Big Brown Eyes

Big Brown Eyes (1936)

Runtime: 77 minutes

Directed by: Raoul Walsh

Starring: Cary Grant, Joan Bennett, Walter Pidgeon, Lloyd Nolan, Alan Baxter

From: Paramount

Here's a random movie from the 30's which you probably haven't heard of. It did give me something to talk about: 

The cheeriest movie there will ever be about... a baby accidentally being shot and killed?!

This was a film I had in a collection of various early Cary Grant works; I knew of the plot point where this is usually a light tale where cop Grant and beautician turned newspaper reporter Joan Bennett unwittingly team up to at first track down jewel thieves, but then s*** escalates when a meeting with a fence goes wrong and someone accidentally commits manslaughter against a baby in a carriage. Talk about tone issues; I was also surprised by that plot point as this was during the Hays Code era so I just would have presumed they wouldn't have allowed such a horrific act to happen.

All that said, I can still say that this is fine. There is the expected old movie snappy patter between the two leads; the cast as a whole is fine, but naturally it is Grant who is the highlight with his effortless charm. I am just unsure if lead girl Eve is right for Cary's character. I mean, she has pined for him for years yet she on several occasions freaks out when... he talks to the middle-aged rich lady whose jewels were stolen?! Huh? Personally, I wouldn't want to have a romantic relationship with a lady who freaks out when I talk to another woman when it's required for my job.

Eve does assist with the case so it's a shame she had such severe trust issues. I can say that the movie is well-shot by Raoul Walsh-there are some creative shots-and if you ever wanted to hear Cary Grant be dubbed by a woman in a scene as a gag concerning him being a ventriloquist...