Big Brown Eyes **** (1936, Cary Grant, Joan Bennett, Walter Pidgeon) – Classic Movie Review 7184

Co-writer/ director Raoul Walsh’s 1936 Paramount Pictures black and white comedy mystery thriller Big Brown Eyes effectively teams charismatic stars Cary Grant and Joan Bennett.

Police detective sergeant Danny Barr (Grant) and his girlfriend, wacky manicurist-reporter sidekick Eve Fallon (Bennett), go after the gem robbers who have stolen Mrs Chesley Cole (Marjorie Gateson)’s jewels, in this winning little thriller yarn, from the story Hahsit Babe by James Edward Grant. They are enraged and galvanised when a gem gang member kills a baby in New York’s Central Park and is acquitted.

It is crisp, fast moving and brief, running only 77 minutes. Walsh’s driving direction plus cast-iron turns from Walter Pidgeon as Richard Morey and Lloyd Nolan as Russ Cortig help the attractive stars out in a nifty mystery yarn, though some misjudged humour is a bit dodgy, but not enough to spoil it.

Big Brown Eyes also features Alan Baxter as Cary Butler, Isabel Jewell as Bessie Blair, Douglas Fowley as ‘Benny’ Battle, Henry Kleinbach, Ed Jones, Eddie Conrad, Charles Wilson, Joe Piconi, Joseph Sawyer and Jinx Falkenburg. It comes from Walter Wanger Productions and Paramount Pictures.

Despite the film recording a loss of $14,645, Grant and Bennett immediately re-teamed for Wedding Present (1936).

It is included with Wedding Present (1936), Thirty Day Princess (1934), Wings in the Dark (1935) and Kiss and Make-Up (1934) on the five-disc Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection [DVD] [2006] [Region 1].

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7184

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