writers_reign You'll go a long way to find a greater fan of Cliff Odets than me so I was interested to see how he'd handle a very English story written by a Welshman with a flair for poetic language. Odets himself of course had a poetic way with words but the East Side of New York is more than the geographical three thousand miles from the East End of London. Most of the reviews I've read on IMDb were written by Americans and/or non-English people who, not unnaturally, have no idea how wayward the 'cockney' accents are - Dan Duryea, for example, doesn't even attempt one - and one reviewer even referred to Grant's own background in London when in fact he was born and brought up in Bristol a good two hundred miles away. Despite her failure to master cockney Ethel Barrymore walks away with the acting honours and fully deserved her Best Supporting Actress gong and despite what other reviewers have written I felt that the cast were in three or four different films with no sense of an ensemble at work. Given that he adapted the novel himself and also directed Odets can blame no one but himself for the lack of 'Odets type' dialogue, in fact on only one or two occasions do we hear anything even approaching his trademark speech. On the other hand Odets excelled at chronicling social injustice which is the same the world over and he clearly instructed the cameraman to stress light and shade throughout. Interesting rather than memorable but certainly worth seeing.

dbdumonteil Cary Grant is much too handsome,too aristocratic ,to play the part of this prodigal son and it is one of his more painful part.A loser he just cannot be.Ethel Barrymore ,on the other hand ,saves the movie ,with a balanced portrayal of a woman who ,in a way,as sonny says,exploits the others' poverty;and the most touching scene might be that of the cage ,when Grant gives the bird back to the woman in tears . Directing is static,trying to create an English atmosphere with fish and ships and pounds;but didn't they forget that cars run on the left in Albion ?(see the car chase) .Sometimes the music rises and we feel something important is about to happen :but nothing essential occurs.All the elements of melodrama are present :a bad son,who will redeem his soul,a fatal disease,bad influences , a divorced girl with a little child,and even an imprisoned mom, but the mixture lacks consistency and even the final is not convincing ,being particularly gloomy.the hero's middle name is "Verdun" ,the French town where his father fights in WW1

