Review of The Talk of the Town (1942) by Anthony S — 18 Nov 2006

Not, you know, that I find Ronald Colman particularly attractive. (Though he did play my beloved Sidney Carton once.) Still, he's not [i]un[/i]attractive, he's nice, and he's intelligent enough to be a Supreme Court Justice (and from that era, too, not now).

Cary Grant, however, [i]is[/i] that attractive, less nice and less smart, but way funnier and more . . . understanding, I think, is the word we want to use here. Also, no cherished retainer at his side at all times, and that tends to be awkward in bed.

One wonders, while watching this, what evidence they presented that Cary Grant to even make him a suspect for longer than five minutes. I mean, yeah, he sounds like someone the police would look into, but they never mention any actual evidence except that he's a malcontent. Granted, this is a crooked town that only seems to have one judge, but there's no way Cary Grant actually would've been executed. After all, very few crooked mill owners bother owning appeals courts.

One also gets the feeling that the script writers don't really want us asking this question, despite presenting us with a character who's actually educated enough about law to even be shortlisted for the Supremem Court. Certainly he never asks. True, he makes a big fuss about not wanting to be dragging into the case, but once he is, shouldn't he want to know? He of all people should know that people's apparent personalities can be deceptive.

Cary Grant does get one thing absolutely right, however. It does sound utterly ludicrous to whisper the word "Leopold" in any sort of passionate way.