Cammina, non correre

Cary Grant's last film is an enjoyable, albeit entirely unnecessary, remake of the classic The More The Merrier. That film starred Joel McCrea, Jean Arthur, and Charles Coburn. Grant play the Coburn role as an older man who tries to play matchmaker to a younger couple he is sharing an apartment with. The couple here are Jim Hutton and Samantha Eggar. Poor substitutes for screen legends McCrea and Arthur but both are likable. The original took place during WW2 so it used the wartime housing shortage as part of the plot. This moves things to Tokyo during the Summer Olympics in order to keep the plot intact of Grant not being able to find a room anywhere else. On the whole, it's an amusing movie but probably much less so if you've seen the original. This is pretty much a scene-for-scene remake with few changes. Grant's a rough fit for the role as it is intended but he does give it his best, using his charm and wonderful screen persona to great effect. He's certainly the best thing about the film and, at all times, my attentions were on him rather than his co-stars. Obviously I would recommend you see the classic 1943 film over this. But, if you have seen that, there's no harm in giving this one a try to see a different cast approach the same story. As far as last films of great stars goes, this could be worse. Just look at some of Grant's contemporaries and you'll see some truly sad ways to end a career. Cary wisely knew to get out while the getting was good. That's a lesson a lot of stars could still learn today.