Four Decades of Cary Grant Movies

Film

Film - Four Decades of Cary Grant Movies in BAMcinématek Series –

NYTimes.com, July 31, 2009

Once Upon a Time, a Real Leading Man

By MIKE HALE
Published: July 30, 2009. New York Times

Old movies — I’m talking about those made before the 1970s — come to us in packages these days. The producers of DVDs and the programmers of repertory theaters look for themes and contexts that will help to make sense of these films for the several generations of culture consumers who are likely to find them utterly strange. Or if not to make sense of them, put them in a framework where their assumptions and devices can be sold to younger moviegoers as hip or camp rather than laughably archaic. Hence the weeks or boxes of film noirs or screwball comedies, or of the careers of directors with distinctive, easily cataloged styles.

To put on a Cary Grant series — as the BAMcinématek is doing from Monday through Aug. 20 with 17 films, and a second batch to follow in 2010 — presents some special challenges. Grant made more than 50 movies as a leading man, but the only thing that ties them together is that they starred Cary Grant, playing some version of his man-of-the-world persona, or of himself, which seemed to amount to the same thing.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/movies/31grant.html?th&emc=th