Cary Grant Retrospective – None But the Lonely Heart Review

Hi, this is John Delancey, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hello, and welcome

to episode 227 of the Cinema Geeks. I am one

of your Cinema Geeks optimists, Solo, and joining

me is the Comic Concierge. Hello, Dan. Hey, how's

it going? It's going well. We are back at it.

A tiny, tiny break with some scheduling issues

I had, but we're back at our normal situation

here, making our way through the Cary Grant filmography.

We have covered one, two, three, four, five of

his films, not counting the four from the Hitchcock

series. So that's nine total. This is our 10th,

I believe. So we are talking about the 1944 film,

None but the Lonely Heart. This is some connection

to Penny Serenade as it's his only other film

that he received an Oscar nomination for. Before

we get into the nuts and bolts of None but the

Lonely Heart, Dan, I believe you came into this

one, as I did, completely blind, correct? I did,

yeah. I knew nothing about it. I didn't know

the plot. I didn't know. I never watched it before.

I don't even think I've seen much discussion

regarding it. The name is the only thing I think

I've heard before. But mostly because I think

also it's the book too. But yeah, I was unaware

of anything going into this one. And a song,

which is I think where the name came from as

well. So so I'm guessing that the listeners may

also know not a lot about none but the lonely

heart. So let's give them a chance to figure

out what this film is all about while you give

us the facts about none but the lonely heart.

And then we'll come back with our thoughts right

after this. I thought about doing this in a British

accent, but I figured I'd save everyone the second

-hand embarrassment. None But the Lonely Heart,

released in 1944, was directed by Clifford Otis,

starring Cary Grant, Ethel Barrymore, Barry Fitzgerald,

June DePrez, and Jane Wyatt, and is adapted from

the Richard Llewellyn novel. The film follows

Ernie Mott, a restless and aimless young man

of the working class family in London between

the world wars. Ernie drifts through life without

clear direction or ambition, preferring to live

by his charm and wit rather than hard work. When

he returns home, he discovers that his widowed

mother is gravely ill but still running her small

secondhand shop. As he reconnects with her, Ernie

struggles between longing for independence and

guilt over neglecting her. To help pay bills,

Ernie reluctantly becomes involved with a shady

group of criminals, but his conscious and love

for his mother pull him in another direction.

Ultimately, the story becomes a moving portrait

of a man seeking meaning, belonging, and redemption

amid hardship and moral choices. The film was

well received at the time, receiving a few Oscar

nominations, including writing, music, and two

acting awards for Cary Grant and Ethel Barrymore,

who won for best supporting Oscar. The title,

None But the Lonely Heart, comes from a romantic

song by Shoevsky, which reflects Ernie's inner

melancholy and search for connection. This was

one of the few films directed by Clifford Otis,

a renowned American playwright. Richard Llewellyn's

original novel was far longer and more episodic,

following Ernie over many years. Clifford Otis

condensed it into a more focused, emotional story

about his relationship with his mother. Though

it wasn't a huge box office hit, None But the

Lonely Heart gained respect over time. for its

emotional honesty and social conscious, even

receiving admiration from Martin Scorsese for

its tone and performances. But how well does

it hold up all these years later? And does it

compare to Cary Grant's other Oscar nominated

performance? Back to Kevin and myself to discuss.

All right. Thanks, Dan, for all the facts about

None But the Lonely Heart. So now that you've

had a chance to watch this one, what was your

initial reaction from his second Academy Award

nominated role? So watching this was interesting

because it's going through it and like everything

you know on paper made kind of sense. I thought

the performances were fine, minus the like not

being able to understand or place any of the

accents of anyone including Cary Grant. It was

just like, is he doing an accent? Is he doing

his normal voice? I can't, I can't tell. But

like the scripting, the plotting, it all kind

of made sense for the most part. Like everything

here I just it's not bad, but something something

feels off. I can't and I couldn't place it I'm

just like something about this just seems odd.

It seems strange. It just doesn't seem to be

working like right for some reason and You know

go through them and I felt like that the entire

way like it again like I on just The sense of

like looking how well everything was executed.