theowinthrop Throughout his career, Cary Grant tried to shake off the comic leading man - sophisticate roles that he fell into. He eventually did get parts in thrillers like NORTH BY NORTHWEST and CHARADES, or serious films like PENNY SERENADE and AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER showing a bit of edge, but up to his last film WALK DON'T RUN, he performed films that were mostly likable sophisticated comedies like INDISCREET. I suppose it was the flip side of being one of the best looking men in movies. Hitchcock had tried to get him a villainous role in the original concept of SUSPICION, and the studio and Grant's agent vetoed it - so the plot of that film was rewritten to make him look innocent of Joan Fontaine's deepest suspicions. The nearest he got was in the film MR. LUCKY, where he is a shady gambler and swindler, and even can be really violent in a fight scene, but still turns up being more honorable than he originally intended to be. In 1944 Grant was finally able (uniquely for his whole career) to play a movie role which, while hardly villainous, was far more realistic and tragic than anything else he ever played. Ernie Mott is his equivalent to Tyrone Power's "the Great Stanton" in NIGHTMARE ALLEY, the box office failure Darryl Zanuck allowed Power to make that showed he too was a fine actor. After NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART and NIGHTMARE ALLEY Grant and Power were taken seriously as performers by the theater going public.Ernie Mott is a London cockney (which Grant originally was - but rarely got a chance to show on film), who lives with his mother Ma Mott (Ethel Barrymore - in her "Oscar" winning performance) in a second hands goods/minor pawn broker store. Ernie has been rather light hearted and thoughtless, never settling down to a profession. But there are few good professions for such as him. He's in an East London slum (a reference to Whitechapel in the film reminds me that this story of the 1930s is only half a century from Jack the Ripper's rampages). He has two girls in his life - the glamorous Ada (June Duprez) and Aggie, a cellist (Jane Wyatt). Both like him very much, but he admits to Aggie that he favors Ada a bit more.Richard Llewelyn, who wrote HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, wrote the novel for this film (screenplay version by dramatist Clifford Odets), and captures the spirit of that slum quite well. Ernie hates it, and wants something better, but can't concentrate. One day a family friend (Jewish pawnbroker Ike Weber - Konstantine Shane (THE STRANGER, VERTIGO)) tips off Ernie that his mother is dying of cancer. Ernie cleans up his act (he was about to see about prospects in Liverpool), and he starts taking over work from his surprised mother. But although the reforms bring him and the dying woman together, both worry about each other - and fall prey to temptations they really don't want to return to.In Ma's case, she had been a leading fence for stolen goods for many years. If she will handle some more she can earn 500 pounds (in 1939 England a very tidy sum) to leave to Ernie. Ernie, as he dates the luxury loving Ada, finds he needs more money too. There is a snag here - Ernie's opportunity involves him with the local criminal gang boss Jim Mordinoy (George Coulouris). Mordinoy has always considered Ernie a potential gang member, but Ernie has showed little interest. Now Ernie's interested, but Mordinoy has close personal interests in Ada too - and is determined to maintain them whatever anyone (including Ada or Ernie) wants.The film holds up very nicely, with Grant giving the best performance of his career (which did not even get noticed for an Oscar nomination). As mentioned Barrymore did get nominated as the loving but fearful Ma, and won her Oscar (making her and brother Lionel - A FREE SOUL - the only brother and sister "Oscar" winners in movie history to the present). Duprez is painful as a woman torn between real love for Grant and fear of Coulouris' vengeance. Wyatt is painful too, as she has to accept Grant's positioning her as "best friend" rather than girlfriend. Barry Fitzgerald comes into the film in it's middle as Henry Twite, a wise old fellow who does odd jobs and becomes a missing father figure to Grant (Ernie's father was killed at Verdun). Shayne, an actor of considerable strength, had a wonderful part here. Jewish pawn brokers were usually still subjects of humor in movies in 1944, but with rumors of the death camps coming up this was changing. His role of Ike is that of a decent human being in that area, who has to face Coulouris and his thugs at one point - and maintains our full sympathy.I have to make a separate comment about George Coulouris here. I always like watching him, but too frequently his nervousness and short temper or his mental condition made his roles "over - the - top". I don't think Jim Mordinoy is anywhere near that - in fact, with Teck in WATCH ON THE RHINE this is his best performance. Mordinoy is not a ranter - he is quiet and direct and totally without scruple. He is far more dangerous (and smart) than the average thug, and one imagines that even at the end of the film he won't get touched by what happens to his minions. Grant's performance and Barrymore's are the best here, but Coulouris is equally good.The title by the way comes from a song with music by Tschaikowski and words from a poem by Goethe. It was also played by Paul Lukas to Katherine Hepburn in LITTLE WOMEN.

Tilyou1 The film supposedly involves Cary Grant playing himself on sets that evoke his impoverished English childhood, in an anguished drama involving a mother that evokes his anguished mother.I don't know how much of the film had personal meaning to Cary (and how much of the meaning was generated by a publicity department, or imagined by fans) but the result is unsatisfying. Cary despite his genuine Cockney childhood is not convincing as a Cockney, and he comes across as the main wrong note in the film. Like the rest of the sentient universe I am a huge fan generally, and if one felt like arguing, one could argue that Cary's ineptness because it is so rare is revealing. It suggests a conflict -- seen especially early in the movie -- between being Cary Grant, being that English street character he spent his entire life disguising, and whatever this part required. So maybe something personal was at stake, but that's not necessarily the formula for a good movie, and here it isn't.The sets are great though, in a dark "foggy old London curiosity shoppe" kind of way. Ethel Barrymore is... well, Ethel Barrymore and enough said. Eternally noble Jane Wyatt is eternally noble (but we love her that way); in fact everyone is fine, including the fog, played by itself.Except Cary and the story.