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Fittingly for a series in which everybody seems to be engaging in some form of Classic Hollywood cosplay, the Rosebud moment in BritBox’s Archie is delivered by an actor playing comedy icon Danny Kaye.

Affecting a stereotypical German therapist accent — accents on top of accents on top of accents is the Archie way — Kaye cautions young Dyan Cannon (Laura Aikman) that her relationship with the more seasoned Cary Grant (Jason Isaacs) is destined for complications with the warning, “Men who have difficult relationships with their mothers always carry it over to the women that they love.”

There’s no reason for Kaye to make such an observation if he hasn’t been watching the two previous hours of Jeff Pope’s four-episode production. But for the series’ actual audience, his analysis will come across as both obvious and superficial — a bit like Archie itself.

Ultimately, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Judy Balaban, the daughter of a longtime studio mogul who dated Montgomery Clift and Merv Griffin, married Tony Franciosa and served as one of Grace Kelly’s bridesmaids at her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco, has died. She was 91.

Balaban died Thursday night in a hospital in Los Angeles, her friend, author and documentary filmmaker Cari Beauchamp, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Balaban was a champion for civil rights, serving on the board of directors for the ACLU of Southern California for decades.

In a 2010 piece for Vanity Fair that she and Beauchamp co-wrote, Balaban described using LSD (then legal) as a form of therapy in the early 1960s when her good friends Cary Grant and his third wife, Betsy Drake, were using it, too.

“What I had with Cary and Betsy was a kind of soul-baringness that the culture didn’t start to deal with until years later,” she says in the story.

Ted Donaldson, who starred as Bud Anderson on the original radio version of Father Knows Best and as Neely Nolan in the beloved family drama A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the first feature directed by Elia Kazan, has died. He was 89.

Donaldson died Wednesday of complications from a fall in his Echo Park apartment in January, his friend Thomas Bruno told The Hollywood Reporter.

In his big-screen debut, Donaldson portrayed a boy who gets his pet caterpillar Curly to dance when he plays “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” on the harmonica in the comedy fantasy Once Upon a Time (1944), starring Cary Grant and Janet Blair.

He also starred as Danny Mitchell in eight B-movies from Columbia Pictures that revolved around a German shepherd named Rusty. The first one, Adventures of Rusty (1945), featured Ace the Wonder Dog.

An only child, Donaldson was born in Brooklyn on Aug. 20, 1933. His father was...

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“The Original Money Pit”

By Raymond Benson

Remember the 1986 comedy The Money Pit, starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long? The official credits of that film do not mention the excellent writing team of Frank Panama and Melvin Frank, who adapted Eric Hodgins’ 1946 biographical comic novel Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House into the popular 1948 “disaster comedy” starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. The Money Pit is, in reality, an under-the-table remake of Blandings. It’s a pity that the original was not acknowledged, for, frankly, Blandings is much more realistic (and clever).

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House was indeed a popular film and yet during its initial run was deemed to have lost money—just like the hapless Mr. Blandings does while attempting to move out of New York City to Connecticut. The movie is funny enough, for sure, but perhaps in...

“You’ve been taken to the cleaners, and you don’t even know your pants are off.”

Cary Grant in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House will be available on Blu-ray May 18th from Warner Archive

New York adman Jim Blandings is ready to say goodbye to his cramped city apartment and build, from the ground up, a Connecticut home with room enough for his growing family and dreams. All it will cost him is his time and money…and perhaps his job, marriage, happiness and what’s left of his sanity. Goodbye, Manhattan. Hello, comedy. As Jim, Cary Grant is a flustered poster boy for homeowner anxiety in this gleeful laughfest. Myrna Loy, her voice and line phrasing like musical chimes, plays Jim’s ever-patient wife. Louise Beavers is the sunny housemaid whose enthusiasm for Wham Ham saves Jim’s career bacon. And Melvyn Douglas is the perhaps-too-friendly family friend.