That was fine It wasn't I didn't find it nearly

as you know dramatic as a penny serenade or anything

like that. It also wasn't It had very little

comedy, but it was just something about it just,

you know, I feel like this should be better than

it is. Like, why isn't it working? Everything

is somewhat there. And then I go in, learn about

the movie itself, and then find out that Cary

Grant's character is meant to be a teenager,

and everything kind of starts making much more

sense. Because, like, it does feel off, because

all these scenes, you have this, this is supposed

to be a coming -of -age story, and he's... Middle

-aged so the drama doesn't really fit as well

when he has this dynamic with his mom which I

thought was fine But it doesn't hit the right

way because it's like meant to be this kid who

is you know getting into that adolescence like

that the separation from finding leaving home

and this more feels like Just like a guy who's

not should be old enough to be on his own by

now And they get all these different scenes where

it's meant to be this person kind of overcoming

The doldrums of the society trying to bring him

down like, you know, this person is well above

his eight years but instead it just it's just

this odd thing where this middle -aged man is

just kind of just aloft and not really it just

didn't fit and I think that was my ultimate issue

with it. It's just it didn't fit and in the sense

of the character The casting the casting is one

of the most important things and when you don't

have that right it it Can really bring down a

film and for me despite the performances being

fine I like a lot of the messaging within the

film and I can only imagine like reading the

book. It probably reads a lot better but it just

Cary Grant I felt just His performance was okay

minus the accent, but it just felt off the entire

time for me I Think this was a situation where

from what I can gather from some slight research

on some of the background from the film. It feels

like Cary Grant saw a connection in the material

to his own life and really wanted to, because

he connected with the story or the character

or whatever, really wanted to be a part of it,

even though he didn't come to the realization

that he wasn't the right person to play that

role anymore. Like I he bought the I believe

he bought the film rights to this to ensure that

he was cast as the main role Yeah, and I believe

there's even it says there's pictures at one

point in like one of the rooms or something.

That's literally his actual Dad or somebody in

his family like he has a deep connection somehow

to the content and I felt like that made him

motivated to be a part of it to a point where

he almost lost sight of the fact that he's not

that person anymore. Or couldn't pull that off

as well as he maybe thought he could. And I think

there was something with one of the writers or

somebody that was doing it that was trying to,

I don't know who was trying to adapt this to

the screen or how it was working, but somebody

was basically saying that once he realized that

Cary Grant was gonna be involved and there was

no way around that, that he had to try to rewrite

some aspects of it because he's supposed to be

a teenager and he's 40. And it just doesn't seem

to match up. So I think that is like alluding

to a lot of the things that you're talking about.

I feel like also this may suffer slightly because

it's a first time director on top of that. So

Clifford Odets is the yeah, Clifford Odets is

the director, but also the writer. But I just

feel like this being his first film and he only

directs two films. I believe in his life like

he's more known for his Broadway, you know play

stage things and he did a little bit more writing

But he only is a film director that I can see

twice once for this film and then once 15 years

later for one other film so I think that also

plays into a part of Maybe somebody that was

dealing with a medium that he also wasn't as

familiar with maybe being able to be persuaded

by You know Carrie Grant to do things. I don't

know what the situation was, but I feel like

in better hands maybe this would have worked

or I could also see like a remake of this film

working better than the original if it was with

a younger actor that we could clearly see this

as a coming -of -age film with a better director

that could really go through some of the stuff

that they're dealing with because I think there

is something there like granted it's not going

to be like the most funny or entertaining film

but I do think like when we're talking about

this time in history with the world wars and

things like that and the Depression and all of

those other things that had gone on in the lives

of these folks like I think there is some emotional

undertones that could be tapped into and Could

be explored in an entertaining way. I just think

this one Missed for a couple different reasons

with getting there Yeah, like for example Obviously

losing a parent at any age is impactful, but

losing a parent when you're a teenager compared

to when you're 40, it's a very different experience.

So it just feels like the way they approached

it was, this is the guy that should at least

have some understanding of who he is as a person.

