Cary Grant – Whimsically Classic

I way over-committed to blogging during April and May. I am so late with this post. It might not even be posted on Classic Film and TV Corner Presents’ page; but I wanted to finish it. Turning your homework in late is better than not at all, right? I was on vacation during the time of the blogathon, attending the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, in fact. I had every intention of writing this post ahead of time and scheduling it to post. Then, I just ran out of time. When I got back, I was tired. I had work. I had game night. Then I was sick for two days. Then I was sent on a last minute (literally, told Friday, left Sunday) work trip to California where I am now.

Anyway, I wanted to write about Ingrid Bergman and her multiple collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, the “Master of Suspense.” Their first collaboration was in 1945’s Spellbound, which starred Bergman with Gregory Peck. Spellbound was made during Hollywood’s obsession with psychoanalysis, psychiatry, psychology, and all of the other sciences involving the psyche. Some other memorable films dealing with this subject are The Dark Past (1948), High Wall (1947), Now Voyager (1942), The Three Faces of Eve (1957), The Snake Pit (1948), just to name a few.

Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in “Spellbound.”

Bergman portrays Dr. Constance Petersen, a psychoanalyst working at the Green Manors mental hospital in Vermont. She regularly has to reject the advances of her co-worker which leads to her being deemed an ice queen. Her older colleague, Dr. Murchison, ends up retiring after suffering from nervous exhaustion. He is replaced by the much younger Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck). Obviously because he’s the male lead and he’s much hotter than every other guy in this movie, Anthony and Constance quickly become romantically involved. While kissing Anthony, Constance discovers that he has an odd phobia: parallel lines.

After Anthony’s phobia is revealed, Constance is on a quest to learn the truth about Anthony’s phobia. There are numerous twists and turns, complete with an amnesia storyline, a fantastic Salvador Dali-conceived surrealistic dream sequence, some excellent skiing scenes and an interesting look at dreams and psychoanalysis. Fitting with the dream motif, the haunting score featuring a theramin, provides a eerie, surreal feeling.

After Spellbound comes Bergman and Hitchcock’s best collaboration, Notorious (1946) co-starring Cary Grant and Claude Rains. This is an excellent film. A film noir, Notorious, stars Bergman, somewhat against type, as American party girl Alicia Huberman. She is the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy. Grant plays T.R. Devlin an American government agent who recruits Alicia to infiltrate the Nazi ring. She refuses at first; but ultimately relents when Devlin plays recordings of her insisting that she loves her country.

Because it’s Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, two actors known for appearing in some of the most romantic Hollywood films of all time, their characters of course fall in love. Hitchcock very adeptly defied the Production Code which prohibited scenes of prolonged kissing. “Prolonged” according to the very puritanical Production Code board meant that on-screen kisses could not last for more than three seconds. Bergman and Grant’s kiss lasted for over two and a half minutes! To get around this, Hitchcock had the actors deliver dialogue, nuzzle, take breaths, etc., every three seconds. Bergman and Grant reportedly felt awkward, but Hitchcock insisted that it was perfect. He was right. This scene is much sexier than if they’d just made out for two minutes.

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman circumvent the Production Code in “Notorious.”

Eventually Alicia receives the assignment to seduce Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains), an associate of her father’s. Alex is more than happy to romance the much younger Alicia. Throughout the film, Devlin remains somewhat in the middle, as it’s sometimes not clear whether he’s genuinely in love with Alicia or whether it’s part of his work. Grant is very good at playing both sides. Rains makes an excellent villain. Bergman is of course excellent as the party girl caught in the middle of a love triangle with Devlin and Sebastian, as well as torn between her patriotism and love for her father.

In 1949, Ingrid Bergman completed her final collaboration with Hitchcock, Under Capricorn, co-starring Joseph Cotten and Michael Wilding. This film, unfortunately, is Bergman and Hitchcock’s least successful collaboration. I would even go a step further and say that it wasn’t even a very good film! Nothing seemed to happen until the last few minutes. This film is a period film, which seems like an odd choice for Hitchcock. Bergman doesn’t feel out of place in a period film, as she was very good in her Oscar-winning role in Gaslight in 1944. Unfortunately for Under Capricorn, it is no Gaslight.

Under Capricorn takes place in 1831 Sydney and stars Michael Wilding as Charles Adare, the second cousin of the new Governor, Sir Richard. In the mid-19th century, Sydney is overrun with ex-convicts from the British isles–so it is a rough place to be. Charles is in town because he wishes to make his fortune. He ends up meeting an ex-con, Samuel Flusky (Joseph Cotten), who is now a successful businessman.

Ingrid Bergman is probably the best part of “Under Capricorn,” an otherwise lackluster film.

Charles ends up meeting Samuel’s wife, Lady Henrietta (Bergman). Lady Henrietta is, to put it mildly, a mess. She is a drunk, social outcast, who is on the verge of just going completely insane. Bergman plays her like a slightly trashier version of her character, Paula, from Gaslight, except if she’d also turned to the bottle during her nervous breakdown. Poor Lady Henrietta, like Paula, has a maid who only contributes to her mental illness. Charles ends up befriending Lady Henrietta and helps restore her mental health. Eventually he uncovers a secret about Henrietta and Samuel.

Perhaps Under Capricorn would be more successful if Hitchcock’s reputation as the “Master of Suspense” hadn’t been so cemented in the minds of the audience. It doesn’t appear that Hitchcock intended for this film to be a thriller; however, the poster stating “Alfred Hitchcock’s Under Capricorn” carries the implication that this will be another Hitchcock film in the same vein as Rebecca and Shadow of a Doubt. Nothing happens in this film. Even the secret is kind of ho-hum. I won’t write this film off entirely; but if I wanted to watch Bergman in a Hitchcock film, I’d definitely choose Spellbound or Notorious over Under Capricorn.

