Big Brown Eyes (1936)

That was an excellent one.

Must See Movie...

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Cary Grant will probably be remembered well into the future for three films that he made. "Arsenic and Old Lace" is a comedy, crime and thriller of 1944. "An Affair to Remember" is a drama, light comedy and love story of 1957. And, "North by Northwest" of 1959 is the Alfred Hitchcock action, adventure and mystery film that is likely to remain on the IMDb top 250 list for decades to come. Before, between and after those films Grant made many more movies – most of them big box office successes. Aside from the three most familiar films, he made a slew of comedy-romances. When we hear the name, Cary Grant, most movie buffs are likely to think first of "My Favorite Wife" of 1940, or "The Awful Truth" of 1937, or another one of his hilarious comedy-romances. Yet, besides "North by Northwest," Grant made a dozen other mystery-crime-thrillers. Most were very good. "Big Brown Eyes" of 1936 is one of those films, but a somewhat lesser one. The acting is very good by all of the cast, and the plot is very good. But this film suffers from a disjointed screenplay, weak direction, and poor film editing. Grant plays a police detective sergeant, Danny Barr. Joan Bennett is his sweetheart, Eve Fallon, who works as a manicurist. She leaves her job to work for a newspaper and tries to help Danny solve a jewel robbery. Walter Pidgeon is Richard Morey, an insurance investigator and adjuster. He runs a secret, crooked operation on the side. Among the rest of the supporting cast are Lloyd Nolan as Russ Cortig, Joe Sawyer as Jack Sully, and Edwin Maxwell as the editor. This is an interesting and fun film that most should enjoy. With better writing, direction and overall care in the making, "Big Brown Eyes" could have been a much better film. Danny and Eve have a scene with back and forth dialog that reminds one of the famous routine of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello – "Who's on First?" Eve, "Where are you going?" Dan, "I don't know yet. I haven't made up my mind." Eve, "Can I go with you?" Dan, "Where?" Eve, "Where you're going." Dan, "Well, I just told ya. I don't know where I'm going." Eve, "Well, when do you leave?" Dan, "I don't know that either." Eve, "Well, why can't you take me along?" Dan, "Where?" Eve, "That's what I'm asking you." Dan, "I'm asking you that." Eve, "Say, who's going – you or me?" Dan, "Where?" Eve, "I don't know. I'm not going – you are." Dan, "Well look, what time is it?" Eve, "What time does your train leave?" Dan, "How do you know I'm going by train? I might be going by boat." Eve, "What kind of a boat?" Dan, "I don't know. I haven't seen it yet."

"Big Brown Eyes" is from 1936 and directed by Raoul Walsh. Joan Bennett was still a blond, and here, Cary Grant plays Dan Barr, a detective trying to recover someone's stolen jewels. Bennett plays his jealous manicurist girlfriend Eve, who takes a job on a newspaper after she quits manicuring.Walter Pidgeon plays Cortig, the head of the jewel theft ring which is also involved in the murder of a child who was hit by one of Cortig's stray bullets. He's joined by Lloyd Nolan. Thanks to his crooked attorney, Cortig is found not guilty. Dan is so upset he quits the force to go out on his own and get justice. Eve returns to her manicure job; both are very defeated by the trial.This is an okay, fast-moving film with Bennett playing what today would be considered a stereotype, you know, the gum-cracking, wisecracking blond. Grant is very handsome and slips easily into his role. He's not the "Cary Grant" persona quite yet. That's a couple of years away.I don't know who the Big Brown Eyes were, but it must have been Cary Grant. I saw Joan Bennett in person near the end of her life - she was very tiny, with very black hair, and had beautiful blue eyes.

The clumsily contrived "Big Brown Eyes" manages to hold some interest because of a fast pace and the magnetism of Cary Grant and Joan Bennett. She plays a wisecracking manicurist (too much a gum-chewing replica of her character in "Me and My Gal" opposite Spencer Tracy four years earlier) who engages in mutual flirtation with Grant's police detective. The plot involves a slippery jewel theft ring run by Walter Pidgeon (who would team wonderfully with Bennett 5 years later in Fritz Lang's "Man Hunt") that the cops just can't seem to crack. Bennett, driven to inexplicable frenzies of jealousy over Grant's innocent professional attentions to an older woman (Marjorie Gateson) whose diamonds have been stolen, bangs him over the head with a tray of utensils, is fired for bad behavior and promptly gets a job as a reporter with the town's newspaper. Overnight she is writing front page copy and leading the investigation into the jewel theft ring. Further absurdities take place until the predictable ending. Nowhere is there any reference to the anatomical features of the title, though one would assume they belong to the leading man, Cary Grant. The lack of connection between title and content is the perfect indicator of a tossed-together script. This Raoul Walsh-directed feature does what it can to supply action and speed and colorful incidentals in place of logic and wit and real dramatic substance. But despite the star power it can go only so far with such thin material.