And I guess we all kind of still develop no matter

what our ages, but he shouldn't be... So influenced

by like the neighborhood like gangster or whatever

like always falling into the wrong gang at this

point in time Like like you're when you're that

old. It seems like a weird choice to like, you

know, it Yeah to even like have a gang to fall

into because like you got you got things to do

and like you mentioned with the yeah, go ahead

But no, go ahead good It and you mentioned with

the age to considering, you know, this is in

the brink of World War two You know or like after

World War the Great War and like that also has

loses its impact too because if you have that

teenager who you know this event that is on its

way as well, you know the the the war in Europe

and like how that could impact his life. It's

very different for like a four -year -old you

have like that type of foreshadowing that type

of impact is is minimal with this. So I just

I know they said they rewrote the script and

I can't compare to the books. I never read it,

but it felt like They needed more even like the

relationships there too. Like he's like stuck

between two women and I think as a teenager You

can understand it more here. He just feels like

a bad guy. That's like just taking advantage

of people Yeah, this makes that that relationships

would play so much better if it was easy to connect

the dots that the first uh, aggie, I think is

the The one that lives right across the street

from him or somewhere really close. So I think

if his age is more of that of a college age person

or a teenager, we would be able to trace the

fact that this Aggie is someone that he knew

from his childhood that he went to school with

or something like that. It's like the teenage

crush or like, you know, that first person that

he may have had some sort of, you know, not necessarily

a romantic relationship, but there was some sort

of relationship from his youth. and you can get

that she's still enamored with him but he's also

you know then of that age where he's exploring

and he's attracted to perhaps a slightly you

know if they played the other female as maybe

a couple years older than him or you know somewhere

around there then I feel like that works more

because you know you could understand this teenager

deciding about the past versus the future the

the you know the the girl that's familiar with

him versus the girl that's unknown and that's

a little risque and stuff like that. So I think

that relationship works better if he's younger.

His relationship with his mom works better if

he's younger because they do some weird stuff

that you like don't like there's this weird back

and forth between them where they he doesn't

like her but he likes her and then they like

there's almost like a a relationship that you

would expect a mom to have with somebody that's

younger versus somebody that's 40. because of

a couple different sequences and how they play

that where it just comes off really weird when

he's grown and like I don't necessarily buy the

You know from a teenager standpoint or from a

young adult you would get more of his you would

buy it more where he's kind of this Wanderer

that he's come and gone and that he's trying

to find himself and he's been all over the country

or different You know whatever he hasn't been

home, but like when it's a 40 year old. It's

kind of like Is that his thing like he what does

he do for a job like I it doesn't connect the

dots as easily So I feel like there's just multiple

things that don't work with him being middle

-aged versus Say 19 to 22 or something. Yeah

There's a difference between being sympathetic

and almost feeling like a leech and like this

is right he's just taking advantage of individuals

that was calling someone like mom and dad like

he did does a lot of calls everyone at first

i don't i wasn't really confused like he related

to everybody up but it just. I was like his character

thing but when that person like fifteen years

older than you that's just this is weird it's

like that right you guys are probably in the

same high school what are you doing so. But I

did also have a question I mentioned the accents

coming up Was that at all distracting because

I know going into this like it was ridiculed

at the time, especially from people of the area

What did you you know was that ever distracting

trying to just figure out? Is Cary Grant giving

an accent? Is he talking differently? I don't

know how that how you thought about that. I think

a lot of times with I Don't know. It's it's something

that typically doesn't Fall on my radar when

people have a good good accent or a bad accent

especially in older stuff because I feel like

Kind of I brought this up at one point before

I just feel like in movies from the 19 Let's

say 30s to the 1940s somewhere in there I feel

some people just talk differently than I'm used

to hearing people talk nowadays so I think I

get lost in the fact that I'm already trying

to Not pay attention to the fact that they're

talking in different cadences and using different

languages than we use now So I think accidents

especially in this older Style of film is somewhat

lost on me. I'm also not someone that has a great

I mean I can see if something's just bad like

yeah, and I could tell that this was inconsistent

across the board like I know we're supposed to

be in the UK it seems like but At times I'm like,

I don't this may be a make -believe land that

it's just like a combination of multiple things

so I can tell when it's like inconsistent, but

I'm not someone that has a super great ear for

like I couldn't tell you if it's like a I Don't

know. I'm gonna sound stupid right now, but like

an Irish accent versus a Scottish accent Yeah,

like are the different parts of like the Cagney,

right? You know, it doesn't this does he sound

like What's his name? Dick Van Dyke from Mary

Poppins. You know, it wasn't like that. But I

agree with Cary Grant itself. Like, I don't even

like he has a unique voice in like your presentation.