Cary Grant and co-star/missus Betsy Drake do honor to the ‘family picture’ genre — with a filmic boost to child foster programs that offers a positive message, avoids most clichés and generates some sly fun too. What we see resembles real life, even if Cary Grant should never be shown washing dishes. Betsy Drake’s take-charge mother sets family policy as she opts to take in first one and then two foster children. It’s also the film debut of little George Winslow, before he picked up the ‘Foghorn’ nickname. Plus there’s a cute dog and some kittens that offer a sex education lesson. The recent biography of Cary Grant should renew interest in this entertaining and socially admirable show. It’s warm & fuzzy yet not at all saccharine.

Room for One More

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1952 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 95 98? min. / Street Date January 26, 2021 / available through the WBshop / 19.99

Starring: Cary Grant,...

With his exaggerated visuals, eye-popping color and frantic characterizations, Frank Tashlin has been promoted to a genuine ‘fifties icon. This freewheeling comedy hits on the Top Tashlin fetish subjects: Hollywood glitz, Madison Avenue neurosis, dynamic women, wimpy men and… and… bosoms, dammit. As the bubbly yet calculating sex symbol Rita Marlowe, Jayne Mansfield places career issues way ahead of anything to do with sex. Tony Randall receives his first leading film role as a Mad Man who’ll jump through hoops to keep an account. But the surprise is Betsy Drake, who more than anyone represents the conflicts facing the pre-feminist ’50s woman: she defines success her own way.

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date Feb 19, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Mickey Hargitay.

Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald

Film...

Call him strange, but CineSavant is fascinated by ‘women’s films’ that advance a consensus role template for American women. Then they ask questions like, “Is Hilda Crane a . . . Tramp?” Ladies attending these films may have sought to stir up fantasies with a racy romantic adventure — but not too racy. What a tough nut to crack within the Production Code: ace screenwriter Philip Dunne chose this as his third writing-directing assignment. Jean Simmons gives it her best shot, but the screen is stolen by everybody’s favorite harpy, Evelyn Varden.

Hilda Crane

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date , 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Jean Simmons, Guy Madison, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Judith Evelyn, Evelyn Varden, Peggy Knudsen, Gregg Palmer.

Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald

Film Editor: David Bretherton

Original Music: David Rakson

From the play by Samson Raphaelson

Produced by Herbert B. Swope Jr.

Written and Directed by...

Los Angeles – We can’t rebuild him, but we can honor him. Richard Anderson, best known for portraying Oscar Goldman, the aide de camp of Steve Austin (Lee Majors) in “The Six Million Man,” died on August 31st, 2017 at age 91. The versatile character actor was one of the few remaining performers that came up through the old studio system, in this case the dream factory known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Richard Anderson in Chicago, 2010

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Richard Anderson was born in New Jersey, and was an Army veteran of World War II. He started out in the mailroom at MGM shortly after the end of the war, and became a contract player for the studio after Cary Grant took an interest in his career. His major film debut was “The Magnificent Yankee” (1950), followed by “Scaramouche” (1952) and “Forbidden Planet” (1956). He made 24 films for MGM. His...

Cary Grant, one of Hollywood’s greatest leading men, was always discomfited by the disconnect he felt between his public image — debonair, to the same degree that Napoleon could be called powerful — and a nagging internal emptiness. He alluded to it in his most famous comment (“Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant”), but the private unhappiness went a lot deeper — as you’ll learn from the fascinating new Showtime documentary Becoming Cary Grant.

“For many years I have cautiously peered from behind the face of a man known as Cary Grant. The protection...

All hail Frank Tashlin! America's subversive secret weapon of the 1950s made incredible adult live-action cartoon movies that satirized all the sex and vulgarity denied by the mainstream. In Technicolor! Political incorrectness meets lollypop-sweet sentimentality in a farce that transcends good taste. Susan Slept Here Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis, Alvy Moore, Glenda Farrell, Horace McMahon, Herb Vigran, Les Tremayne, Mara Lane, Maidie Norman, Rita Johnson, Ellen Corby, Red Skelton. Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca Film Editor Harry Marker Original Music Leigh Harline Choreographer Robert Sidney Written by Alex Gottlieb from a play by Gottlieb and Steve Fisher Produced by Harriet Parsons Directed by Frank Tashlin

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Director Frank Tashlin has finally found an appreciative audience with adventurous film fans, but the charms of his glorious style of filmmaking are unknown to...

Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies that have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Ritch Brinkley (1944-2015) - Actor. Best known for his roles on TV's Murphy Brown and Twin Peaks, he is also memorable as the captain in Cabin Boy (see below) and also appears in Rhinestone, Breakdown, The Man With One Red Shoe and Big Business. He died on November 5. (THR) Betsy Drake (1957-2015) - Actress. She starred in Every Girl Should Be Married (see below) and Room for One More, all with then-husband Cary Grant...

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Betsy Drake, the vivacious actress who starred opposite her husband Cary Grant in the comedies Every Girl Should Be Married and Room for One More, has died. She was 92. Drake, who was the third of Grant’s four wives, died Oct. 27 in her London home, her friend said. She had lived in the city for many years after retiring from films shortly after her 1962 divorce from the actor. Drake met Grant in August 1949 when both were aboard the Queen Mary on a trip back to the U.S. from England. Grant, 20 years her senior, had seen

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Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock heroine (image: Joseph Cotten about to strangle Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt') (See preceding article: "Teresa Wright Movies: Actress Made Oscar History.") After scoring with The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver, and The Pride of the Yankees, Teresa Wright was loaned to Universal – once initial choices Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland became unavailable – to play the small-town heroine in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. (Check out video below: Teresa Wright reminiscing about the making of Shadow of a Doubt.) Co-written by Thornton Wilder, whose Our Town had provided Wright with her first chance on Broadway and who had suggested her to Hitchcock; Meet Me in St. Louis and Junior Miss author Sally Benson; and Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, Shadow of a Doubt was based on "Uncle Charlie," a story outline by Gordon McDonell – itself based on actual events.

Cary Grant movies: 'An Affair to Remember' does justice to its title (photo: Cary Grant ca. late 1940s) Cary Grant excelled at playing Cary Grant. This evening, fans of the charming, sophisticated, debonair actor -- not to be confused with the Bristol-born Archibald Leach -- can rejoice, as no less than eight Cary Grant movies are being shown on Turner Classic Movies, including a handful of his most successful and best-remembered star vehicles from the late '30s to the late '50s. (See also: "Cary Grant Classic Movies" and "Cary Grant and Randolph Scott: Gay Lovers?") The evening begins with what may well be Cary Grant's best-known film, An Affair to Remember. This 1957 romantic comedy-melodrama is unusual in that it's an even more successful remake of a previous critical and box-office hit -- the Academy Award-nominated 1939 release Love Affair -- and that it was directed...

Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2013—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2013 to create a unique double feature.

All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2013 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.

How...

Cary Grant and Randolph Scott marriages (See previous post: “Randolph Scott and Cary Grant: Gay Lovers?“) The English-born Cary Grant was married five times: Charles Chaplin’s City Lights leading lady Virginia Cherrill (1934-1935), Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton (1942-1945), Grant’s Every Girl Should Be Married and Room for One More co-star Betsy Drake (1949-1962), Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Heaven Can Wait Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Dyan Cannon (1965-1968), and Barbara Harris (1981-1986). Note: Cary Grant’s last wife was not the Barbara Harris of Nashville, Family Plot, and A Thousand Clowns fame. Cary Grant died at age 82 after suffering a stroke on November 29, 1986, while preparing for a performance of his one-man show, A Conversation with Cary Grant, in Davenport, Iowa. (Photo: Cary Grant and Randolph Scott ca. 1933.) The Virginia-born Randolph Scott was married twice: wealthy socialite Mariana duPont Somerville (1936-1939) and Patricia Stillman, from 1943 to his...

