Cristi_Ciopron The cast makes this very average melodrama worth watching—Grant and Mary Brian; she had a strong, striking appeal, a womanly brio, not being, yet, especially beautiful, her head was bigger than Grant's, etc.. Otherwise, the movie registers as '30s slapdash. THE AMAZING QUEST OF MR. ERNEST BLISS, E. Phillips Oppenheim's novel, was adapted as a Cary Grant vehicle: THE AMAZING ADVENTURE—essentially a parable, or a legendary tale—say charming prince was put to earn his living—not really as good as similarly—themed moralities with Cooper or Stewart—a wealthy youngster, Ernest Bliss, succumbs to sloth, and a physician recommends him to try living some raw life, Bliss accepts the dare and starts seeking jobs, etc.; Alfred Zeisler was a hack, the storytelling is quite uninspired and clumsy, the movie is _charmless and not really very good—not really very well paced or inventive …. Mary Brian was a fine actress; as screen presence, Grant got better with age, yet his very special charm is fully on in this old melodrama. The scene with Bliss beating a hoodlum was silly.

MartynGryphon The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, is not a mind blowing film by any stretch of the imagination. However, it is noteworthy as being the one and only film Cary Grant ever made in his native England for an English Studio.Grant plays Ernest Bliss, a wealthy London playboy with nothing to do but drink martini's in his posh west end club and wine and dine the female socialites of his class. Amazingly, he's still not a happy man, he's restless and short tempered and not knowing why, he visits the Harley Street Offices of Doctor Sir James Alroyd. (Peter Gawthorne). Sir James however, not only has his Harley Street practice, but is a great philanthropist who also helps the poorer people from the East End over come their ailments for little or no payment, and cannot disguise his visible contempt for Bliss.After examining Bliss he delivers his diagnosis to the shocked playboy, which turns out to be nothing more than a chronic case of boredom. He's bored because he's been spoilt and pampered all of his life without ever having to do a single thing for himself and hasn't anything constructive to do but live out his days spending his inheritance. Bliss in an attempt to prove there is more to him than what Sir James has said, bets him £50'000 that he can make an honest living for a whole year without touching any of his money for his own benefit.Incognito, Bliss sets off to the East End in an old suit and just enough money for the tube fare, but soon realises that his 'quest' is not as easy as he first thought. However, he also realises the strength and kindheartedness of the working classes. He's touched by the generosity of these people, good people who will give you what they have even though they haven't that much to give. Convinced that he is not using his money for HIS own benefit as his deal with Sir James stipulated, Bliss begins to use his inheritance to help these people out of certain situations, thus changing their lives for the better.As I mentioned earlier, it's not a great film but it's heart is certainly in the right place. and the movie is riddled with great and much missed British character actors/actresses of the 1930's and '40's. American Actress Mary Brian plays Frances Clayton, Grant's love interest.It such a shame that the movie runs just a little over an hour and has obviously been cut to shreds by a crazed studio editor somewhere, because there is/was an 80 minute print of this movie available at one time or another. So my 'amazing quest' is now to hunt down this elusive version if it still exists which sadly I doubt, as Empire Film Studios were never a major player in British movie making before or after the war. It's a genuine possibility that the original 80 minute print was destroyed in the blitz with only the 61 minute USA version still in existence. who knows?.Enjoy!!!

robb_772 Initially intriguing, but ultimately unsatisfying, British comedy-drama that is best remembered for giving Cary Grant fans a chance to watch the actor work in his home country. The film works as well as any other "class comedy" of the era as it allows its hero to survive without relying on his wealth, and therefore finding his true self in the process. Unfortunately, director Alfred Zeisler and screenwriter John L. Bladerston compromise their own reliable premise in the third quarter, which undermines the film's enjoyable first two-thirds by a considerable degree. Grant is in fine form throughout this acceptable film.The version I viewed of this picture was titled THE AMAZING ADVENTURE, and had runtime of 61 minutes. There is reportedly a version of the movie that clocks in a 80 minutes, although I have know information of the differences between the two cuts, nor which version was originally released in theaters.

Brian James I found the film interesting as it was set in London where I currently live and showed the London of my father and mother's young adulthood. I was born shortly after WWII began (7th November 1939) and I recall a few things about war, chiefly trying clean my father's brass buttons on his RAF uniform - he was a flight engineer but also had air gunner and then observer/navigator badges. I sometimes think how life was like for him growing up in the 1930s and it was mostly a hard time as the film reflects as Cary Grant finds it hard to get a job. My father died relatively young and I as I had moved away from home - Pembrokeshire - by the time I began to think about asking him about his early life and later war time experiences, sadly, he was dead.I would like to have more detailed information on the film in terms of where it was shot - and if it was a British production - as it seems to be as the credits on the cheap DVD I got recently cite Empire Films - and the USofAmerica never formally claimed an empire although Bush currently is seeking to control the Western World and terrorise the rest-why Cary Grant appears in it. The 'mise en scene' reminds me very much of the Alfred Hitchcock Film, Blackmail, and thus I expected it to have been made much earlier - say 1931 - 32, as by 1936, filming had improved in terms of quality of visual presentation - in Go into your Dance, for example, there is a wonderful tracking shot across a bar/ dance hall/night club, as there is in Shall we Dance, when FA & GR enter the bar on the ship, so this film in comparison seems very badly shot in terms of camera technique and editing.The DVD I got seems to be of a 16mm print, as was on I got from Tescos on Second Chorus - however, there may be a better quality DVD available - but that can't save an overstretched storyline. However, it is interesting to see quasi socio-dramas like this to see how the film makers saw society and how the film going public liked to see themselves, perhaps. Most ordinarily people in the 1930s were lesser educated than today and probably very naive and complacent about their situations - in the scene where the old car mechanic gets the sack my automatic thought was, where is his union representative?I found it hard to get any information at all and took a long time to get to this website. I entered The Amazing Adventure into the AOL search engine and this particular film did not appear - so I have had to take a lengthy circuitous route to find what information you have. In contrast when I looked up Kevin Costner's Adventures of Robin Hood, I was able to get a lot of information, most interestingly about the places the film was shot, one being St Bartholemew's Church in SE London - and I intended to visit this as its interiors are very different from the more usual perpendicular style - but I have not yet got around to doing this.anyway, 'thank you for the information you have provided - which was much better than other sites.B. Michael (Kilometres) James aka Penvronius Miles Cambrensis