And to begin with, like, I can't really he has

that type of like accent. It almost feels like

it's from another country. So I think the reason

why I found it distracting because it just he

such he has such a distinct voice that that when

it You don't have that or it comes and goes it

just it just wasn't more noticeable compared

to like the other characters like it wasn't as

you know that big of a deal but just with him

because he has such a distinct way of talking

when you That is just so iconic when you then

try to go a different direction It becomes a

bit more noticeable what it doesn't like that

didn't necessarily negatively impact me a great

deal I didn't want to talk about these some some

things I did like about the movie and I did find

it interesting because I know as I mentioned

like going in looking at some research how like

people there was a Rally against this movie on

like a political standpoint because especially

for those that felt like it was very communist

in its approach because the very much, you know

the Reaching the message that the poor is taking

away from the poor as the rich class is just

kind of standing above them as they fight amongst

themselves and Seeing that kind of played out.

I thought was actually like actually I like the

way they're approaching this and it's kind of

it felt almost ahead of its time and some of

its the way it was going about it. I guess you

could, you know, not like it's brand new. I mean,

Charles seconds did similar things, but I just

felt, find that that was very effective in the

sense of showing just the way class was operating

at the time and how a lot of these people were

just stuck in these roles and they're just, they're

unable to find an escape and I guess you could

say that could legitimize Cary Grant's character

a bit more because it is something that feels

like a lot of people within that town are just

there's no way to go but I thought overall like

that was probably my favorite part of the film.

I think it's interesting to me when it comes

to times in our history I guess it's apropos

because it feels like we're going through one

now but times at our in our history where politics

is To the extreme what they will grasp at to

Latch on to whatever the agenda was like so far

we've watched two films over the Hitchcock and

the Cary Grant retrospective that have been accused

of being almost like communist propaganda or

or access propaganda with lifeboat and now this

one and like I I just feel like there's no part

of either one of those that really fits that

narrative. And it's just interesting which ones

get like lumped in with that. Like, obviously,

this was like the HUAC or whatever committee

that was going doing the things they did. And,

you know, obviously, there was a blacklist at

this time in Hollywood and all that all that

stuff. But like, I'm watching this film and I'm

not like if talking about different classes like

different classes have existed throughout. Humanity

like there's never been a system where there

hasn't been the rich and the poor Yeah, it's

not that much different than you know, a Christmas

carol and what Scrooge learns, you know regarding

the You know how wealth can this pursuit of wealth

and what it could lead to and then you know the

message that Cary Grant character says about

you know Being a poor person taking away from

our poor people and it's just intriguing considering

like this is what? 1944 so long before the red

scare that that was It became such a sensitive

topic eventually was just I don't know it's Strange

but I thought it was effective in that messaging

and like I said, I think the book probably I

could see where it's probably even stronger getting

more time to get to that story, but But also

go ahead. I think too just along those same lines

kind of to what you were saying I do appreciate

because during this time period it seemed like

a lot of times Hollywood was more about the escape

Hollywood was more about when we're going through

depression or when we're going through war. I'm

not saying everybody ignored it, but there was

a number of different films that came out during

those different times that were the polar opposite.

We have crazy comedies and different stuff that

was as far from that as you could get. I do appreciate

that there's films like this one that on the

other hand actually delve into it. is actually

going on this is like a realistic outside of

his age being wrong but it's like a realistic

portrait of life in this area during this time

dealing with these real situations and real things

so i i do appreciate like the reality of it i

guess or the authenticity what it came across

to me at least yeah i that that i think was a

strong element of it too and i think this there's

a lot of different pieces of this too like like

cary grant character on paper that it's intriguing

him having a perfect pitch, even though I guess

technically reading things that he gets a few

things wrong when he calls out like what note

they're being played. But hey, I know nothing.

So I had no idea. Right. But also, did you have

any thoughts on like the overall supporting cast?

