"This is a Halloween tale of Brooklyn, where anything can happen ... and it usually does."
Frank Capra's classic is one of the biggest comedy success in the film- and even the theater history. Joseph Kesserling's original play proved its originality and universalism over the past decades: its characters, situations and most importantly its unstoppable jokes makes the audience laughing even in 2008, too.
Actually I'm not too fond of the comedies, and the film's slow start didn't changed my general opinion about the genre. But I gave chance and I did it right. Like some huge propeller, the story starts very leisurely without any effect on the viewer, but after a while, when its jokes start to rotate faster and faster it destroys all of your early disappointment. And then I didn't mentioned Cary Grant...
If nothing else there was one big revelation watching the film: George Clooney must be a huge fan of Cary Grant. His gestures, mimics are perfectly copying Grant's unbelievable rubber-face. If you've seen Grant only as Thornhill in Hitchcock's North by Northwest, you cannot imagine how flexibe (I mean professional) actor is he. And how funny!
Grant plays a forever-bachelor writer (his talkative book called: "Marriage, a Fraud and a Failure"), who is just got married:) He lives with his two aunts who have a very unusual habit: they are killing (khm.. helping) lonely old men. One day their another nephew, Jonathan arrives home, who is - what else - a terrible murderer. Did I say terrible? Oh yes, he is. He looks like Boris Karloff, not joking (at least not with him!). Moreover he is not coming alone: his surgeon (definitely not a good one according to Jonathan's Karloff-outlook..), Dr. Einstein is moving to the house of the deadly (khm.. kind) good old Brewster sisters'.
I tell you two funny details and then you can go and watch.
- The films' special effects were made by Byron Haskin. Familiar? Yeah, it was for me too watching the credits. Bingo: He directed the classic The War of the Worlds nine years later, in 1953.
- Another small thing is that in the role of Dr. Einstein plays Peter Lorre. Ok, his name is well known, so I'd like only show these three parallel pictures from him. Got it?:)
Btw, and what kind of humor you might expect? Listen:
"But my darling, we were married today!"
"It's ok, just go home and take some rest."
8/10
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