For sheer, unadulterated viewing pleasure, I always turn to Cary Grant. The Bristol-born Archie Leach transformed himself into the epitome of suave sophistication, starred in some of the best comedies ever made and communed with the camera so effortlessly that his greatness almost passed unnoticed.
Grant had a divine combination of looks, charisma and technique, moving with unique grace (he used to be an acrobat) and delivering crisp, crackling dialogue with impeccable, barely plausible timing. His best work was with two notable directors. Under Howard Hawks he became the consummate screwball comedian - cavorting with Katharine Hepburn and a leopard in Bringing Up Baby (1938), and as the scurrilous newspaper editor in His Girl Friday (1940). For Alfred Hitchcock he revealed a darker, ambiguous persona in Suspicion (1941) and Notorious (1946), before excelling as the prissy adman pursued by Nazis in North By Northwest (1959). With Eva Marie Saint in that film, and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, Grant provided a masterclass in the art of the screen kiss, while in Cukor's The Philadelphia Story (1940), he and Hepburn offered one of the most romantic climaxes in cinema.
"Everybody wants to be Cary Grant, " he once said. "Even I want to be Cary Grant." And therein lies his magic.
Demetrios Matheou is the film critic of The Sunday Herald
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