Because I know, you know, you mentioned Cary

Grant gets an Oscar nomination, but he's not

the only person from the film that gets an Oscar

nomination. The actress playing his mother as

well, which I thought she was well deserving,

but. Any thoughts on that? I had no exposure

with Ethel Barrymore whatsoever. I've never seen

anything that she's been in. Obviously you know

the family and you know like there's lots of

connections to lots of famous folks in Hollywood,

but this was my initial exposure to her and obviously

she did a lot more stage stuff I believe than

she did even film stuff. I think this kind of

got her back in a film. I think I read somewhere

where she had been out of the film work and more

just doing stage productions for a while and

this kind of Coaxed her back out and then she

moves to California and does a bunch more films

after this I believe is what I read, but I thought

she did a great job. I actually really liked

the two supporting females that he's involved

with June Duprez as Ada I think is one of them

and Jane Wyatt as Aggie is the other I thought

they were I thought Aggie like the the Friend

next door type the girl next door. I guess you

could call her. I thought she was phenomenal

So I really I wanted to see more of her and I

was like, why is this guy not just immediately?

Like she she's very clear that she like I liked

how like forthcoming she was and just not trying

to play any games. She's just like, yeah, I'm

in love with you. I always will be. You can go

do your stupid stuff and I'll probably still

be here waiting for you. I don't know. It was

an honesty that I kind of enjoyed. There was

one that I don't necessarily think there was

anything wrong with his performance. I did think

that I think as Barry Fitzgerald as Henry Twight

Twitt. I can't remember how they pronounce it

in the movie. He was the guy that like. Somehow

becomes his. Buddy in this film and then they're

like. All of a sudden is that the guy that they

all of a sudden are drinking together and then

they're like doing all these things and I never

quite understood. that like connection that relationship

or the interaction between those two I don't

know if I was just being ignorant to what the

story was telling me or If it had something to

do with his age I don't know I didn't understand

that relationship and that like connection at

all like he runs into him in the Church in the

beginning. They clearly don't know each other.

Yeah, and he runs into him again Then all of

a sudden they're like he's this guy's best friend.

Like he's gonna do everything for him. He's gonna

Try to help him with this girl. He's gonna try

to help him with his crime troubles like all

of a sudden They're like connected at the hip

and I really didn't quite understand it but I

so I mean that one was a little bit weird to

me and then of course the guy that plays like

the head of the Gangster group Yeah, the more

to know a guy like I thought he played his role

fine But I was more so connected I believe to

the the different females that played some of

the supporting cast I thought they did a good

job. What about you? Yeah, the only one Jim Mulderoy

His character I felt like he needed to be a bit

more like menacing like he is supposed to be

this this major threat this guy that's supposed

to be like instill fear in that neighborhood

and Also, you know how kind of a debonair type

of attitude as well. I just never I never got

that from him He right when he's like commanding

people in this in this pawn shop and like telling

them to act a certain way and like and carry

grants like reluctance to step in it also doesn't

help that like Kerrigan such an opposing physical

Figure it's like so much taller than everybody.

It's like I I don't know this doesn't it doesn't

feel that's again another example Just like the

casting not working because he's like well and

the age difference you get that it would be much

different if he's attracted to like this this

girl that's a mystery, but then the girl is married

not married to somebody that was older than he

is and more imposing and Kerrigan's a teenager

that plays a whole different way then now it's

like you're both about the same age Kerrigan's

easily bigger than you And you're not very intimidating.

It doesn't work on any level. Yeah. And again,

that's the thing. Like on paper, like I get where

this like what they're doing here, but just the

execution wasn't wasn't there because it just

wasn't a very believable scene. So that that

was my only like maybe like, again, if you had

a teenager playing that role, it would make more

sense because but like within that that dynamic,

I felt like so much of the movie hinges upon

it. And I found it a little weak. I do agree.

Like the the performances from June DePries and

Jane Wyatt, they were really strong. And like

you mentioned with one character, even she feels

very modern in her approach, like her kind of

de facto just going to the truest, like, this

is it. This is how it is. That was rather refreshing.

