His Girl Friday

Howard Hawks directed this 1940 screwball comedy starring Cary Grant and Rosiland Russell.

Taken from the play "The Front Page" this has been made many times in various incarnations but this one remains classic.

Newspaper reporter (Russell) is leaving her job after divorcing her editor (Grant), who is as concerned about losing his wife and his star reporter. He schemes to keep her on the job and near him with a breaking story about a killer's execution.

Smart and funny, with overlapping dialogue that will keep you on your toes and laughing out loud.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032599/

My Favorite Wife

Garson Kanin directed this 1940 comedy starring Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, and Randolph Scott.

Grant's wife Dunne has been missing for seven years. Presuming she is dead, he remarries. But she returns, having been stranded on an island all that time. She is determined to win Grant back but things are complicated when Grant finds out she was not alone on the island.

Very funny romantic comedy. Remade decades later as "Move Over, Darling" but stick to the original.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029284/

Holiday

1938 George Cukor comedy starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn was a follow-up to the success Grant and Hepburn had with Bringing Up Baby.

Free-thinking, happy-go-lucky Grant is enaged to an heiress but when he begins to question the meaning of his life he finds he has much more in common with her spirited sister (Hepburn).

Smart writing, great cast, and very funny screwball comedy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030241/

Bringing Up Baby

Howard Hawks directed this comedy starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.

One of the best movie comedies ever.

Grant plays a nerdy professor who is drawn into the life of a wacky heiress who changes him forever. A totally screwball comedy if there ever was one.

Grant and Hepburn are wonderful together. Lots of abusrd situations but it all works. The stars shine in this one.

Remade (sort of) as "What's Up Doc?" with Ryan O'Neal and Barbara Streisand.

Don't miss this one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029947/

The Awful Truth

1937 Leo McCarey comedy stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

A separated couple are both about to remarry but spend their time trying to foil each other's plans for wedded bliss.

Very funny screwball comedy which set the tone for the Cary Grant "character" which was honed over his next few movies.

Funny, and holds up even today.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028597/

Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House

Cary Grant and Myrna Loy star in this 1948 comedy directed by H.C. Potter.

Madison Avenue Ad Man (Grant) decides that the apartment in the city is too small for the family and he and his wife embark on building their dream house. Complications ensue. Great fish out of water story as the city folks deal with not only the rural types building their house but also with the fact that the whole project is becoming a money pit.

Expertly handled comedy with Grant and Loy great together.

Look for the scene where Loy describes the color scheme she has in mind with the painters.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040613/

Father Goose

1964 light-hearted film from Ralph Nelson and starring Cary Grant and Leslie Caron.

Grant plays a boozy islander who is basically blackmailed into getting involved in World War Two as a plane spotter. He's somewhat content until his life is complicated by a school teacher and her female students who make his lkife miserable.

Fun for the family, but sways from comedy to war-time suspense on occaission.

Both stars are very good and the chemistry works. Grant as a boozy n'eer do well is a hoot.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058092/

Charade

Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Walter Matthau star in this 1963 Stanley Donan comedy/romance/mystery that is fun and a delight.

Hepburn, finding out she is a widow, is stalked by nefarious strangers who are looking for wartime booty that her late husband stashed away. She turns to Cary Grant for help...but is he to be trusted?

The plot twists, Grant and Hepburn are great together, and the movie charms and delights.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056923/

Operation Petticoat

Gee, who ever thought war could be this much fun?

Made in 1959 and directed by Blake Edwards, Operation Petticoat stars Cary Grant and Tony Curtis.

Straightforward submarine commander Grant is vainly trying to get his damaged sub back to a safe port during World War Two. Complicating matters are a group of nurses who have to hitch a ride and a con-man wheeler dealer (Curtis) who actually comes in pretty handy in a pinch. Hilarious...from Curtis' shenanigans to the idea of a pink submarine limping into port. Grant and Curtis are great together.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053143/

Gunga Din

This is the quintessentail action-adventure buddy film. Made in 1939 (what was it about that year and great movies?) Gunga Din was directed by George Stevens and stars Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Sam Jaffe.

Loosely based upon the Rudyard Kipling poem, Gunga Din follows the exploits of three sergeants in the British army who are stationed in India in the 19th century. Involved in a war against a murderous cult of assassins, our heroes still find opportunities to seek treasure, fall in love, and get themselves into trouble. All in rollicking good fun.

In the midst of their trvails, one of the trio (Fairbanks) decides to leave the service, marry, and go into the textile business. Grant and McLaglen's attempts to convince him otherwise are funny and add a subtext to the film that help make it memorable.

Sam Jaffe, as a native lowly waterboy, longs to become a soldier and is at first ridiculed for his goal but he eventually becomes a hero worthy of the respect of his regiment.

Look for a great scene with a tipsy Cary Grant trying to convince McLaglen to let him go seek a golden temple, tough McLaglen softened by an ailing elephant, and Grant attempting to arrest hundreds of assassins on his own.

Younger viewers who can't tolerate films in black and white should put their prejudices aside for this one. It's worth it.

Funny, action packed, clever, and sentimental, Gunga Din is not to be missed.

Note: Remade in the '60s as a Rat Pack movie called Sergeants 3.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031398/