The Cary Grant List

An ongoing project to survey the best films of individual decades, genres, and filmmakers.
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knives
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#176 Post by knives » Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:34 am

Yep. Gonna try to fit one more in personally.

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senseabove
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#177 Post by senseabove » Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:10 pm

An Affair to Remember (McCarey, 1957): Sliding safely into the "better than I expected!" category, this one waxes and wanes, suffering many of the same problems I hazily recall from the 1939 original, also directed by McCarey (and is it my imagination or is this oddly rare in discussions of directors remaking their own movies?): motivations in the back half are never really convincingly conveyed, the script leans a little too heavily on everyone just looking pained as a plot point, and McCarey can't seem to quite trust his audience, not infrequently lingering too long on a beat to deflating rather than increasing effect. All that said, there are some brilliantly effective bits, hilarious and poignant, some excellent long takes, and some great uses of close-ups with contrasting wide shots to establish the incongruence between society and intimacy. I was charmed by how McCarey uses the gordian knot of cruise ship hallways as the site of Grant and Kerr's perpetual, migratory tryst, and the silent "is that her/him?" scene just before they get off the boat is worth the entire movie by itself. A single moment stands out as especially brilliant on Kerr's part, though:
SpoilerShow
as she's hugging her fiancé after they get off the boat, Grant walks by, kisses two fingers, and taps them on a hand wrapped behind her fiancé in a hug; Kerr immediately, instinctively pulls the back of her hand to her mouth as if to capture something escaping, before she even has time to register it, then the flood of realization—of how instinctive that reaction was, how severe, and what that means for her and him and everything else there is to realize that follows from that—hits her face, and it's just... a beautiful brief, small moment in a movie that trends in the opposite direction.


And a few capsule revisits: what else is there to say about Notorious except that it's just as good as it's supposed, and watching it with an eye on Grant is an interesting exercise, making it apparent how the entire plot pivots around Grant's perfectly-calibrated insecurity. Blonde Venus got a nice boost on my second go-round with it, but despite how much my admiration for it grew, I don't think it'll make my list, since Grant's role and his "Grant-ness" aren't really crucial to what makes the movie special. Charade, much to my surprise, slid a little in my estimation, and I think Indiscreet may have squeaked by it as my favorite of the Donen/Grant pairings. The first hour is pure delight, but the second half had me a little tired of the run-around. I half expect it to take the lead again when I revisit them, but Indiscreet was just such a perfectly fluffy, uncomplicated joy that its pure faffery won my heart over Charade's convolutedness this round.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#178 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:23 pm

senseabove wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:10 pm
Blonde Venus got a nice boost on my second go-round with it, but despite how much my admiration for it grew, I don't think it'll make my list, since Grant's role and his "Grant-ness" aren't really crucial to what makes the movie special.
Huh, I had the opposite reaction on my revisit. I'd be curious to hear where you stand against that reading.

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senseabove
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#179 Post by senseabove » Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:57 pm

I think it's a good one! The character is certainly essential to the movie and as a pole for Dietrich's development throughout, even if he's not on screen for the bulk of it, and I like your reading of his thematic significance. It's just...there is very little of Grant that sticks in my mind after the credits, and what does feels like it could have been handled just as well by one of Paramount's other handsome faces, like March or even Cooper, whom I'm not especially fond of. Maybe it's simply that I find Dietrich such an entrancing and befuddling screen presence that even Grant can't wrest my attention from her, though.

I also have no problem filling out my list with 20 films I feel warmly toward; I might be more inclined to include BV if that weren't the case, but even something like Hot Saturday, as charmingly mediocre as it is, is charming enough to squeeze on the bottom of my list, and it feels like a more important step in the evolution of Grant's persona and acting chops than BV.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#180 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:05 pm

That makes sense, and I think Blonde Venus only barely squeezed onto my own list despite my reading of Grant as thematically central, probably for a similar reason as you just said

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knives
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#181 Post by knives » Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:04 pm

Just submitted my list. My last cut was The Awful Truth which while an essential Grant lacked the bite for me to stay with. That said if we ever did a Ralph Bellamy list it would be a serious contender for number one.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#182 Post by Rayon Vert » Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:28 pm

I like all of the films in my top twenty, though the highest ranking of all of my 1st time viewings for this project was Destination Tokyo at no. 10.

Just missing the cut: Big Brown Eyes (21), Penny Serenade (22), Sylvia Scarlett (23).

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therewillbeblus
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#183 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:33 pm

I was pleasantly surprised with how much more I liked The Awful Truth this time around (and I always liked the film), especially Grant. Even more shocking, it wound up surpassing Notorious on my list, which has slowly dwindled from being my favorite Hitchcock with NbN to a still-good but less-esteemed movie in general. I had the opposite reaction to senseabove this last revisit, with Grant's star image underwhelming me. Of course that's all relative- I still admire the film, Grant's perf is good, and it's in my top ten.