So, but yeah. The other thing I was curious about

what your take was, obviously, Ethel Barrymore's

character and Cary Grant's character, you know,

the mom and the son, we have this dynamic that

he's against inheriting the family business,

right? Like she has this business of, I don't

know exactly what it is, some sort of reselling,

you know, retail reselling of sorts. And it seems

like he has nothing, wants nothing to do with

it, which... I don't know if they explore that

quite enough but then we also have the idea that

you know these other folks come in there and

try to get her to sell like stolen goods and

she doesn't want to do it and then she gets accused

of it she gets arrested there's all this other

stuff you know obviously she's sick the whole

time with cancer you know and all of these types

of things what did you think about the dynamic

of like where where she worked where he didn't

want to work and then these other folks coming

in with like the crime angle that gets him started

into this story Yeah, again, I think okay I get

where she was coming from in the sense of you

know She's a mom she wants to protect her kid

and she's like this is the only way and in the

sense of how they showed The limited options

that these people had like, you know, either

you do that you they're gonna keep coming There's

something you can do but also Looking at the

world are getting cheated as well. So does it

make sense? Is this a way for her to? Even if

she's hurt in the long run, how about her son?

Again, it probably makes more sense if the son

isn't a little, not to beat a dead horse, but

I thought in the sense of how it impacts her

relationship with the son, maybe not as strong,

but general how it kind of showcases just the

way in which these people had lack of support.

There was nothing there for them, so the police

weren't going to help them. She couldn't really

do anything, so it was either... Do I do this

or do I not and so I thought that approach with

her character like I felt her dilemma Was much

more compelling than Cary Grant. Yeah, I did

want to mention to Jane Wyatt. I remember when

we were watching this a man and myself we looked

up a couple things while we were watching it

and I was interested to see that Jane Wyatt plays

the played Spock's mom in Star Trek the original

Series and in the the 1986 film the voyage home.

She's played Spock's mom and she was also the

mom on the Father's no best father knows best

series as well. So she had a quite the career

After this as well. So not a surprise because

she was definitely like I said a presence on

the screen So obviously, I think we're both kind

of somewhat in the same camp as far as like I

think there was I hear you know, you hear this

a lot from movie critics i guess and i'm not

calling myself a movie critic but you hear this

a lot where they say like there's a good film

in here somewhere yeah it just didn't come together

in the way that you would hope it could and i

think like you said it starts with the cast nefkiri

grant this age difference really throws off a

whole lot of relationships not just between him

and the mom but between him and the two girls

between him and the uh jim mordenoi i think it

just throws all of those things off but when

you like get away from some of that and you kind

of get down to the nuts and bolts of what they're

actually feeling with the class situation with

the you know the poor man's plight and things

of that nature when you see him like walking

the streets I I screwed up because I was said

on the streaming service that I was using this

that there was a trailer which threw me off at

first and you know my wife wanted to know if

she wanted to watch it with me or not I'm like

well just play this trailer I don't even think

trailers existed in 1940 whatever so oh did they

okay well the trailer when you when you hit the

trailer for this it literally just plays the

first like five minutes of the movie oh really

yeah it's literally just him walking into that

church in the tomb of the unknown soldier or

whatever the official that's not what it's called

because it's in the UK But whatever that is,

and then he's walking down the streets and he's

kind of by himself and stuff like that. That

that's what played when I hit play the trailer.

And but but I think that does highlight those

first five minutes. That does highlight. I feel

like for me what some of the strengths are when

there's those quiet moments of him like reflecting

or him just trying to take in where he is in

the world and kind of where his place is. I think

that's where this movie could have really like.

Ben, great if all the other pieces had. Also

lined up with that. So I don't know. I feel like

it could have been a good movie I feel like it

could be remade into a good movie. I just feel

like with what we got it just didn't quite all

add up for me Yeah, I did you like we haven't

really talked about it directly outside of the

accent But just overall beyond the casting piece

like Cary Grant's performance, you know, this

is the second the only I'm outside of Penny Serenade

where he's nominated for an Oscar Did you feel

watching this like okay? This is what I think

of when I think of an Oscar performance Or do

you think it was more of a situation where here's

a comedic actor doing something a bit more serious?

