ON VIDEO For 100th birthday, Cary Grant DVDs span career of legend

'People Will Talk,' although it bombed in 1951, is worth another look.
By SUSAN KING
LOS ANGELES TIMES
This year marks the 100th birthday of one of Hollywood's most enduring superstars -- Cary Grant. And Fox Video is celebrating the former Archibald Leach's centenary with the DVD release of four films he made for the studio.
Grant really hadn't developed his suave, sophisticated and sexy persona when he made 1934's "Born to Be Bad" ($15, as are all four films). In fact, he played the male ing & eacute;nue supporting one of the best-known actresses of the day, Loretta Young. In this potboiler, she's an unwed mother working as a paid escort. Grant is the wealthy owner of a dairy who, through a series of circumstances, wants to adopt Young's child because his wife can't have children. Grant tries his best, but he's hogtied by the silly role.
By the time he made "I Was a Male War Bride" in 1949, Grant had been a major Hollywood player for more than a decade -- an actor who was debonair but willing to make a fool of himself for a laugh. "Male War Bride" teams Grant with Howard Hawks, who had directed him in three classics: 1938's "Bringing Up Baby," 1939's "Only Angels Have Wings" and 1940's "His Girl Friday."
Grant and co-star Ann Sheridan have a nice rapport, and Hawks cooks up plenty of gags for his two stars, but the film drags in the middle. Though this is the movie in which Grant appears in drag, it isn't until the last half-hour that he dons a skirt, hose, heels and a wig made from a horse's tail.
Bomb worth watching
Probably only hard-core Grant fans have heard of 1951's "People Will Talk," which bombed when it was released. And that's a shame. It's not a perfect film but definitely one worth watching. Written and directed by Joseph Mankiewicz of "All About Eve" fame, the comedy-drama casts Grant as an idealistic and mysterious gynecologist who teaches at a university and runs a clinic. Jeanne Crain plays a pregnant patient whom he marries, and Finlay Currie is the curious, childlike man who works as Grant's servant.
Grant made two of his best films from the latter part of his career with director Stanley Donen: 1958's "Indiscreet" and 1963's "Charade." The two collaborated for the first time with 1957's romantic comedy "Kiss Them for Me," which is nowhere near the quality of their subsequent projects. Grant, Larry Blyden and Ray Walston play World War II Navy heroes on a four-day leave in San Francisco.
Jayne Mansfield, who shares billing with Grant, seems to be in the film just for marquee value, and the era's top supermodel, Suzy Parker, makes her film debut as the woman with whom Grant falls in love. Parker, though beautiful, was no actress. The comedy isn't very funny, but Grant manages to give a deft portrayal of a man who covers his anger and sadness about the war through a devil-may-care attitude.