Back Comments (6) Share:

Feature

Cary Grant spent several years creating the persona that the world came to love. Towards the end of his career, he started to make the films that he could retire on. The four films presented today represent pieces from the last decade of his professional career. Outside of North by Northwest, Grant found himself making these audience-pleasers. The man that dazzled us with Hawks and Hitchcock was setting into the sun, leaving us with memories of better times and better performances.


Indiscreet centres around a successful actress named Anna Kalman (Ingrid Bergman). Anna has fallen in love with the married diplomat Philip Adams (Cary Grant). Anna isn't sure what to do with her forbidden love, until Philip's friend Alfred tells her that he's faking it. Philip lies about being married, so that he doesn't have to get close to any females he wants to date. This leads to a confrontation where Anna melts Philip's icy heart.

Operation: Petticoatis a sex farce set during the days of World War II. Lt. Comdr. Matt T. Sherman (Cary Grant) is trying to keep the Sea Tiger afloat in Japanese waters, while Lt. Nicholas Holden (Tony Curtis) keeps trying to sell him on a crazy scheme. Eventually, the two men end up on a Japanese island full of beautiful Navy nurses. The film is full of jokes that your grandparents would think are lame. There's nothing sexy and there's no solid World War II action.


The Grass is Greener centres around Victor Rhyall's efforts to keep his ancestral home from closing. Victor (Cary Grant) isn't thrilled when he has to ask millionaire oil Baron Charles Delacro (Robert Mitchum) for money, but he's willing to do whatever it takes. This includes using the help of his buddies to win back his wife from Charles Delacro's wily charms.

That Touch of Mink is a simple film about millionaire businessman Philip Shayne (Cary Grant) who accidentally bumps into Cathy Timberlake (Doris Day). Philip feels bad for what happened and sends his crony Roger (Gig Young) to pay for any damages. Roger can't stand Philip, so he tells Cathy that he's a giant piece of garbage. The slander backfires and it's not long before Philip and Cathy are in love.


Typical of the Doris Day films at the time, Doris gets to keep up the good girl act to ridiculous levels. Cary Grant spends most of the film taking Doris Day around the world, as he tries to get his way into Doris Day's panties. Doris won't go down for it, unless Cary Grant marries her. So, we get a dated approach to the world of dating. A two hour film about the dangers of giving up the pussy to Cary Grant before you're ready.

What do all of these films have in common? They are proof that the lame formulaic films of today have root in Hollywood's past. This collection of four films shows us a film star that had to come to terms with a changing world and the fact that you can't control your image and star in the films that you want to see. Four years after That Touch of Mink, Grant would go into retirement. Twenty one years later, he died in Iowa without having ever returned to the silver screen. I wish that modern stars had that kind of commitment.

Video

The transfers for these discs are enough to make you want to gag. I don't know where Lionsgate dug up some of these transfers, but there's so much print damage on them. Not everyone is made out of cash and a studio can't ever tell what's going to sell in terms of a classic release, but this is insulting to all fans of Cary Grant.

Audio

The Mono tracks are clean and crisp. That's about it for them. It's kind of hard to talk about a Mono track that just does the job. It's always been the problem with the monaural soundtrack and its inability to be truly dynamic.  

Extras

There are no extras in the Cary Grant: 4  Disc Collector's Set.

Overall

Cary Grant was a man that spent decades creating an image of high class. The world fell in love with his matinee idol looks and the critical community was impressed with the fact that a pretty boy could act circles around the competition. This set does nothing to honour either aspect of the man. Each film included in the set would've been an embarrassment had they came out during DVDs early days in 1997. Ten years later, why are we being asked to put up with laserdisc transfers on a quickly assembled packaged? That's why this release is only a rental for the Cary Grant fans. Something better will come along.