So maybe that they kind of gave him I you know,

I can't really compare it to the other films

of that time So maybe it was deserving but I'm

not saying he wasn't I just curious if you felt

like this was Watching this was a performance.

You would expect to see nominated for the Oscar

I think where he's at fault more is like I said

before is the fact that he wasn't able to separate

himself enough in the beat like when he like

read the story or when he became interested in

it to like realize that he wasn't the right person

like I think that's where he's at fault when

it comes to the actual movie in the performance

I don't think he did anything wrong like I think

he's Acting well, I think his charisma adds to

the fact that you have two different girls that

are interested in him. Obviously he plays that

well. I feel like he did a good job in his performance.

Maybe the accent you could hold against him a

little bit, but I feel like the performance was

fine. But I don't think, I guess this is proof

because he's Cary Grant, like even Cary Grant

and doing what he could do. wasn't going to make

this work when the age was so wrong, right? Like,

yeah, I think he made it work as well as anybody

was going to be able to make it work. But I,

you know, so I don't think it's any fault of

his actual performance, acting, you know, line

delivery, his physical acting. Like, I think

all of that was what it needed to be. I think

the problems were more outside of that. Yeah,

yeah, I think, as you mentioned, when you have

those moments like I think what's really strong

about the performance is that he does remove

Those elements that he's known for and it's not

very showy like the penny serenade you have that

scene where he's protecting his daughter and

he goes on this you know huge diatribe regarding

trying to save us in that that's that Oscar moment

and I don't think we get as many of those but

kind of in a good way like if I'm just like looking

at the performance of these scenes isolated.

Thank you he shows like he can be that actor

and he can do it without having to. In a silent

manner like you like you mentioned there's a

lot of scenes where he's just walking and you

can see the life he lived on his face and Thought

that was really effective and you could probably

tell like you mentioned like you connected to

this material and you see that in the way the

weight he's carrying but I just sometimes like

what The words he's saying and the situation

he's in sometimes don't always line up and I

feel like this is also like almost like something

that I know he you know he connected to the story

and he connected to the all of that all of those

elements but I think also there may have been

a tiny bit of him that was still I know it lists

arsenic and old lace and none but the lonely

heart both coming out in 1944 as we talked about

when we talked about arsenic and old lace they

had actually filmed that you know years before

so he probably did a couple things in between

these two if I was like wanting to do the research

and find out when the actual filming happened

of each of his movies but I can't help but think

of also like he really wanted to be doing something

like this after that and that's not saying anything

bad about arsenic in old days we just know that

he felt like it was too much and he was over

the top too much and things of that nature so

i'm wondering if this was almost like for him

okay this is getting me back to my roots this

is more of what i want to be like known for is

something more serious and dramatic i don't know

he i know he said that in when he got his honorary

academy award i think in 1970 or 77 I think it

was 1970. He said that this was the only or somebody

said that this was the only film that he Like

requested for sure to be in the montage of his

films that played like he's like I don't care

You know, basically what other scenes you put

in here from all my other movies But I want something

from none, but the lonely heart in this montage.

