The Grass Is Greener

Some had mentioned Noel Coward and the drawing room comedy. I think it should be mentioned that the entire score was completely based on the songs of Noel Coward. I feel the film was an homage to Coward and his light plays of the 20's and 30's. Actually, if you know Coward's music, it forecasts things in the plot.For example at the beginning of the film when Grant and Kerr are having their first conversation, she reads a poem, and the music being played is "I'll Follow My Secret Heart." It is not too long after this she meets the third person in the triangle.

I think it's quite an enjoyable movie, and it is nice to see people enjoy performing light banter.

Drawing room comedies seem to be a thing of the past. Their demise was apparently one reason Cary Grant decided to thin down his late career: his kind of parts just weren't being written anymore.

By the time this film version of a stage hit came out in 1960, the genre had just about run its course.

How fortunate to have four full-fledged stars take on the leading roles. What is Robert Mitchum doing in an English castle, interacting with "upper class royalty"?

For one thing, he plays a Texas millionaire--an impressive entree most places. Then, the rest of the cast are all transported Brits, so long established in America as to be de facto Americans. They can still deliver their clipped English lines, thought, with great flair.

("So, now you're a millionare, and I'm growing mushrooms . . . oh well, that's the way the world wags.")

Deborah Kerr is bright and vulnerable, Jean Simmons, pert and sophisticated, Robert Mitchum, cool and crafty, and Cary Grant urbane and witty. It's fun to see this quartet trading double entendres and quaint quips.

Stanley Donnen does his best with a stagy script, relying on his experienced cast to carry off the humor and action. It succeeds nicely, and its downright fun to follow their stylish jousts.

Tea, brandy, or champagne?

This delightful film's script is a descendant of the sort of archly witty portrayals of British upper-class life that came from the pens of Somerset Maugham and Noel Coward (one of whose songs serves as musical lead-in, and at least one of whose tunes ["Mad About the Boy" - listen for it] serves as background music to comment on the action). The atmosphere of this sort of comedy may be a bit foreign to American tastes (the whole topic of infidelity is discussed in such a civilized and gentlemanly fashion among the parties- Stiff Upper Lip and all that - where Americans would be screaming at each other and going for weaponry) but as a devotee of British drama I enjoyed the movie hugely. It's a stellar cast - everyone shines, right down to Moray Watson in the small but delicious part of the befuddled butler Sellers. Jean Simmons is especially enjoyable in her out-of-character portrayal as the outspokenly vampish Hattie. Despite opinions below to the contrary, the incomparable Cary Grant fills the part of this down-at-the-heels English Lord like old brandy fills a crystal decanter. The sumptuous setting of the baronial manor and the high production values make the film beautiful to look at, to boot. (The fact that the unfortunate Lord is forced to open his manor to paying visitors to support his lifestyle is based on the historical truth of the confiscatory tax policies imposed on the British hereditary gentry by post-WWII Labor governments; everyone is entitled to their own opinions on these policies, but be assured the film makes no political comment).

It does stretch the imagination a tad that Victor could treat the whole issue of his wife's infidelity - going on right in front of his nose - in such a dispassionate manner, but that is a characteristic of this genre. Further, Grant manages to convince us that, beneath his outer imperturability, his wife's disloyalty has pained him deeply and he could not stand to lose her.

This is a not-well-known film, and its appeal might be a bit specialized, but I think it's a minor gem. And I could not omit mentioning the charming opening credits with their bevy of delightfully cavorting babies.

There is a glittering cast (Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons), a witty script and beautiful scenes of the English countryside in superb colour. So why is this film so flat? Whether it is a movie, a play or a novel one has to believe in the characters. Unfortunately Cary Grant is not believable as an English lord. Deborah Kerr is not believable as an unfaithful wife. Robert Mitchum is believable as an American tourist but , seemed uncomfortable in the role. When he walked into the private apartments of Lord and Lady Ryall in their Stately home he looked as if he should have been walking into a Chicago speakeasy. Only Jean Simmons seemed to fit her part. It was a funny script which was wasted. Still, anything with Cary Grant in it is worth watching. See what you think.

I first watched TGIG about a year ago, as a Cary Grant fan and ONLY a Cary Grant fan, and I positively hated it, and when I saw it was coming up on TV again I just ignored the listing. Then, two days beforehand, I for some odd reason watched a Deborah Kerr documentary (odd as I'm not a fan of hers) and they showed two small clips from TGIG, and I straight away knew that I had to give the film a second chance!

The first 15 minutes or so started off rather slow, but once Jean Simmons graces the screen, you won't want to switch off! As a Cary Grant fan, I must nobly admit that he doesn't really do much for this film. His role, while not bad, is just a bit bland and not up to the calibre of other roles he has played. So it's a nice touch to have him there, but really it could have been any fella. The real star of the show was definitely Simmons, making Hattie by far the best character. She's sly and witty and can't help making every second comment naughty; she's oh so terribly frightfully grand dahling, very cheeky, exceedingly silly, and plays off Kerr so well with the air-kisses and light banter. The funniest scene in the film was by far the one right near the end where Kerr holds up Simmons at gun-point to get her to take the mink coat off!

Oddly though, the scene that I saw on the documentary, the split-screen phonecall, was not in the movie. The phone scene was there, they were all speaking at the same time, but it wasn't done split-screen style. A little odd!

Overall, this is a fine treat for any Jean Simmons fans. I kept thinking Ingrid Bergman might have been a better choice than Kerr, possibly following on from the lovely Indiscreet. But the guy playing Sellers the Butler - he was wonderful! And don't forget the old saying, because sometimes the Butler DID do it...