SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

utgard14 An aristocratic British couple (Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr) allow tourists to visit their castle because of financial difficulties. On one of these tourist trips, an American millionaire (Robert Mitchum) puts the moves on Kerr and she wastes no time falling for him. Grant doesn't discourage her affair, instead trying to come up with a way to win her back. How pathetic.A dry, dull, stagy film with unlikable characters played by likable actors. Five or ten years later it might have been more risqué but this is all very sedate and mannered. There's no fun to be had here unless you're someone who likes these sorts of tired old movies where screwing around on each other is seen as a harmless and natural part of marriage. Dated plot aside, the characters are a mess. Mitchum's character is an obnoxious bundle of clichés. Jean Simmons is not part of a love triangle or quadrangle, as some plot synposes online tend to say (as well as the misleading DVD cover). She's just an ex of Grant's who is only in the film to be a pot stirrer. Kerr tries harder than anybody else to make this thing work, which just makes her character all the more insufferable. Cary Grant is badly miscast and dresses like Mister Rogers in this. I wasn't surprised to find out Cary didn't want to do this movie. He turned it down initially and then Rex Harrison was cast. But when Harrison had to withdraw at the last minute, Cary stepped in to help out. It's a part that is a better fit for Rex Harrison. Cary may have been born in England but he was never suited to playing these stereotypical "stuffy Brit" roles. Also, despite his age at the time, it's a hard sell to believe him the kind of man women would throw over for Robert Mitchum (no spring chicken himself by this point). I like Mitchum as much as the next person, but no...just no. To date, I believe this is the lowest rating I've ever given a Cary Grant movie. He's one of my favorite movie stars so it takes a lot for me to hate a movie he's in. But this is one that I don't see myself ever watching again.

theowinthrop This is a film that does try to be good - and it is actually amusing at points. The central story about the aristocrats finding interest in an American millionaire (Mitchum) and an old flame of Grant's (Simmons) had potential. But the problem was that the screenplay is too talky and too cerebral, but not (paradoxically) as complete as it should be.There are pages and pages of the dialog which are (frankly) long winded. Cary Grant is not amusing when explaining his behavior to people, even Deborah Kerr. Whatever emotional chemistry worked for them so wonderfully in AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER is cut down considerably here.The additions of Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons does not really help. Mitchum's growing interest in Kerr, and her growing response to his seeing her in London is okay, but Simmons' relationship regarding Grant is not developed. We know they had an affair before he married her friend Kerr, and she has remained a friend of both, and she is funny regarding her open interest in sex, but why Grant's rejection of her is never really gone into. Also, at the tale end, there is the suggestion that Simmons and Mitchum might find each other a worthy lover. But nothing in the film really builds up to that final look between them! There are good moments - Grant and Mitchum going fishing, and muttering under their breaths about each other, and the business about the fur coat gift that Mitchum buys Kerr, and she tries to hide (and Simmons ends up wearing as her own). But the good moments are fragments. The duel scene towards the end is analyzed to death. It says a lot that the use of Noel Coward's song THE STATELY HOMES OF ENGLAND on the soundtrack at the start and end of the film is one of the highlights. One wishes Coward wrote the screenplay here - it might have been brighter or more consistent.Because the cast really tries I have given it a "7", but it is not as good a film as it should have been.

bkoganbing Lord Cary Grant and Lady Deborah Kerr as nobility have fallen on hard times and now they show their fabulous estate off to the tourists for pin money. One of those tourists is American millionaire Robert Mitchum who thinks the best sight he's seen is Kerr. He sweeps her off her feet and her marriage is put in danger.Cary's not going to take this lying down and Mitchum is invited to the estate for the weekend. Along for the ride is Jean Simmons, a friend of Grant's and Kerr who wouldn't mind getting Cary on the rebound. It's quite a weekend.Cary Grant and I assume Deborah Kerr's parts according the recent biography of Robert Mitchum were originally intended for Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall. When Kendall died, Harrison dropped out. Cary Grant's part probably would have been better in Harrison's hands. But you can't say that Grant didn't learn a lesson. He was widely quoted as saying after he turned down My Fair Lady that he wouldn't even by a ticket to see the film of Harrison didn't play Henry Higgins.Simmons does come off the best in this comedy of manners. She's full of wisecracks and is no hypocrite about her life.You know when you think about it the same premise was used for Sleuth with much more serious overtones. It's sometimes a small margin between comedy and drama.Not the best work that any of this talented quartet has done.

dancertm Some had mentioned Noel Coward and the drawing room comedy. I think it should be mentioned that the entire score was completely based on the songs of Noel Coward. I feel the film was an homage to Coward and his light plays of the 20's and 30's. Actually, if you know Coward's music, it forecasts things in the plot.For example at the beginning of the film when Grant and Kerr are having their first conversation, she reads a poem, and the music being played is "I'll Follow My Secret Heart." It is not too long after this she meets the third person in the triangle. I think it's quite an enjoyable movie, and it is nice to see people enjoy performing light banter.