Rating: 2/5
Hooptober 8.0 | 8/34 | Decades 2/8 | 40s
We start in a marriage license office, where theater critic and confirmed bachelor Mortimer Brewster is trying to marry Elaine Harper. That is if the press would get off his back.
A cop introduces a new cop to his beat and the eccentric folk who live there, such as the Brewster sisters, whose family has a long history in the neighborhood.
The sisters are plotting something for Mortimer and Elaine. They also have a nasty habit of poisoning people.
This movie is exhausting.
“Teddy Roosevelt” Brewster is a massively annoying character who gets too much screen time.
Cary Grant is awful in this. He’s abandoned all subtlety or comedic timing to play a Looney Tune.
Compare this with Peter Lorre, who also has manic scenes to perform and manages to keep them within the movie’s energy.
Grant is at his best in scenes with Lorre, who brings Grant down to reality.
Boris Karloff was supposed to play Raymond Massey’s role. Nevertheless, they continue with the role, letting the absence of a joke fog up the movie further.
Of course, the lighting, sets, camera work, and other mechanical facets of filmmaking are all competent.
I need to make it clear that I wanted to like this. On paper, this is my deal. But the execution is maddening. It comes so close to funny and fumbles every single joke.
One of my all-time favorite comedies is The Awful Truth, which stars Cary Grant. So it’s not “old comedy” or Cary Grant that I dislike. It’s just this movie.
I’m in the minority here — I’ll try again someday with a different crowd.