Movies for Grownups

Wel­come to Movies for Grownups. Each month Com­mu­nity Library offers a free show­ing of a movie that is of par­tic­u­lar inter­est to grownups. It may be a com­edy, a drama or a romance. It may be a British pro­duc­tion, an inde­pen­dent film pro­duc­tion or a block­buster. It may be a recent release or an oldie-but-goodie.

The movie in Octo­ber is an Alfred Hitch­cock thriller that was nom­i­nated for three Oscars, and starred Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screen­play was writ­ten by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write “the Hitch­cock pic­ture to end all Hitch­cock pictures”.

A hap­less New York adver­tis­ing exec­u­tive is mis­taken for a gov­ern­ment agent by a group of for­eign spies, and is pur­sued across the coun­try while he looks for a way to sur­vive. It is Hitch’s most briskly enter­tain­ing movie, and one of his most comic, adventure-caper type movies, and it is also one of his most suspenseful.

The gray suit worn by Cary Grant through­out almost the entire film has taken on some­what iconic sta­tus. A panel of fash­ion experts con­vened by GQ in 2006 called it both the best suit in film his­tory, and the most influ­en­tial on men’s style, stat­ing that it has since been copied for Tom Cruise’s char­ac­ter in Col­lat­eral and Ben Affleck’s char­ac­ter in Pay­check. This sen­ti­ment has been echoed by writer Todd McEwen, who called it “gor­geous”, and wrote a short story “Cary Grant’s Suit” which recounts the film’s plot from the view­point of the suit. There is some dis­agree­ment as to who tai­lored the suit; accord­ing to Van­ity Fair mag­a­zine, it was Nor­ton & Sons of Lon­don, although accord­ing to The Inde­pen­dent it was Quintino of Bev­erly Hills.

Eva Marie Saint’s wardrobe for the film was orig­i­nally entirely cho­sen by MGM. Hitch­cock dis­liked MGM’s selec­tions and the actress and direc­tor went to Bergdorf Good­man in New York to select what she would wear.

Hitchcock’s cameo appear­ances are a sig­na­ture occur­rence in most of his films. See if you can spot him in this film.

In the film was VanDamm’s moun­tain home … was it a real home? Was it designed by Frank Lloyd Wright? Find out after the film.

There are a lot of great lines in this movie. As you will soon discover.

This film is a clas­sic and on the top films lists. Don’t miss out on a scary, good time.

The movie is on Thurs­day, Octo­ber 11, in the library’s meet­ing room and starts at 6:30 p.m. Admis­sion is FREE, but please RSVP so that we have a seat for you. Dress in lay­ers, you may bring your own snacks if you wish, and knit­ters are welcome.

To reg­is­ter or if you have any ques­tions you may call Com­mu­nity Library at 740–965-3901 or e-mail Mary at < nicema@oplin.org >.

Posted by Gary Henery on Oct 3 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.