Indiscreet

Cushion banter, or, pillow talk

Stanley Donen has on his resume a casting miracle that neither Billy Wilder nor Hitchcock himself could pull off: a film (called Charade) featuring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn side-by-side. A good, perhaps even great, film Charade is, but it is no Notorious, no Sabrina. The second and final pairing of Grant and the almost-unsurpassed Ingrid Bergman (don’t forget Audrey) was placed in the hands of Donen in the not-undeservedly famous Indiscreet. It is a small film, with nothing at stake other than the romance. That wouldn’t have been enough for Hitch, and so it would do the viewer well to indulge some non-Hitchcock Cary Grant films before delving into Indiscreet, lest it feel rather incomplete. Enough charm and late-50s spice light up Indiscreet as much as it should be lit up. Evident throughout is its story’s origin on the stage, and the bright Technicolor sets and dependence on acting here do justice to its theatrical roots. Anything, though, to see Cary Grant get air in a tux.

C-"air"-y Grant

02 Sep This entry was published on September 2, 2009 at 8:56 am. It’s filed under 1950s Cinema, American film and tagged Cary Grant, cinema, film, Indiscreet, Ingrid Bergman, movies, Stanley Donen. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.