I watched all ~80 of Grant's features and only felt comfortable listing 19 films (and as someone with OCD around even numbers, that's bothersome). Some fine films like Big Brown Eyes could've made it, but at a certain point it just felt like a stretch to make the distance.

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knives
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#184 Post by knives » Thu Apr 15, 2021 5:48 pm

That’s interesting. Having seen less films than you I feel like I could have gotten to 25 no problem with a lack of rewatch time being a culprit for some cuts.

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Red Screamer
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#185 Post by Red Screamer » Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:22 pm

I’ve been following this thread but never wound up contributing much. So as I finalize my list, here are brief, last-minute thoughts on some of my viewings in order of release.

Grant is hardly more than a face in She Done Him Wrong (Lowell Sherman, 1933). The only moment where he feels like Cary Grant comes at the beginning when he teases an old lady, turning on the family reunion charm, his head about four inches from her face. When the character transforms into a tough guy at the end, it’s unconvincing, largely because Grant starts rushing all his lines and slurring the words together. It’s nigh impossible to see how this actor will soon become the personification of quick wit.

My Favorite Wife (Garson Kanin, 1940) is an obvious cash-in on the success of The Awful Truth, but without a great director at the helm (it’s amazing that Grant made four bona fide classics in the two and a half years between them). The weirdly slack direction is almost a virtue though, sometimes giving scenes an energy boost through its peculiar open-endedness. Grant’s performance is a notch or two sillier and more animated than everyone else’s, and his character is too dumb to make the most of his screwball talents. As a whole, the film is paper-thin dramatically and unconvincing. A side-by-side comparison between its ending and The Awful Truth’s should tell you all you need to know: In concept and blocking, they're close to identical, but the rhythm, chemistry, and humor are all out of whack in Kanin’s version. Viewers looking for queer readings of Grant’s work will be interested in the charged exchanges between him and Randolph Scott, who were roommates around this time and rumored to be in a relationship.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (Irving Reis, 1947) is a good time, despite being pretty dumb. The labored justifications to clean up the central joke of Grant dating a teenager almost make the movie feel more creepy than something bluntly ugly like Susan Slept Here. Grant is consistently funny and has a wide range of things to do, with only a pinch of romantic lead in the mix. But the most memorable thing about the movie (okay, other than the popularly GIF-ed moment of Temple and Grant dancing out of the room) is its truly great visual gag about Grant’s good looks: An auditorium of bored students clap half-heartedly waiting for a speaker to take the stage. The speaker's podium is shot from a low angle, sort of a point-of-view. As Grant starts to emerge from behind the podium, the students perk up. Then, as the rest of him becomes visible, their applause builds into thunderous ecstasy.

No, Monkey Business (Howard Hawks, 1952) doesn’t really work as a comedy, which is why I didn’t vote for it in last year’s Hawks list. But it is interesting as an actor's playground—and as the best expression of Grant’s interest in drug experimentation, though it obviously wasn’t intended that way. Later in the decade, Grant and his wife Betsy Drake both took LSD as part of their marriage/divorce therapy, which is also the basic concept of this film. And an unhappy couple's psychological unburdening is painful to watch. These later screwballs are often awkward in their attempts at zaniness but Monkey Business takes the discomfort to a whole other level. I like Rivette’s explanation for why he doesn’t find the film funny in his famously hyperbolic and brilliant review:
While it is the comedy that gives Hawks' tragedy its effectiveness, the comedy cannot quite dispel (not the tragedy, let's not spoil our best arguments by going too far) the harsh feeling of an existence in which no action can undo itself from the web of responsibility. Could we be offered a more bitter view of life than this? I have to confess that I'm quite unable to join in the laughter of a packed theatre when I am riveted by the calculated twists of a fable (Monkey Business) which sets out—gaily, logically, and with an unholy abandon—to chronicle the fatal stages in the degradation of a superior mind.
Of course, it was also Rivette who seized on the psychedelic element of the film by taking its structure for Céline and Julie Go Boating and blowing up all of its fantastical possibilities. Grant’s performance here is reminiscent of Jerry Lewis, with a grotesque range stretching from anti-acting, in which he negates his star persona by becoming a spacey void, to the unleashed mania of violent physical comedy. I agree both with people who dislike the film and those who love it but, for me, it’s an essential Grant pick.

