Cary Grant was on the cusp of stardom when he made the five Paramount films included in this nicely priced Screen Legend Collection. You won't find any classics here, but this entertaining collection makes it clear that Grant's beloved screen persona was developing quickly. Paramount executive B.P. Schulberg had signed 28-year-old Grant to a five-year contract in 1932, and the British-born actor had already appeared in 15 films by the time he appeared in 1934's Thirty Day Princess, the first and arguably best feature in this three-disc set. Cowritten by Preston Sturges and bearing familiar trademarks of Sturges's later screwball classics, the plot finds newspaper publisher Grant falling for a visiting princess (Sylvia Sidney), only to discover that his affections are wrapped up in a breezy case of mistaken identity. Sidney plays two roles with seamless elegance (including impressive split-screen scenes in which she appears with herself), and Grant's suave demeanor is employed to good effect. The little-known gem Kiss and Make-Up was released barely two months later in 1934, with Grant in Paris as a Max Factor-like cosmetics mogul who marries a glamorous former client (Genevieve Tobin) but finds true love with his faithful secretary (Helen Mack) when he comes to his senses. The great character actor Edward Everett Horton costars as Mack's would-be suitor, giving this overlooked comedy an additional boost of amusement.
1935's Wings in the Dark will interest film historians because it was cowritten by pioneering female writer-director Nell Shipman, whose Howard Hawks-ian sense of adventure is on full display in an otherwise creaky melodrama in which inventor and aviator Grant is blinded by a gas explosion, and emerges from self-pity to stage a daring air rescue of his aviatrix wife (Myrna Loy). After being loaned out to RKO for his breakthrough role in 1935's Sylvia Scarlett opposite Katharine Hepburn, Grant returned to Paramount for Big Brown Eyes (released in April 1936), playing a crime-beat reporter paired with Joan Bennett in a lightweight mystery that benefits greatly from director Raoul Walsh's facility with streetwise plots and gritty handling of a baby-killer subplot involving jewel thieves Walter Pigeon and Lloyd Nolan. Wedding Present followed six months later (October '36), reuniting Grant and Bennett as competitive reporters whose relationship is strained when Grant is promoted to editor. Like all five films in this Screen Legend Collection, it's a light and thoroughly enjoyable vehicle for Paramount players including William Demarest, who went on to character-role stardom in the comedies of Preston Sturges. Cary Grant is in fine form here, and his music-hall experience is put to good use in several lightweight musical numbers. All in all, you can't go wrong with a five-film set for this price, especially since Grant was already showing a canny awareness of his own soon-to-be-iconic image. --Jeff Shannon More...
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