Where I work, we do a fairly brisk trade in DVDs, including hard-to-find films, old films, some strange stuff too. And we are technically adept enough to have a nice big screen at the back which we have managed to hook up to something that will play the movies. If Stan is in, he basically picks what we will be watching for most of the day--special pleading or claims of overkill aside--but when Stan leaves, it generally devolves to me to select what will be showing. And this is fun. It means that, temporarily, MASTER AND COMMANDER, or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, or PERRY MASON episodes are set aside, and we can loosen things up a bit, at my discretion. Into the realm of "What The Heck Are We Watching, And Why Am I Hypnotized By It?".A rousing round of CULT OF THE COBRA, followed up by either DR CYCLOPS or FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (depending on whether I'm feeling a Marshall Thompson double-bill is called for), and onto NARROW MARGIN (Peter Hyams remake; not the suspense film of the ages, but I do like this director's work overall, plus the Lady Archer, and people our store will stop and watch the action, or the fun scene where Sikking confronts Hackman over drinks, on the train). If I'm feeling things should take a classier turn, Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS is a favorite, and just exactly how many times BRAZIL has been shown on the premises is a matter of debate...but it's somewhere between infinite, and whatever comes after infinite.When it occurs to me to slap BIG BROWN EYES on again--a wonderful, if forgotten "crime comedy"--I always get a warm fuzzy feeling. I love going that far back and yet still playing a film nobody seems to know, but is ultra-cool, and a little bit before its time. Some early vigilante-movie stuff going on here. Very savvy leading lady, aggressive, gets it done, out-performs the male detective who is enthusiastic to kick crime where it hurts, but seems either befuddled or embittered next to our smart-mouthed superwoman. Speaking of smart- mouths, I've just come fresh from my review of THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, and those who like the punch of a Shane Black script, and all that lightning-fast and super-entertaining dialogue, would do well to listen to everyone trading zingers in BIG BROWN EYES, decades ago. Try and listen; try and keep up.Back to the screening of this film--me your Master Of Ceremonies--there are four huge reasons to watch this film, at the very least: Joan Bennett, Cary Grant, Walter Pidgeon, and maybe especially the amazing Mr. Lloyd Nolan. This was really my first look at Lloyd Nolan (I had seen HOUSE ON 92ND STREET, but that is a film that is trying not to draw attention to actors and acting, as it goes for docudrama as done by "regular people"), and I only really knew his name as if vaguely connected to THE TERMINATOR and lawsuits and THE TWILIGHT ZONE or some such complicated frippery. Anyway, when I run BIG BROWN EYES at the store, we are known to attract some curious viewers. Mainly the old fellows with the sentient beards, who realize they are watching something sprightly, and just a bit dangerous, filled with these big names giving energetic performances, and spouting sharp dialogue while weaving in and out of mayhem. These knowledgeable old film buffs with their beards and their trivia-packed memories try to connect Cary Grant, Joan Bennett, LLoyd Nolan, and Walter Pidgeon all together in a superior film which surely they must know, but don't--and all wind up asking me "Sirrah--(oops, or rather:) --Good Sir, stout fellow, what be yon film?". And I give them the scoop. And sometimes we sell a Cary Grant boxset. And everyone comes away happy. Especially me, as I watch flower-loving gangster prone to violence Lloyd Nolan define the breezy nastiness of this film in all his scenes.Hitchcock seemed to do some culling here, for casting, Hey, isn't that the dude who shows up in FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT? That other guy there, playing one of the gunsels--he shows up in SABOTEUR, yes? Goodness me, I'm getting good at these old movies finally! And Cary Grant, I seem to recall him showing up in a few Hitchcock films, or am I wrong? Anyway, suffice it to say: I like BIG BROWN EYES better than ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, which I guess means there's something wrong with me and I can't be totally trusted, but there it is. A little less loudness and bombast going on, and I'm happy. A little more naturalism to the performances (even in 1936!), and I'm enjoying myself. Noisy where necessary, calm and cool where required.A baby-killing in the middle of a "comedy" is probably not something everyone likes. I'm not saying that I sat there waiting for it to happen ("where's this big infanticide they advertised-- they sure are taking their sweet time!"--no no, nothing like that), but once the film commits to such a development, in a 1936 comedy, the film has one of those ahead-of-its-time moments. Is this Tarantino, shaking things up, making it edgy, making it a bit discomforting and depraved while still brilliant? No, it can't be. I don't think he wrote stuff before he was born. Anyway, I like risks; I like it when it gets in your face a bit. This film is charming enough--throw in some vigilante-justice stuff, and a vile act or two, and things percolate better. The social conscience of the film--before and after the life-taking gunplay in the park--means that it's wrong to see this just as a screwy comedy, and that's fine with me.So, BIG BROWN EYES. Something a bit edgy for its time. Very slick and clever--great dialogue coming at you throughout, especially from the lady, who rips through things with guts and gusto. Hail Joan Bennett in this, liberated woman. I love this movie!