Big Brown Eyes (1936)

Sadly Over-hyped

Fresh and Exciting

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"Big Brown Eyes" is from 1936 and directed by Raoul Walsh. Joan Bennett was still a blond, and here, Cary Grant plays Dan Barr, a detective trying to recover someone's stolen jewels. Bennett plays his jealous manicurist girlfriend Eve, who takes a job on a newspaper after she quits manicuring.Walter Pidgeon plays Cortig, the head of the jewel theft ring which is also involved in the murder of a child who was hit by one of Cortig's stray bullets. He's joined by Lloyd Nolan. Thanks to his crooked attorney, Cortig is found not guilty. Dan is so upset he quits the force to go out on his own and get justice. Eve returns to her manicure job; both are very defeated by the trial.This is an okay, fast-moving film with Bennett playing what today would be considered a stereotype, you know, the gum-cracking, wisecracking blond. Grant is very handsome and slips easily into his role. He's not the "Cary Grant" persona quite yet. That's a couple of years away.I don't know who the Big Brown Eyes were, but it must have been Cary Grant. I saw Joan Bennett in person near the end of her life - she was very tiny, with very black hair, and had beautiful blue eyes.

Where I work, we do a fairly brisk trade in DVDs, including hard-to-find films, old films, some strange stuff too. And we are technically adept enough to have a nice big screen at the back which we have managed to hook up to something that will play the movies. If Stan is in, he basically picks what we will be watching for most of the day--special pleading or claims of overkill aside--but when Stan leaves, it generally devolves to me to select what will be showing. And this is fun. It means that, temporarily, MASTER AND COMMANDER, or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, or PERRY MASON episodes are set aside, and we can loosen things up a bit, at my discretion. Into the realm of "What The Heck Are We Watching, And Why Am I Hypnotized By It?".A rousing round of CULT OF THE COBRA, followed up by either DR CYCLOPS or FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (depending on whether I'm feeling a Marshall Thompson double-bill is called for), and onto NARROW MARGIN (Peter Hyams remake; not the suspense film of the ages, but I do like this director's work overall, plus the Lady Archer, and people our store will stop and watch the action, or the fun scene where Sikking confronts Hackman over drinks, on the train). If I'm feeling things should take a classier turn, Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS is a favorite, and just exactly how many times BRAZIL has been shown on the premises is a matter of debate...but it's somewhere between infinite, and whatever comes after infinite.When it occurs to me to slap BIG BROWN EYES on again--a wonderful, if forgotten "crime comedy"--I always get a warm fuzzy feeling. I love going that far back and yet still playing a film nobody seems to know, but is ultra-cool, and a little bit before its time. Some early vigilante-movie stuff going on here. Very savvy leading lady, aggressive, gets it done, out-performs the male detective who is enthusiastic to kick crime where it hurts, but seems either befuddled or embittered next to our smart-mouthed superwoman. Speaking of smart- mouths, I've just come fresh from my review of THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, and those who like the punch of a Shane Black script, and all that lightning-fast and super-entertaining dialogue, would do well to listen to everyone trading zingers in BIG BROWN EYES, decades ago. Try and listen; try and keep up.Back to the screening of this film--me your Master Of Ceremonies--there are four huge reasons to watch this film, at the very least: Joan Bennett, Cary Grant, Walter Pidgeon, and maybe especially the amazing Mr. Lloyd Nolan. This was really my first look at Lloyd Nolan (I had seen HOUSE ON 92ND STREET, but that is a film that is trying not to draw attention to actors and acting, as it goes for docudrama as done by "regular people"), and I only really knew his name as if vaguely connected to THE TERMINATOR and lawsuits and THE TWILIGHT ZONE or some such complicated frippery. Anyway, when I run BIG BROWN EYES at the store, we are known to attract some curious viewers. Mainly the old fellows with the sentient beards, who realize they are watching something sprightly, and just a bit dangerous, filled with these big names giving energetic performances, and spouting sharp dialogue while weaving in and out of mayhem. These knowledgeable old film buffs with their beards and their trivia-packed memories try to connect Cary Grant, Joan Bennett, LLoyd Nolan, and Walter Pidgeon all together in a superior film which surely they must know, but don't--and all wind up asking me "Sirrah--(oops, or rather:) --Good Sir, stout fellow, what be yon film?". And I give them the scoop. And sometimes we sell a Cary Grant boxset. And everyone comes away happy. Especially me, as I watch flower-loving gangster prone to violence Lloyd Nolan define the breezy nastiness of this film in all his scenes.Hitchcock seemed to do some culling here, for casting, Hey, isn't that the dude who shows up in FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT? That other guy there, playing one of the gunsels--he shows up in SABOTEUR, yes? Goodness me, I'm getting good at these old movies finally! And Cary Grant, I seem to recall him showing up in a few Hitchcock films, or am I wrong? Anyway, suffice it to say: I like BIG BROWN EYES better than ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, which I guess means there's something wrong with me and I can't be totally trusted, but there it is. A little less loudness and bombast going on, and I'm happy. A little more naturalism to the performances (even in 1936!), and I'm enjoying myself. Noisy where necessary, calm and cool where required.A baby-killing in the middle of a "comedy" is probably not something everyone likes. I'm not saying that I sat there waiting for it to happen ("where's this big infanticide they advertised-- they sure are taking their sweet time!"--no no, nothing like that), but once the film commits to such a development, in a 1936 comedy, the film has one of those ahead-of-its-time moments. Is this Tarantino, shaking things up, making it edgy, making it a bit discomforting and depraved while still brilliant? No, it can't be. I don't think he wrote stuff before he was born. Anyway, I like risks; I like it when it gets in your face a bit. This film is charming enough--throw in some vigilante-justice stuff, and a vile act or two, and things percolate better. The social conscience of the film--before and after the life-taking gunplay in the park--means that it's wrong to see this just as a screwy comedy, and that's fine with me.So, BIG BROWN EYES. Something a bit edgy for its time. Very slick and clever--great dialogue coming at you throughout, especially from the lady, who rips through things with guts and gusto. Hail Joan Bennett in this, liberated woman. I love this movie!

