Cary Grant

Arsenic and Old Lace
$19.97
How do you get Cary Grant and Frank Capra to make one of the most boring, annoying movies ever? Promised as a black comedy, it is barely macabre and not funny at all. Seriously. You won't even smile. Poor Cary Grant apes for the camera to provide SOME life for this snoozer, and it just makes him look pathetic (and everyone else even more amateurish by comparison).

This movie's fame and reputation are a classic are undeserved.

Cary Grant: A Celebration of Style
$35.00
When charting the influence of certain key Hollywood figures on the evolution of classic men's style, some observers have divided the relevant universe into camps of "Astaire Men" and "Grant Men." I am unabashedly an Astaire Man ... though I hasten to add far more by aspiration than achievement. There's nothing wrong with G. Bruce Boyer's brief 2005 book "Fred Astaire Style (Memoire)" -- I gave it four stars last October -- but I could only wish the great dancer, singer, and actor might someday receive the same in-depth treatment the arguably even greater actor Cary Grant does in this style-biography by Richard Torregrossa.

"Cary Grant: A Celebration of Style" is not a traditional biography (though of course there is a wealth of biographical details), nor is it an analysis of his films (though many of them are mentioned, with a particular focus on To Catch a Thief (Special Collector's Edition)). What it is, is a look at how Grant's distinctive and influential style evolved, what the details of that style were, and what lessons we mere mortals can learn from it. The book is packed with interesting details, revealing and entertaining anecdotes, a perhaps-surprising degree of psychoanalytical analysis, and names of designers, craftsmen, stockists, and other suppliers who helped provide Grant with the raw materials he molded into a style distinctly his own. Though very traditional, and seldom employing the surprising detail of pattern or accent the way Astaire did, nobody has carried it off so well since.

One of the things I was most interested to read was that Grant dressed much the same way off the set, and in his private life, as he did on-screen. Which is another way of saying, he was the real thing. Dressing well wasn't an affectation, or a way to get in the papers to publicize his films, but instead an honest reflection of who he was and how he lived. This encouraging discovery is perhaps one of the best lessons an aspiring Grant ... or even Astaire ... Man can take from this entertaining and educational biography of style.

The Cary Grant Signature Collection (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House / Destination Tokyo / The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer / My Favorite Wife / Night and Day)
$49.98
The product is top quality and the price was just right. Delivery time was OK.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
$19.98
This is an old black and white classic that starts slow but ends up successfully portraying several varieties of humorous characters and behaviors all typically found present in home renovation. If you have gone through home renovation or are contemplating one, view this movie to enjoy some humor in the process and see who you recognize in yourself and others involved. One other aspect after viewing this movie is the amazing demonstration that there is nothing new under the sun. The portrayed story here, although set in the past, is played out the same today.