In 1979, Ingrid Bergman hosted Alfred Hitchcock’s AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony. The ceremony also featured tributes given by other “Hitchcock Stars” including Henry Fonda (The Wrong Man), Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh (Psycho), James Stewart (Rope, Vertigo, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much), John Forsythe (Topaz, The Trouble with Harry), Teresa Wright (Shadow of a Doubt), Norman Lloyd (Saboteur), Jane Wyman (Stage Fright), Rod Taylor (The Birds), Vera Miles (The Wrong Man, Psycho), Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie) and Sean Connery (Marnie), Judith Anderson (Rebecca), and Cary Grant (Notorious, North by Northwest, To Catch a Thief, and Suspicion).

After the whirlwind of actors, Bergman was back with her closing remarks, which she directed towards Hitchcock:

Thank you. We must leave you now, but thanks to film, Hitch’s work never will. Now there’s just one little thing I want to add before we finish this evening. You remember that agonizing shot when you built some kind of elevator–it was a basket or something–with you and the cameraman, and you were shooting this vast party in “Notorious.” And you came zooming down, with your elevator, and your pull focus man…all the way down, into my hand, where you saw the key in a close-up…so that was an extreme long shot to close-up, just the key we saw now. Well, you know what? Cary stole that key after the scene! Yes, and he kept it for about 10 years and one day he put it in my hand and he said, “I’ve kept this long enough, now it’s for you for good luck.” I have kept it for 20 years and, in this very same hand, there is the key! I’m coming over… it has given me a lot of good luck, and quite a few good movies too, and now I’m going to give it to you with a prayer that it will open some very good doors for you too. God bless you, dear Hitch, I’m coming to give you the key.

FRANCES: “Do you want a leg or a breast?”

JOHN: “You make the choice”

This exchange between Grace Kelly and Cary Grant’s characters is just one of many innuendo-laden scenes in one of Alfred Hitchcock’s sexiest films, To Catch a Thief. Set in the picturesque French Riviera, To Catch a Thief depicts the story of a retired cat burglar, John Robie (Cary Grant) who finds himself back in the spotlight after a series of copy-cat jewel heists occur which threaten to implicate him as the culprit. Reformed, he sets out to unveil the real jewel thief. The jewel thief specifically targets the rich guests of a local ritzy resort. One of these guests is Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly) whose mother, Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis) is on the hunt for a suitable beau for her daughter. Of course, one look at John Robie, and mother and daughter are on his tail. A Lloyd’s of London insurance agent (John Williams) is also chasing the cat burglar (as his clients are the ones who are being targeted). He ends up enlisting the help of John Robie to catch the real cat burglar. Things are complicated when Jessie is targeted by the jewel thief.

tocatchathief

One of the best things about this film is the chemistry between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. In many of Grant’s most popular roles, he plays the sophisticated, witty and charming romantic man. Women can’t help but be taken in by his suave mannerisms and debonair good looks. To Catch a Thief is no exception. Grant and Kelly absolutely sizzle when they’re on screen. One of their sexiest scenes is the famous fireworks scene in the hotel. In this scene, Kelly invites Grant up to her hotel room “to watch the fireworks.” At the beginning of the scene, she turns off the lights (saying that fireworks look better in the dark) and at another point, steps into the shadow which only hides her face but showcases her white strapless gown and diamond necklace (which conveniently points down to her cleavage). At the end of the scene, Kelly invites Grant to sit next to her on the couch, while also ensuring that her necklace and decolletage are on display. She asks him to “hold them. Diamonds.” After seductively kissing his fingers, Kelly asks Grant if he’s “ever had a better offer.” After Grant calls out Kelly for trying to seduce him with imitation diamonds, she reassures him that she’s not imitation and they kiss. Fireworks explode in the sky behind them.

Grace Kelly tries to seduce Cary Grant

Prior to making To Catch a Thief, Cary Grant had announced his intention to retire after 1952’s Dream Wife. He felt that at, 48, he was too old to continue acting. Alfred Hitchcock had to personally coax him into accepting the John Robie role. Even after filming was completed in summer of 1954, it was feared that Grant, at 50, was too old for 26-year old Grace Kelly. However, in this film, like Grant’s other May-December romance films, nobody cared. Grant is one of the few actors who can seem to get away with being a middle-aged man courting a twenty-something and it doesn’t seem strange or awkward. Perhaps it’s his permanently tanned skin and black hair which gives him a youthful appearance. Perhaps it’s his suave and charming persona which would be irresistible to almost any woman. Perhaps it’s all of the above. Whatever “it” is, Cary Grant is timeless. He makes To Catch a Thief what it is. Without him, it would not be nearly as fun.

Cary Grant made three other films with Alfred Hitchcock–Suspicion (1941, with Joan Fontaine); Notorious (1946, with Ingrid Bergman); and North By Northwest (1959 with Eva Marie Saint), but To Catch a Thief is my favorite of these collaborations. The combination of the sexy leading actors and provocative dialogue, the gorgeous color cinematography, the beautiful French Riviera and the fantastic costumes (especially Grace Kelly’s gold ballgown at the end of the film) sets this film apart from the others.

Grace Kelly’s gorgeous gold ballgown. I also really like the black mask costume, it’s so outrageous.