  Great early performance by Cary Grant, 2009-05-15
NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART (1944)
This is a very emotionally draining film. What spectactular performances by Grant, Barrymore, Wyatt and Duprez. Cary Grants restless drifter really makes you feel his frustration with life and society in pre ww2 England. Duprez is lovely as the target of a ruthless crime bosses not so innocent affections. She is a kindred spirit to Cary that sees him for the decent but troubled guy he really is.
Wyatt is charming as the female friend of Grant that hoplessly and not too secretly longs for him. However, the real treat in this movie is the dynamic between Grant as the son and Ethel Barrymore as the mother desperate to get him on the right path, even if it destroys her.
There is a wonderful scene when she buys Grant a new suit and they sit down to dinner together. He knows her secret that she's trying to keep from him and the facial reactions of both of them are highly emotional. His final scene with her is nothing less than gut wrenching. Grant restlessly wanders the streets at night. The cinematography, the rain and the gray color palette helps relay to the viewer Grants feelings of being closed in, clausterphobic and his sense of futility about his life.
Another great pleasure in this film is Cary Grants friendship with the Barry Fitzgerald character, dispensing helpful bits of wisdom. Excellent entertainment and easliy one of Grants best performances, as well as Barrymores.
Obviously, I highly recommend this movie.
VHS Films, 2010-02-07
I needed this movie as a X-mas gift to a co-worker & amazon.com was the only that had a new never opened copy. Again, not disappointed - film played well & despite it being VHS had a great picture quality. Cary Grant lovers ... it's a MUST for your collection!
Shrouded in the mists of London..., 2002-07-03
It seems I've been doing only negative reviews lately. The truth is that I want to get the rhinestones out of the way to make room for the diamonds such as "Notorious", "To Catch a Thief", "North by Northwest", to name a few with Cary Grant in them.Everyone else here rates this five stars, and I hate to have to differ so drastically, but I can only tell the truth. I was not impressed with this film in the least. I like many Cary Grant movies - particularly the ones named above - but this one just didn't do it for me, and I don't think it had anything to do with him. He tried. It was the role and the rest of the movie that lacked. I kept asking, "What is going on?" And when it ended I said, "What was that all about?" Some movies can touch a person even without making sense, but this one didn't make sense and it didn't touch me. Since I honestly can't remember what this was about, having never known to begin with, I'll say some other stuff instead. I have read how Cary wanted to do this movie because it was very close to home for him, which is understandable. But somehow it just didn't seem to fit him. I thought he seemed a bit stiff and unnatural. I think it's strange how actors are typecast, and how seldom they can successfully be anything but what they were typed to be. Well, I think I've rambled on enough about this movie - I don't think it's worth writing a whole lot about.
First Rate Drama, 2000-08-26
Clifford Odets wrote and directed this movie. Naturally, it follows the type of dramatic lines that you would expect from a playwright. I disagree with Leonard Maltin's review. This is a very fine movie and well worth any drama lover's attention. Cary Grant is very good in his role as Ernie Mott. Ethel Barrymore plays his mother in the movie and she is riveting and marvelous. Barry Fitzgerald is his usual fine self. The actor who played Jim Mordinoy--Coulouris I believe--had his character down to a finely honed edge. A truly memorable heavy. June Duprez who played Ada was superb. She was lovely, eloquently honest, and terrifically sexy. For me it's hard to do much better than a Clifford Odets script. His dialogue always seems to sparkle with intelligence, wit, and a hard won wisdom that hasn't had all of its innocence destroyed by a brutal world. The theme of the movie seems to revolve around a line that Ernie says a couple of times. Something to the effect that: "In this world you're either the fox or the hound. But what if you don't want to be either the fox or the hound? What then?" Or something along those lines. Ernie's task in this movie is express his love for his mother and Ada and also to find a "decent life" in this world. The script and the cinemaphotography reflect a gray and bleak picture of the struggle for survival by working class people in the England of the 30's--shortly before the outbreak of WWII. It's really a typical Odets'critique of the brutality and heartlessness of western society. Regardless of your politics, though, if you like fine drama and brilliant dialogue, catch this movie. It won't lift you up, but it should educate your heart--the lonely one that is. ...
A very nice VHS, but how dare they not put this on DVD?, 2008-03-06
This is a very nice edition of the film on VHS, and I recommend it highly in the absence of an affordable DVD edition. But with so much video manure out there on DVD, how can the industry overlook this classic film? Grant is at his best in this role of the determined but self-loathing ne'er-do-well. Audiences of the day did not like to see their beloved Cary in such roles, but here he actually gets to show what a fine acting talent he really was. Yes, his looks and style were the envy of every man and the object of every woman, but here, without denying any of that, he unabashedly shows you the dark worthlessness that can often lie beneath a gorgeous exterior.
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