So it is something that this may have been something

that he was really wanting to do after arsenic

and old lace just because it may have been for

him more of that serious down -to -earth type

of film that he wanted to be known for and you

know obviously maybe that's why he requested

this to be the in his montage for that Oscar

Academy Award perform like the honorary award

that he got in the 1970s so it's interesting

like when you look at the filmography and see

this one coming after arsenic and old lace I

don't know if that played into any of it or not

Yeah, and speaking of the Oscars like looking

at like who we competed with with best actor

was actually one was his co -star in this film

Barry Fitzgerald who was got nominated for going

my way It's long with Bing Crosby who got nominated

actually ended up winning for going my way which

won Best Picture that year and then Charles Boyer

for Gaslight and then Alexander Knox for Wilson

and I've realized I've seen none of those films

except for this one. So I've heard like going

my way is like one of the worst films that's

ever won Best Picture. I don't know how true

that is. I've heard very like, you know, mixed

things. But I did read that he was the only one

that got nominated for the best actor in that

group. All the other ones that were Best Actor

were from a movie that got nominated for Best

Picture. And this did not. This just got Best

actor best supporting actress best film editing

and best scoring of a dramatic or comedy picture

and I thought Barrymore did win Yeah for the

supporting actress, which is which is interesting,

which I'm not I just saw I just saw this but

Barry Fitzgerald got nominated for both leading

and supporting for the same role, which is kind

of crazy. So I guess I wonder we've never figured

out they I guess they changed their roles after

that so they can't do that anymore, but that's

hilarious because Like in all the awards. You

can. You're both a supporting performance and

a lead performance. But yeah, you supported yourself,

I guess. But yeah, anything else you wanted to

talk about regarding this? No, I mean, I think

it was interesting to see him in more of a literally

hardly any comedy involved here. You know, nothing

that's over the top. So it's interesting to see

this. And I wanted I'm glad we watched this along

with Penny Serenade to like see the two different.

roles that he got nominated for. I definitely

think it's like a different pace, and I appreciate

them for different reasons. I understand why

he's not known necessarily for these two roles

over some of the other ones we've seen. Like,

obviously, you're going to hear more about bringing

up Baby or His Girl Friday or Arsenic and Old

Lace or the Hitchcock films. I get why those

are the ones that more people talk about. But

I do think that it's worth seeing these two just

to see this other side of him. Yeah, definitely

like it's not one where I know you mentioned

like the how it's shown within his honorary Academy

Award But it's not like there's not a lot of

highlights in this like where it's like these

are these showy moments and things like that

and Which I think was good. I got it. It made

me respect him more as an actor because it shows

That he is much he is much more dynamic than

maybe people give him credit for he can kind

of do it all can even if maybe not all because

like you said doesn't necessarily always work

with this role, but He's his range So that, you

know, when he's the type of actor that can kind

of get claimed, all he does is the same role.

And I don't necessarily think that is a byproduct

of talent, more so a byproduct of the way casting

works, especially at that time where they're

going to put you where they think you should

be put. So it was kind of good that he got the

chance to say like, no, I'm going to do my own

thing, even if it didn't completely work. I think

I'm still like you said, I'm glad I watched it.

Not a movie I'd recommend that you have to like

seek out per se, unless you're a really big Cary

Grant fan. But yeah, I think if you were making

like a list of the essential Cary Grant that

like if somebody really wanted to like know all

about him, like which films you would suggest,

I don't think this would make the cut. No, yeah,

I think I would say Penny Serenade more so than

this one for sure. Well, alright, so that does

it for none but the lonely heart. We're going

to actually jump way into the future for our

next one. I know that a lot of these other ones

we've kind of. been going year by year, like

His Girl Friday was 1940, The Philadelphia Story

was 1940, Penny Serenade was 41, Arsenic and

Old Lace and None but the Lonely Heart, both

technically listed as 44, but now we're jumping

all the way to 1957. So we're gonna go 13 years

into the future for a film entitled An Affair

to Remember. This is listed as a romance film

starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Do you

know anything about an affair to remember Dan?

I don't I've never watched it. It's one of those

movies like I've heard the title plenty of times

But I've never seen it. I don't know much about

the story. So it'll be similar to this incentive

going in very blind yeah, I Will be going in

blind as well in between here just so you know

why there's such a gap in us going from 1944

to 1957 he did make quite a different quite a

number of films like in that Interim but a couple

of them were for Hitchcock. So this is when notorious

comes out This is when to catch a thief comes

out and then there is probably about you know,

eight or nine other movies as well That we're

not covering for this retrospective, but we have

two left We have an affair to remember in 1957

and then we'll go to 1963 for charade, which

is one of his last film roles So I have not seen

or know anything about either one. So I'm interested

to see how we kind of end this with these to

or if we decide to throw any extra bonus ones

in there, we'll have to decide that and let you

all know. So, Dan, how can people keep in touch

with you or if they have a message or a question

for you, how can they send it to you? Just search

Comic Concierge on pretty much all social media

platforms and you can find me there. All right.

You can search me out at Optimus Solo or you

can search the show with the Cinema Geeks or

you can go to geekcastradio .com and find some

other geeky content, video games, cartoons, comics,

etc. if you're into any of that. So that does

it for this episode. Tune in next time for another

chance to listen to more of The Cinema Geeks.