Operation Petticoat (Blake Edwards 1959), on the other hand, is an unsuccessful comedy in the usual, uninteresting way. It has a lame sitcomy script, executed with an awful sense of pacing and comedic rhythm. In most scenes, Grant seems plain uncomfortable, either embarrassed by the juvenile material or restricted by the lifeless style. I didn’t jump into the deep end of Grant’s forgotten titles like some of you, but with that caveat, this is by far the worst film I saw for this project.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#186 Post by domino harvey » Fri Apr 16, 2021 12:43 pm

Submissions now closed. My co-conspirator will once again be lending a hand in the tabulation, but results may be delayed a few days since it's the weekend

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domino harvey
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#187 Post by domino harvey » Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:20 pm

Image

THE CARY GRANT LIST

01 North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) 16 (6)
02 Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) 17 (4)
03 His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) 18 (4)
04 Holiday (George Cukor, 1938) 16 (2)
05 Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) 16

06 Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks, 1939) 14 (2)
07 To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) 18
08 the Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937) 16
09 Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941) 14
10 Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) 14

11 I Was a Male War Bride (Howard Hawks, 1949) 10
12 the Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) 10
13 Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra, 1942) 6
14 Gunga Din (George Stevens, 1939) 6
15 the Bishop's Wife (Henry Koster, 1947) 6

16 Destination Tokyo (Delmer Daves, 1943) 5
17 Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg, 1932) 7
18 Sylvia Scarlett (George Cukor, 1935) 5
19 Monkey Business (Howard Hawks, 1952) 4
20 An Affair to Remember (Leo McCarey, 1957) 5

# of ballots, out of 18 total (# of ballots with film ranked first)
Appeared on every list

ALSO-RANS
In Name Only / the Talk of the Town / the Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer / Indiscreet / Kiss Them For Me / Mr. Lucky / My Favorite Wife / Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House / Penny Serenade / Father Goose / Crisis / Kiss and Make-Up / The Grass is Greener / Operation Petticoat / People Will Talk / Hot Saturday

ORPHANS
None But the Lonely Heart / Room for One More / the Eagle and the Hawk / Thirty-Day Princess / Merrily We Go To Hell / This is the Night / Once Upon a Honeymoon / Big Brown Eyes / Topper

Big thanks to DarkImbecile for his tireless work in tabulating the results!

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#188 Post by Rayon Vert » Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:31 pm

Nice list - thanks DH and DI. Glad to see I'm not the only Monkey Business fan.

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knives
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#189 Post by knives » Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:33 pm

Thank you everyone. What a weirdly satisfactory list. They’re not my favorite films, but the ones on all lists do feel the most quintessentially Grantian so that’s also weirdly satisfactory.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#190 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:06 pm

Thanks domino and DarkImbecile! I never would have guessed that To Catch a Thief would be the Hitch to show up on every list- love it!

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Re: The Cary Grant List

#191 Post by DarkImbecile » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:12 pm

Of minor note, Hot Saturday pulled off the always enjoyable distinction of meeting the absolute bare minimum for Also-Ran status: the only two votes received were for 20th place.

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knives
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#192 Post by knives » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:43 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:06 pm
Thanks domino and DarkImbecile! I never would have guessed that To Catch a Thief would be the Hitch to show up on every list- love it!
I saved that for last because it is always the Grant performance that seems to best embody the character of Grant. He’s charming and enigmatic in a way that’s always engaging because he can never be known even if he can be trusted.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#193 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:58 pm

Yep, pretty much exactly what I said at the start of the project

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Matt
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#194 Post by Matt » Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:55 pm

Too bad, I might have exchanged my orphan votes for Once Upon a Honeymoon and Room for One More in order for Topper to at least vault to the also-rans. It’s a solid top ten (still not a huge fan of Holiday but whatever). Of the next ten, though, I only had three on my list of twenty. Y’all are crazy. [-(

I’m curious to know, what was the nearest miss? What might have made the top 20 if it had been ranked, say, one point higher on one person’s list?

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Re: The Cary Grant List

#195 Post by Rayon Vert » Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:04 am

Also surprised at Topper (I'm the one who voted for it, although fairly down in my top 20). My highest-ranking also-ran was The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, at no 12, which was a delightful discovery.

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Re: The Cary Grant List

#196 Post by DarkImbecile » Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:05 am

Matt wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:55 pm
Too bad, I might have exchanged my orphan votes for Once Upon a Honeymoon and Room for One More in order for Topper to at least vault to the also-rans. It’s a solid top ten (still not a huge fan of Holiday but whatever). Of the next ten, though, I only had three on my list of twenty. Y’all are crazy. [-(

I’m curious to know, what was the nearest miss? What might have made the top 20 if it had been ranked, say, one point higher on one person’s list?
The Also-Rans are listed in order of point totals, and In Name Only and The Talk of the Town were each one improved spot away from tying for #20.

