The Grass Is Greener

Most points have already been made - a sub Noel Cowardesque script but still stands up as light entertainment. (Maybe my age is showing). Supposedly set in the country but actually filmed at Osterley Park under the flight path to Heathrow airport!!! I am not sure that the outdoor shots could be filmed there today with all that noise! Anyway - it still looks good!

Google:- National Trust UK Osterley Park

I have some snaps of the livestock munching away in its the fields but I guess a herd of cattle, horses or a flock of water fowl looks much the same another somewhere else. Worth a trip if you have the time (but it sure costs a lot more than "a half-crown" nowadays!!!)

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...

Fine, funny and recommended. It has its weak points, the storyline is the least important with these fine actors and brilliant direction. Cary Grant and Jean Simmons' first scene together is absolutely wonderful. Deborah Kerr is also good; Robert Mitchum, maybe intentionally, is a bit of an odd player here. Familiar to the Grant-Ingrid Bergman split-screen telephone scene in Donen's Indiscreet, there's an adorable scene with all four leading actors here. Very very nice.

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?

The Grass Is Greener is directed by Stanley Donen and stars Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr & Jean Simmons. It's adapted by Hugh Williams & Margaret Vyner from the play of the same name which they had both written and found success with in London's West End. Music is by Noel Coward and Christopher Challis is the cinematographer.

Struggling financially, the Earl & Countess of Rhyall (Grant & Kerr) start giving tours around their stately mansion. Enter Charles Delacro (Mitchum) & Hattie Durant (Simmons), whose appearance at the mansion sets in motion the wheels of love, jealousy and machismo fuelled duelling.

Considered too talky on its release, The Grass Is Greener, it's fair to say, is more for those who are either into the star wattage on offer, or for those who are romantics at heart. Upon first viewing the film doesn't appear to have much in the way of comedy, in fact when Grant is either off screen or out of ear shot there's a hole as big as the implausibility factor in the plot. However, further viewings (well listenings really) reveal a sharper script than the one critics gave credit for back in the day. There's plenty of "nudge nudge" winkery going on, while the portrayals of the rich American & British characters (could they get any more polar opposite than Grant & Mitchum?) has a nice glint in the eye to them.

On the cast front, Grant is as smooth and classy as he always is, with his sometimes undervalued comedy timing here in full force. Kerr & Simmons look attractive, with the latter benefiting greatly from some outrageously punky Dior costumes. While Mitchum, tho no master of comedy, works his laconic low tone charm to great effect off of Grant's well spoken aristo verbality. However, look away from the big four heading the cast and you find much comedy value in Moray Watson as the Butler. He, along with Challis' photography inside of the house, are arguably the stars of the show. A fine film for the patient to enjoy, even if it's not the masterpiece that its cast list suggests it should be. 7/10