Review of Grass Is Greener, The

Introduction

One of the most consistent leading men in Hollywood history, Cary Grant carved out a niche playing charming, romantic gentlemen. Born in Bristol, yet spending most of his career in the US, his accent was extremely distinctive and parodied in `Some Like it Hot` by Tony Curtis (Jack Lemon picked him up on it, saying `Where did you get that phony accent? Nobody "talks loike thet"!`). Many of his films, including this, have been released or re-released as part of `Cary Grant: The Movie Collection`.

`The Grass is Greener` was written by Hugh Williams and Margaret Vyner, based on their stage play. It begins as a love triangle when Lady Hilary Rhyall (Deborah Kerr) becomes attracted to Charles Delacro (Robert Mitchum), an American millionaire who wanders into her room whilst on a guided tour of her stately home. Her attraction leads her to question her love for her husband, Earl Victor Rhyall (Cary Grant) and things are further complicated by the arrival of Hattie Durant (Jean Simmons), a socialite friend of the Rhyalls, whose drinking and stirring leads Victor to take drastic action to win back his wife.

Video

An extremely disappointing letterboxed transfer, with poor clarity and a colour palette that verges on the over-saturated.

Audio

A fairly clear mono soundtrack, perfectly suitable for a dialogue dominated film like this. Good, clear English subtitles are available.

Features

None.

Conclusion

With the star power of Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr and Jean Simmons, I expected something special from this and was sadly let down. It is all too clear that the film is based on a stage play as it has a `stagey` feel to it, similar to the Marx Brothers` `Animal Crackers`. In the case of the Marx Brothers` films, you can forgive this because of the superb screenplay and timing of the delivery, both of which are largely lacking from `The Grass is Greener`.

One of the major problems I had with this film is accepting Robert Mitchum as a romantic lead - this is the psychotic preacher from `Night of The Hunter` and the violent ex-con Max Cady in `Cape Fear` - by no means is he a suave millionaire capable of sweeping a Lady off her feet. Deborah Kerr`s Lady Rhyall is such a dull character who has no chemistry with either Grant or Mitchum that the crux of the film is lost. Jean Simmons, on the other hand, is superb playing an unpredictable firecracker of a woman but her scenes with Cary Grant are of variable quality.

There are some decent exchanges and I found myself smiling on a couple of occasions, but this is far from the best in the otherwise glittering resumé of Cary Grant.

Considering this is a new release and is part of a Cary Grant collection, one would expect more than a DVD with a letterboxed transfer (there should be a law prohibiting releasing DVDs with non-anamorphic transfers!) and no extras. For Cary Grant completists only.