The Talk of the Town (1942)

Thanks for the memories!

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Copyright 22 July 1942 by Columbia Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 27 August 1942. U.S. release: 20 August 1942. Australian release: 4 November 1943. 12 reels. 10,735 feet. 119 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Law professor unknowingly shelters a fugitive in his holiday house.NOTES: Nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Picture (lost to Mrs Miniver); Best Original Story (lost to The Invaders); Best Screenplay (lost to Mrs Miniver); Best Black-and-White Cinematography (lost to Joseph Ruttenberg for Mrs Miniver); Best Black-and-White Art Direction (won by This Above All); Best Film Editing (won by Daniel Mandell for The Pride of the Yankees); Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (won by Max Steiner for Now, Voyager).COMMENT: Certainly an extraordinary, off-beat film. To my mind, it's also very successful in its odd combination of high-powered, lynch-town drama, romantic triangle and screwball comedy of deceit and disguise. There are one or two false moments (at least one of them deliberately contrived to entertainingly surprise the audience), but Stevens manages a delicate balancing act with both dexterity and style. He is aided by a first-rate cast. Voluble Jean Arthur and superficially charming Ronald Colman make perfect partners and the support players - with special mention to Rex Ingram's devoted "man" and Frank Sully's chatty cop - deliver some unforgettable cameos. It would be invidious not to also single out Glenda Farrell, Charles Dingle, Emma Dunn, Leonid Kinskey, Tom Tyler and especially George Watts.All this solid acting is backed by a tautly entertaining, suspensefully witty script. The cleverly unusual plot is adroitly underpinned by smart dialogue and sharp ripostes. True, a bit of philosophizing occasionally creeps in - but that's part of the film's overall balance.Pacing too is exactly right. Stevens knows the precise moment to cut away from a scene. Although there is a fair amount of talk, it rarely becomes wearisome or outstays its welcome.Photography and other credits are first-rate.OTHER VIEWS: Missing out on a slew of Academy Awards by sheer bad luck, The Talk of the Town is in every way one of the most entertaining treats of the year. Intelligent, witty dialogue is amusingly bandied between two cleverly contrasted characters, most ingratiatingly enacted by Cary Grant and Ronald Colman - with Jean Arthur judiciously cast as a reluctant referee. The story is cleverly plotted with lots of surprises twisted and sprung, and directed with real flair by a director who knows the paramount importance of editing and montage. Every gag works perfectly, while every gram of suspense is wrung from the pacey scenario by inspired intercutting.Although billed third, Colman's part is by no means the lesser. In fact, he probably has more scenes than Grant - and he makes the most of them. It is one of his most memorable roles.Lavishly produced, zestfully acted right down the line, beautifully photographed and set, The Talk of the Town is a tribute to Hollywood craftsmanship at its best.

not great but nice. not special but seductive for a smart story, use of humor and romanticism, fake tension and Cary Grant. interesting for Rex Ingram and for the nuances of role exploited by Ronald Colman. a film with large ambitions who remains only another comedy about heroes and love. nothing new but amusing for the small scenes who seems be ambiguous or for the classic end, for the unrealistic events and for the good intentions. nothing memorable but useful for remind the flavor of lost period. that is all. a film with ordinary mistakes and drops of glamor. is it enough ? yes, in this case. because not the artistic virtue is the most important thing but the smell of a fragment from a golden age.

How does one pick their favorite Ronald Colman film; any film that contains a speech that he recites doubles it's pleasure for me. This particular is film is not only well written, as were most of Colman's films, but it has a strong plot & story which clearly defines the inner feelings of it's character's & their beliefs, which, and adding to that aspect, as it should be in real life, show that both, no matter how strong, not cast in stone. Adding even greater value are great performers, Jean Arthur, Cary Grant (who improved greatly as he matured,) and one of my favorite character actors, Edgar Buchanan who thoroughly & well play their parts to the utmost. Each is quite convincing in their role & this aspect follows through for all the actors. The film is superb in it's believability, the casting & direction, and every moment was & still is perfect, even the comedic relief is superb. And even today 72 years later, and after a multitude of personal viewings, this fine film holds it own. My god is this film that old, yikes. Well that just proves how great this film is. One never tires of it, & isn't the what proves it's worth. ;-)

An uneasy mixture of comedy and drama. Jean Arthur is mixed up in a love triangle with an escaped convict (Cary Grant, totally miscast) and a law professor about to be appointed to the Supreme Court (Ronald Colman, too British to be this character). Grant has been accused (and actually convicted) of burning down a factory and killing a man. He claims he's innocent, despite being a famous rabble-rouser. Arthur, who is working as a secretary for Coleman, hides Grant in her cabin and slowly tries to convince Colman to help with the injustice of the situation. It's a very awkwardly plotted film, and the attempts at comedy fall flat. I never really believed Grant as a rabble-rouser, and he just can't seem to handle the dramatic angle of the picture at all. Colman is pretty much the opposite. The film basically leaves him out of the comedy. Neither of the actors' romantic intentions come off as believable. Well, I guess they are believable in that anyone would want Jean Arthur, but it just doesn't fit in with the social issues angle. Pretty much nothing about it works besides Arthur. In my mind she can do no wrong. It isn't an especially bothersome picture to watch, really, even with all its problems, but it's far from good.