Grant films from 1934-1936 - life is good! My personal favorites are "Big Brown Eyes" and "Kiss and Make Up". In the latter, Cary Grant sings! Several times - same song, but it's good, and it's sweet, and the movie is an over-the-top farce that may have you shaking your head and nodding knowingly. They're all good and I'm pleased to have added them to my classic film library. April 18, 2008

Carey Grant

These movies are just okay. Worth it if you are a collector, but may not be ones you watch over and over. January 11, 2008

Bringing Up Baby, Bachelor and Bobby Socks, Monkey Business, Cary Grant Screen Legend Collection

I ordered above DVD's on 24 September, my visa was deducted and know I am told that Amazon don't accept my visa but won't return my money. After numerous emails I still await a reply. At the moment I would not recommend this company to anyone October 31, 2007

The Cary Grant films you never see on TV

The best reason to buy this collection is the fact that it has 5 Cary Grant films from his early Paramount days. Rarely seen on television (and I doubt that they were ever available on VHS), these films feature a very young (and I might add- very handsome!) Grant as well as some wonderful leading ladies: Myrna Loy and Joan Bennett. The DVD set is VERY barebones (no chapter selections, no extras like trailers, photos or posters) but if it's the only way to see these films, so be it. I would like to see a follow up DVD to this collection that contains Paramount's Alice in Wonderland (1933) in which Cary Grant plays the White Knight. October 28, 2007

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