L'extravagant Mr Cory

Unfortunately the DVD I just purchased from Amazon does NOT have this film as it was made to be in CinemaScope. It is on standard screen and loses so much of the intention the Director, Blake Edwards made it to be.

As for Tony Curtis he is very good in his role and I am looking forward to viewing the other 9 dvds I purchased in the same box set however I will wait to see how many more are in their original format. With today's big screen TVs I cannot understand while a movie has to be ruined by not allowing us to se it in its original format.

"Mister Cory" is a fast-moving and very engaging Cinemascope movie about a slick go-getter who cuts corners to get to the top. As played by Tony Curtis, Mister Cory - we never learn his Christian name - is charming and amusing, and the audience never dislikes him.

Mister Cory leaves his Chicago slum home and starts work as a busboy in a lake-side holiday resort for the very rich. Quickly he makes extra money by various games of chance. When he sees the elegant and beautiful Abigail Vollard (Martha Hyer) he decides he must have her, even though he is warned that she is a practised heart-breaker. Cory pretends to Abby that he is a rich guest at the resort, but his tactics come to nothing when a jealous colleague lets Abby know that Cory works in the kitchen. Cory leaves and becomes a small-time professional gambler. He teams up with Jeremiah Caldwell (Charles Bickford) who introduces him to big-league gambling. (N. B. "Mister Cory was made a few years before "The Hustler" which had the same premise.) They open up their own gambling house and invite Abby and her fiancé. Mister Cory and Abby re-start their liaison with dramatic consequences.

"Mister Cory" is an early Blake Edwards movie, and incorporates his usual fascination with the difference between appearance and reality. That difference is obvious with Cory but is much more real and important with Abby. This was one of the best parts Martha Hyer ever had, and she plays her role well, bringing out both the sexual hypocrisy and the smooth good manners of a well brought-up beauty from a privileged background. Hair stylist Joan St. Oegger and cinematographer Russell Metty made Martha Hyer very glamorous indeed, and the audience has no difficulty accepting that all men find Abby irresistible.

Other supporting players give good performances. Charles Bickford was always a strong screen presence and is so in "Mister Cory". Kathryn Grant is extremely likable as Abby's boisterous younger sister, and the remarkably handsome William Reynolds does well as Abby's rich and duped fiancé. Henry Daniell almost steals the movie playing the prim and snobbish resort manager.

The IMDb incorrectly credits the music to Henry Mancini. As Mancini himself carefully explained in his autobiography, it was the penny-pinching policy at Universal-International in the mid-fifties not to write new music for a movie, but instead to re-use music from previous Universal films. Mancini writes about "Mister Cory": "I didn't write the score for that picture, but as often happened when they needed music in a pop vein, I had been brought in for some source cues."

For some reason, "Mister Cory" is rarely screened today, even on television. An enhanced widescreen DVD would be very welcome.

UPDATE 2012: Mister Cory has now been released on DVD in Spain under the title "El Temible Mister Cory" Although in anamorphic widescreen, the picture quality is mediocre.

Finally found a copy of it - a $5 download. Hadn't seen it in years so was fun to finally see it last evening. All of the major "players" are fabulous - Tony's hair is to die for - but I particularly enjoyed Henry Daniell as Tony's boss - and then employee - in what must have been one of his last roles. Kathryn Grant Crosby was almost too good to be true - but fun (and you can definitely see the resemblance to her daughter Mary). The dress/coat ensemble she wore to the opening of Cory's club was fabulous - classic '50s evening wear. I just read that the locale of the Wisconsin beach was really California , which was sort of a disappointment. But just today I crossed "South Sangamon Street" while doing errands. Martha Hyer's beauty precedes her - fun little fact: my mother was president of the Pi Beta Phi house at NU when Martha - and Patricia Neal - pledged. Ms. Hyer was a brunette/redhead in those days, from sorority pics I've seen. My mother recalled that she was indeed a beauty!

While not one of the greatest of actors, Tony Curtis was always watchable and gave good performances (truly great actually in 'Some Like it Hot' and 'Sweet Smell of Success') in a fair share of good films. That 'Mister Cory' was directed by talented Blake Edwards, very early on in his career (his third film as director), and had a promising cast were also good reasons to see it.

It is sad that 'Mister Cory' isn't better known, for it really to me is a very good film and easily among Curtis' best early films and roles that sees a big growth as an actor. It is also a very good collaboration with Edwards. Of their collaborations together, the only one that underwhelmed was 'The Perfect Furlough' and that was hardly unwatchable. 'Mister Cory' really should be seen more and more accessibly available, it may not be extraordinary or among the best films ever made but it's entertaining and well made and crafted.

Can't really say much wrong actually. Would have liked more depth to William Reynolds' character Alex, written here rather thanklessly.

And maybe a darker colour palette may have worked slightly better in the photography and production values to match the sharpness and sometimes cynicism of the material.

That is not a knack really, because 'Mister Cory' does look great. The photography is full of style and elegance the CinemaScope gorgeous, and the settings/locations are like beautiful stars of their own. The music has energy and is really pleasant to listen to, not at odds with the film's tone.

'Mister Cory's' script is witty and sharp, with a sophistication and not heavy-handed use of cynicism. The story has a light heart as well as a darker edge that stops it from being glossy froth. Edwards' direction shows an ease, engagement with the material and a stylishness. The film works very well as a character study, with an interesting lead character.

A lead character played extremely well by Curtis, who brings a boyish charm, cocky arrogance, intensity, likeability and panache, the character is not purposefully a likeable one but one cannot hate him completely. Kathryn Grant and Martha Hyer are adorable and charming, while Charles Bickford and Henry Daniell give the standout supporting performances. William Reynolds excels with a character that could have been written better.

Overall, very well done and worthy of more credit. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Sorry, but you are not going to get a standard review. The real star of this movie for me was Huntington Lake, which is high in the Sierras above Fresno California. As a sailor, Huntington is famous for it's consistently windy conditions that you can set your watch by. Every day at 10am, the lake is glassy calm. By 11am however, it is really blowing. Quite a bit of the movie uses the lake as a stand in for its presumed location in Wisconsin. I have sailed a lot of races on that lake and it is funny to observe that, in the background of each scene, you can clearly see that, even back in 1957, the wind is always absolutely cranking. Very amusing were the scenes which cut back and forth between the lake, where the wind is howling creating the usual Huntington Lake chop, and the boat in which they are sitting, which is clearly in a glassy calm swimming pool. It is actually not bad for a film shot in the 1950's. In a fun plot reversal, Tony hires the guy who was so hard on him as a bellboy, to work for him when he ends up with his own resort. But, for anybody who has ever raced on Huntington Lake, this movie is a must see!!!