soxfandoug

Hello everybody. I am trying to beef up my classic DVD collection. I have decided to do it one "personality" at at a time. So far, I have stocked up on Hitchcock, Bogart, & Kurosawa. Next up on my list is Cary Grant.

I guess my question is 2-folded. First, which Cary Grant films would be considered his best? Second, which of those films have reasonably good DVD's available? Extras are great, but I would be happy with OAR, a decent transfer, and decent audio.

I am looking to pick up anywhere from anywhere from 3-10 of his films on DVD. If an SE is on the horizon, I would prefer to wait for that. I hate double dipping!

As it stands, the only ones I have on DVD are Notorious Criterion, North by Northwest, To Catch a Thief, & An Affair to Remember. I will definitely be picking up the new Criterion release of Charade. Any other suggestions would be fabulous. Thanks!

marty888

HIS GIRL FRIDAY
THAT TOUCH OF MINK
TOPPER

and one that gets overlooked, but is one of the most intelligent comedies ever made:

PEOPLE WILL TALK

antennaball

Personally, I love Arsenic and Old Lace.

LasVegasMichael

Three words: HIS GIRL FRIDAY

Now, here's the thing. HGF has fallen int othe Public Domain area, so there are several BAD versions out there for very cheap prices. There is only ONE release worth getting, and it is the one below (that you can find for about $15-$19 unless you go through CH). I say again, this is the ONLY one worth buying!



This release is from Columbia TriStar and is , digitally mastered audio and video, and contains an audio commentary and some featurettes.

To boot, it is a hilarious and wonderful film!

Have fun!

Easy

I'll second Topper and throw in Father Goose and Operation Petticoat. I've heard that the quality of the Artisan releases is not exactly wonderful but I have not seen them.

mookiemeister

How about Philadelphia Story?

Laser Movies

I'm looking forward to the June 1 release of the Cary Grant Signature Collection from Warner. The 5 DVD box set includes Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Destination Tokyo, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, My Favorite Wife, and Night and Day.

SideShow

I'm a huge Cary Grant fan- here's my favorite films of his, all have decent to great DVDs.

North by Northwest
Monkey Business
The Awful Truth
Charade
To Catch A Thief
His Girl Friday
Philadelphia Story
Notorious
Arsenic and Old Lace
Only Angels Have Wings
I Was a Male War Bride
An Affair to Remember
The Topper movies

There's a set from Artisan that's pretty inexpensive that has some great movies of his, they include Father Goose, The Grass Is Greener, Indiscreet, Operation Petticoat and That Touch of Mink. I also second the upcoming Signature Collection, it also includes shorts.

Cathepsin

I'd recommend Columbia's Only Angels Have Wings, also available through CH, along with the aforementioned His Girl Friday and North by Northwest.

Wait until next year for Bringing Up Baby.

Wait until Hell freezes over for Holiday (1938).

FilmFanSea

Cary Grant is probably my favorite actor of all time. That said, I'm selective wbout which of his films I buy on DVD (that is, I'm not a CG Completist). I have not listed every Grant film available on DVD, but tried to list the major ones. I've given a very rough star rating (***=best) on the quality of the DVD (on those I haven't personally seen, I based it on reviews at DVD Box Office):

Essential

His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks/1939/Columbia TriStar) DVD***
Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks/1939/Columbia TriStar) DVD**
Notorious (Hitchcock/1946/Criterion--OOP) DVD***
North by Northwest (Hitchcock/1959/Warner) DVD***
Charade (Stanley Donen/1963/Criterion) DVD***
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (H.C. Potter/1948) Warner DVD 6/1/04
My Favorite Wife (Garson Kanin/1940) Warner DVD 6/1/04
Gunga Din (George Stevens/1939) Warner--not yet released
Bringing Up Baby (Hawks/1938) Warner--expected later this year


Good But Not Essential (IMHO)

The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey/1937) Columbia TriStar DVD**
To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock/1955/Paramount) DVD***
The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor/1940) Warner DVD
Topper (Norman Z. McLeod/1937) Artisan DVD*
Talk of the Town (Stevens/1942) Columbia DVD**
Operation Petticoat (Blake Edwards/1959) Artisan DVD**
Father Goose (Ralph Nelson/1964) Artisan DVD**
Holiday (Cukor/1938) Columbia--not yet released
Penny Serenade (Stevens/1941) Many Public Domain DVD releases (Madacy, Front Row, Alpha)--generally avoid
The Bishop's Wife (Henry Koster/1947) MGM/UA DVD**
Suspicion (Hitchcock/1941) Warner--expected soon
Monkey Business (Hawks/1952) Fox DVD***


Overrated or Skippable (again, IMHO)

Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra/1944) Warner DVD***
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (Irving Reis/1947) Warner DVD--released 6/1/04
I Was a Male War Bride (Hawks/1949) Fox DVD**
An Affair to Remember (McCarey/1957) Fox DVD*** (Studio Classics)
Night and Day (Michael Curtiz/1946) Warner DVD 6/1/04
None But the Lonely Heart (Clifford Odets/1944) Warner--not yet released
Houseboat (Melville Shavelson/1958) Paramount DVD**
Destination Tokyo (Delmer Daves/1943) Warner DVD--released 6/1/04
Indiscreet (Donen/1958) Artisan DVD**
That Touch of Mink (Delmer Mann/1962) Artisan DVD**
People Will Talk (Joseph L. Mankiewicz/1951) Fox DVD**

am1001

If you want to get say half a dozen Cary Grant dvds I'd go for:

North by Northwest
His Girl Friday
Notorious
Philadephia Story
Talk of the Town
Suspicion

(I'd have picked Father Goose but the transfer is pretty poor.)

am1001

Cathepsin - Holiday is released on region 2 - so if your player is multiregion you can buy it from Europe. Nice transfer too.

http://www.play247.com/play247.asp?p...4&p=57&c=&g=72

TelocZ

I have to vote for The Awful Truth as being an essential.

theneobez

Notorious

jdpatri

To me:

Notorious
The Awful Truth
Only Angels Have Wings
The Philadelphia Story
Arsenic and Old Lace
Charade
His Girl Friday
North By Northwest
To Catch a Thief
Bringing Up Baby (whever it gets released, one my all-time favorites)

...are absolutely essential to any Cary Grant collection. Hell, any collection.

mookiemeister

Is Suspicion still out on DVD? I haven't seen it available anywhere in a while.

Laser Movies

I don't recall Suspicion ever being available on region 1 DVD. Are you thinking of another title like Notorious?

soxfandoug

Wow, thanks for all of the replies. A lot of good opinions here.

Based mostly on the recommendations made here, I have decided to get the following:

His Girl Friday (Columbia release)
Philadelphia Story
Only Angels Have Wings
The Awful Truth
Cary Grant Signature Collection (The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, Destination Tokyo, Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House, My Favorite Wife, & Night and Day)

Also, is Bringing Up Baby expected to be a 2-disc S.E.? That would be awesome if so!

Again, I genuinely appreciate everybody's help. Next on my list will be either Ingrid Bergman or Jimmy Stewart. But that's a whole new thread.

Thanks again!

Doug

PatrickMcCart

North By Northwest, Notorious, and Arsenic and Old Lace are essential Cary Grant, hands down.

The DVD's are excellent, too. Get the Criterion Notorious before it's too rare to find...

And Suspicion is coming to DVD later this year as part of Warner's 7-title Hitchcock wave.

soxfandoug

Thanks, Patrick. I may as well add Arsenic & Old Lace to my list. That will give an even ten titles to buy! Also, that is excellent news about Suspicion. I didn't even know about the Warner Hitchcocks coming out. I will have to get them all!

SLeopold

I'm a huge Cary Grant fan, and have 27 of his films on DVD. I can't wait for the release of the box set on 6/1. I can't argue about any of the 10 you plan on getting, but I would also recommend North by Northwest and The Bishop's Wife. And Charade. An To Catch a Thief. Well, and The Amazing Adventure and Penny Serenade, which you can get cheap. There are several others worth mentioning as well, but it looks like you're picking up some great ones.

Bringing up Baby and Gunga Din are two of the movies I'm most eager to see released on DVD, and hope their releases do them justice.

chente

I'm a big Cary Grant fan too! My 6 favorites of his are

North by Northwest
To Catch a Thief
Father Goose
Philadelphia Story
Indiscreet - Not regarded as one of his best but I adore it.
Topper

The transfer on the Topper/Topper Returns disk isn't great but on the other hand it is really cheap. I personally find the movie to be hilarious.

I thought Touch of Mink was blah
An Affair to Remember was way too sappy for me
Notorious is good
Operation Petticoat is very funny but not top tier
Arsenic and Old Lace is a classic but was too zany for me
Charade was goofy too and there is some very funny dialogue in it.
Bringing up Baby is great. Definitely pick this up when released. Also zany.
I thought the Grass is Greener was bad.

I remember really liking Suspicion and Mr. Blanding's Builds His Dream House but it has been about 20 years since I last saw them so I don't really remember too much besides general impressions.

I haven't seen Only Angels Have Wings or His Girl Friday but they are highly regarded by my aunt who is a certified Cary Grant nut and got me started.
Gunga Din is also supposed to be very good but I haven't seen it.

my ten cents.

soxfandoug

I already have Notorious Criterion, North by Northwest, To Catch a Thief, & An Affair to Remember, and already planned on getting the new Charade Criterion release. So my collection will consist of:

Notorious Criterion
Charade Criterion
North by Northwest
To Catch a Thief
An Affair to Remember
His Girl Friday (Columbia release)
Philadelphia Story
Only Angels Have Wings
The Awful Truth
The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer
Destination Tokyo
Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House
My Favorite Wife
Night & Day
Arsenic & Old Lace

Not too bad, eh?

LasVegasMichael

Walter Neff

No Cary Grant collection is complete without "Some Like It Hot." No, Cary Grant's not in it, but Tony Curtis does a hilarious impression of Cary Grant throughout about half the movie. (Plus, it's a great comedy.)