Pass the Popcorn: Movies from where I Sit

I agree with the movie historian David Thompson that the greatest film actor of the twentieth century was Cary Grant.  There are so many of his early movies that I love, and he had a long shelf life.  One of my favorites is "Talk of the Town" (1942) starring Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman.  It was directed by George Stevens, and is unlike anything else he did.  It is also an unusual role for Grant, as he plays a anarchist on the lam from a factory sabotage.  Arthur is the daughter of a woman who is renting a house to a famous judge, who wants some quiet time away to work on a book.  Before he comes, Arthur finds Grant hiding in the house, and insists he leave.  It is a small town, and she has known him from school and is soft hearted when he says he's being framed.  She agrees to hide him, and Coleman shows up early and she introduces Grant to him as the gardener.  Grant and Arthur have a lot of chemistry, and we need to trust Arthur's instincts in order to believe Grant.  He becomes a member of a strange triangle.  Arthur has been hired as the judge's secretary, and Grant keeps threatening to reveal himself, while having intellectual discussions with Coleman.  Turns out there is a conspiracy going on, and the action is tense about whether Grant will be caught and hanged, or whether evidence and the chain of events can be pieced together.  Arthur turns detective, and in the meantime Coleman falls in love with her.  When he is summoned as the candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court, he wants to take her with him as his wife and partner.  She sees the opportunity, is torn, and ultimately enlists Coleman's help in finding the real culprits. 

It's fun, yet serious, about the application of the letter of the law, and both men soften from their opposite stances and move toward a middle road.  Grant regains his faith in the system and Coleman loses some of his naivete, and becomes a better judge in the process.  The ending is perfect, but I'll leave it to you to decide for yourself.

This film is both radical and patriotic, as many of the second World War films were, but this one transcends time and is as relevant today as back then.  Like Frank Capra's films, it wants to make the moviegoer think and reflect, but not too much.  The action and romance and comedy make us breeze along, until, after the movie is over, we wonder about the corruption and power of wealthy interests.  Have we really progressed?  I'm afraid not.