"We Want Our DVD And Blu-ray!" - It always frustrates retro movie lovers when a film becomes unavailable in a home video format. Even "B" movies deserve a better fate. Sometimes this is due to contractual and licensing reasons. Nevertheless, we always want to be on the tip of the spear in lobbying for unavailable movies to be brought back to the home video market. In that regard, we are running our previously published review of "Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion", a minor effort, to be sure, but one that we hope will be available again on DVD or Blu-ray. It is presently available for streaming rental or purchase on Amazon.) 

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Warner Archive has released a number of films made by Ivan Tors' production company during the 1960s. Tors specialized in underwater and animal-themed adventure movies and TV series and he had a number of major successes including Sea Hunt,...

When the drama Marty won the Academy Award for the Best Picture of 1955, it was a win of many wins, and not just because the movie walked off with three other Oscars.

It signaled that the balance of creative power in Hollywood was shifting; that the monopoly of the major studios was fading, and that a new breed of independent companies – often formed with or by the stars who had, at one time, been held in bondage to the majors under long-term contracts – were serious player in the industry (Marty had been produced by Hecht-Lancaster which had been formed by Burt Lancaster and producer Harold Hecht).

It was a victory for a new kind of anti-Hollywood storytelling; unglamorous tales about unglamorous people, real people. Postwar Italian neo-realism had demonstrated the power of the drama of everyday people just trying to get through a day, and Marty and other films like...

Thanks to "Sleepless in Seattle," everyone knows "An Affair to Remember" is the ultimate romantic tearjerker. Not only do Nora Ephron's female characters describe it as their favorite chick flick, but the ending atop the Empire State Building evokes the abortive reunion that Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr never get to enjoy. Many modern viewers also know that "Affair to Remember" (which opened in theaters 55 years ago, on July 11, 1957) was filmmaker Leo McCarey's remake of his own 1939 hit "Love Affair," with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne as the lovers kept apart by fate and their own wounded pride. Still, there's a lot about "An Affair to Remember" that even its biggest fans may not know, including its uncanny echoes of Grant's own shipboard romance with his third wife, or how a not-yet-famous young visitor witnessed the veteran leading man's acting breakthrough, or Grant's off-camera therapeutic uses of hypnosis and LSD.

Joan Blondell on TCM: Dames, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am The Reckless Hour (1931) A young innocent almost ruins her life for the love of an unfeeling cad. Dir: John Francis Dillon. Cast: Dorothy Mackaill, Conrad Nagel, H. B. Warner. Bw-71 mins. 7:15 Am Big City Blues (1932) A country boy finds love and heartache in New York City. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Joan Blondell, Eric Linden, Jobyna Howland. Bw-63 mins. 8:30 Am Central Park (1932) Small-town kids out to make it in the big city inadvertently get mixed up with gangsters. Dir: John G. Adolfi. Cast: Joan Blondell, Wallace Ford, Guy Kibbee. Bw-58 mins. 9:30 Am Lawyer Man (1933) Success corrupts a smooth-talking lawyer. Dir: William Dieterle. Cast: William Powell, Joan Blondell, David Landau. Bw-68 mins. 10:45 Am Traveling Saleslady (1935) A toothpaste tycoon's daughter joins his rival to teach him a lesson. Dir: Ray Enright.

There was talk earlier this year that it wasn't in the studios' best interest to continue to release classic films on DVD/Blu-ray as the demand for them was dwindling and the cost of restoration was climbing. The article in question even quotes Warner Home Video senior vice president George Feltenstein saying "most of the studios have pretty much said 'Screw it, we're out of here, we're not going to do this.'" Strangely enough, it just so happens Warner Home Video is the home entertainment studio releasing the very first Alfred Hitchcock film on Blu-ray, 50 years after its theatrical release with a restoration price tag I have read cost upwards of $1 million. Perhaps studios are slowing down the release of their classic films, but with Warner's recent Blu-ray release of The Wizard of Oz, the upcoming release of Gone With the Wind and this release of North by Northwest...