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Re: The Cary Grant List

#197 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:31 am

Predictable top ten (I suspected I Was a Male War Bride might beat The Awful Truth, but otherwise it’s exactly as I expected, sans order), which also resembles my own ordinary top ten almost to a T

1. North by Northwest
2. Only Angels Have Wings
3. To Catch a Thief
4. Holiday
5. His Girl Friday
6. Bringing Up Baby
7. The Awful Truth
8. Notorious
9. I Was a Male War Bride
10. Charade
11. Destination Tokyo
12. The Bishop’s Wife
13. Suspicion
14. Mr. Lucky
15. Kiss Them For Me
16. Gunga Din
17. Sylvia Scarlett
18. Blonde Venus
19. In Name Only

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hearthesilence
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#198 Post by hearthesilence » Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:50 pm

I tend to buy things for the quality of the film itself - that is, I rarely get a film simply because a director I like made it (which is why I've been reluctant to spring for Criterion's auteur box sets) and I'm even less likely to get a film because of a performance or an actor, I usually just rent them. So with that in mind, I noticed that I usually wind up with more films from someone like Kirk Douglas (who to be fair, I have nothing against) over actors that I'd normally prefer, like Marlon Brando or Paul Newman. Out of curiosity, I went through some Wikipedia filmographies and did a quick count of films I purchased from favorite actors, and Cary Grant nearly came out on top. He was edged out by Jimmy Stewart thanks to two recent purchases, but otherwise, the only other performer who came close was Humphrey Bogart (and several of his titles were early supporting roles).

But what a rich body of work, and he could be my favorite Hollywood star. Back in school, I actually got into a friendly debate with a theater majoring friend about Grant - they liked them but didn't think he was that good. Their argument brought to mind what Sidney Lumet once said about Grant and Sean Connery, how people take their charm and screen presence for granted as if it was no evidence of ability or talent, even turning it against them as some kind of reflection of limited range.

Anyway, when I saw The Verdict last week, I was shocked that Cary Grant actually lobbied for the lead role (if Brown and Zanuck were being completely honest). I thought he had long retired from screen acting by that point, but apparently he called them personally from an airport lounge, making the pitch that he could do it as he was a character actor before he became the Cary Grant of legend.

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Toland's Mitchell
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Re: The Cary Grant List

#199 Post by Toland's Mitchell » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:20 pm

Rayon Vert wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:31 pm
Glad to see I'm not the only Monkey Business fan...My highest-ranking also-ran was The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, at no 12, which was a delightful discovery.
Ha, I got ya. Both movies are kinda dumb, but amusing enough to appear on the lower half of my list at #s 13 and 19.
hearthesilence wrote:
Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:50 pm
But what a rich body of work, and he could be my favorite Hollywood star. Back in school, I actually got into a friendly debate with a theater majoring friend about Grant - they liked them but didn't think he was that good. Their argument brought to mind what Sidney Lumet once said about Grant and Sean Connery, how people take their charm and screen presence for granted as if it was no evidence of ability or talent, even turning it against them as some kind of reflection of limited range.
I can see both sides of that debate. I've watched 35 Cary Grant movies, which admittedly is not even close to his total filmography. However, from what I've seen he often played similar characters, the charming gentleman. I don't recall him ever playing a villain (although Suspicion provided a villainous perspective from the main character that wound up being false in the end, so does that count?). Was he a villain anywhere else? Did he ever star in a Western? These aren't rhetorical questions, I'm curious to know more about what I haven't seen yet. Nevertheless, I wouldn't say this is evidence of lack of talent. On the contrary, I'd say he was very talented at what he did, and his body of work adds up to one of the finest in Hollywood history.

Anyway, great list. Thanks again DH and DI.

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Re: The Cary Grant List

#200 Post by TMDaines » Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:54 am

I goofed and missed off Notorious, which should have been sixth for me. I wonder if that would have changed the overall #1 and #2? It certainly would have therefore been included on everyone's ballot!

As usual, I only included those films which meet my particular quality threshold:

#1) Only Angels Have Wings (1939 - Howard Hawks)
#2) Suspicion (1941 - Alfred Hitchcock)
#3) North by Northwest (1959 - Alfred Hitchcock)
#4) Charade (1963 - Stanley Donen)
#5) His Girl Friday (1940 - Howard Hawks)
---- #6) Notorious (1946 - Alfred Hitchcock)
#7) The Awful Truth (1937 - Leo McCarey)
#8) I Was a Male War Bride (1949 - Howard Hawks)
#9) In Name Only (1939 - John Cromwell)
#10) Blonde Venus (1932 - Josef von Sternberg)
#11) The Philadelphia Story (1940 - George Cukor)
#12) To Catch a Thief (1955 - Alfred Hitchcock)
#13) Bringing Up Baby (1938 - Howard Hawks)

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