THE TALK OF THE TOWN

 

I recently purchased this movie on DVD at a discounted price (what did you expect??) I had seen THE TALK OF THE TOWN multiple times before, but it had never caught my fancy, despite the fact that it stars two of my favorites, Cary Grant and Jean Arthur. The film was produced and directed by George Stevens, and it wound up getting nominated for seven different Academy Awards (including Best Picture), but for me it is an uneasy mixture of screwball comedy and social drama. 

Jean Arthur plays Nora Shelley, a schoolteacher renting out her old family home during the summer to a distinguished Harvard law professor named Michael Lightcap (Ronald Colman). One night while Nora is getting the house ready for Lightcap's arrival, her childhood acquaintance Leopold Dilg (Cary Grant) shows up, looking for sanctuary. Dilg has escaped from jail, where he was awaiting trial on charges of murder & arson. The professor also shows up, a day early, and Nora has to hide Leopold while keeping the suspicious Lightcap happy. Leopold reveals himself, posing as a gardener, and he and Lightcap become friends, despite their very different opinions on the application of the law--the professor believes the law should be followed to the letter, while Leopold thinks a flexible human element should be injected into it. Both men are also attracted to Nora, while she's also attracted to them. Nora tries to figure out a way to get Lightcap to help Dilg prove his innocence while keeping the latter from being captured. 

Needless to say, the plot of THE TALK OF THE TOWN is rather convoluted. The story veers from romantic-triangle farce to discussions about law and its effect on the individual. There's also a political aspect to it--the movie takes place in a fictional town called Lochester, which happens to be corrupt. Dilg is accused of burning down the factory owned by the town big-wig, and it's highly likely that Leopold will be lynched if he is caught again. 

With all the various elements of the plot, the movie (and George Stevens) never figures out which tone to take. It appears that Stevens was trying to go down the Frank Capra route, but he isn't able to pull it off, despite all the award accolades the movie received. 

One big issue is that in my opinion Cary Grant is miscast as Leopold Dilg. It is established in the story that Dilg is the town malcontent, a guy always getting into trouble--and one just can't see Grant as that type of person. The very name "Leopold Dilg" suggests someone who has a working-class immigrant background, and that is decidedly not Cary Grant's screen persona. Someone like John Garfield would have been much better as a desperate wanted man with a chip on his shoulder. 

Another issue is that while Dilg and Professor Lightcap are set up as opposites, they wind up becoming fond of each other, almost as fond as each of them are to Nora. Predictably both men even come around to the other's point of view about the law. If the men really had been major romantic and intellectual rivals, the movie would have had more of an edge to it, and it would have been more interesting. (The dramatics over Dilg's plight are tempered by the fact that you just know Cary Grant isn't a murderer and an arsonist.) 

Jean Arthur's poor Nora is stuck in between both men and all the plot complications, and she spends the whole movie in a state of exasperated panic. Arthur is great in this type of role, but you never get the feeling that she's all that enamored of either Dilg or the professor--she worries about them simply because she's the main female lead, and that's what she's supposed to do. 

Among the supporting cast in THE TALK OF THE TOWN: Edgar Buchanan, Glenda Farrell, Tom Tyler, Rex Ingram, and a very small appearance by a young Lloyd Bridges. It's the three main stars that get all the attention, and there are plenty of talky scenes involving the trio that feel like they come from a stage play. 

Cary Grant and Jean Arthur are always worth watching, and Ronald Colman is quite good as the bemused upper-class fellow trying to do the proper thing, but THE TALK OF THE TOWN never seems to come together properly. It is a production that tries hard to be important instead of natural and entertaining.