Yes, it's true. The actor who in a few years would become the ultimate symbol of film sophistication and elegance has the role of a policeman in this fairly routine comedy-drama. But no matter. Grant has enough charm and grace to make even this kind of part his own. How did he do it? Grant just stands out and is so likable while a lesser actor would just walk through this rather thankless assignment.Joan Bennett played the kind of sassy brassy part that was often taken on by the likes of Ginger Rogers or Joan Blondell. Did anyone else catch her throwaway line that mirrored Mae West's famous "come up and see me sometime?" Many folks don't remember that Bennett was a blond BEFORE she became better known to later movie audiences as a brunette. Does anyone know of any other famous actress who made such a transition? Not me.The rest of the cast did serviceable work in the film. Douglas Fowley, who played a humorous bit as one of the crooks, is far better known to most film audiences as the harried movie director in "Singing in the Rain," who had to deal with the chaotic and riotous problems of bringing sound to what were formerly silent movies.But this film belongs to its male lead. You can almost see in watching the movies he made at this time just how he developed the layers of "business" that came together to produce the screen personality we all know as Cary Grant. He may have been paying his dues by taking on this fairly routine role. In the long run----we are all the better for it. Cary Grant was one of the greatest screen actors of all time----maybe the greatest.

And in that of Raoul Walsh, as well. The early scenes, which try really hard to be cute, show no influence of Walsh. When it gets more into the career of policeman Grant, we see some fast-paced action and it makes sense as a Walsh project. Sort of.Grant was young and hadn't become a major star yet. He looks great and does a creditable job. His female co-star is Joan Bennett. Now there was an interesting actress: She worked with all the great foreign directors when they came to Hollywood. She made several movies for Fritz Lang. She worked for Max Ophuls. She worked for Jean Renoir.Here she is a blonde, like sister Constance. She's fine.Walter Pidgeon looks young too. He is cast in the sort of role Robert Montgomery or Warren William got more frequently: He's a charming crook.When the movie begins, Bennett is a manicurist. Then, suspiciously quickly, she's an ace newspaper reporter. Was this little film assembled from various attempts or is the plot just a little unconvincing? There are many wonderful reaction shots that move quickly from close-up of one bit player or extra to close-up of another. I think the most famous use of this sort of extreme close-up is that of the chatty woman in "Brief Encounter." But the ones here are great. Indeed, they elevate what is essentially a trivial movie up a notch or two.