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[Revan]

Shadow of a Doubt Score: 93

Whenever he was asked to name his favorite among his own movies, Hitch**** always, somewhat deceptively, chose this charming, beautifully written and fascinatingly designed small-town psychological thriller about two very different people named Charlie: an idealistic young girl (Teresa Wright) and her suave, worldly uncle (Joseph Cotten), whom she adores, until she gradually learns that he is "The Merry Widow Killer," a serial murderer preying on rich, elderly women. Shot on location in Santa Rosa, Calif., it's an uncharacteristic movie for Hitch: structured almost geometrically around the number 2, yet co-written by a pair of writers known for their period Americana nostalgia, Thornton Wilder ("Our Town") and Sally Benson ("Meet Me in St. Louis"). "Shadow" is the acme of Hitch****'s special principle of dramatic counterpoint. The surface is sunny and buoyant; dark, deadly currents flow underneath. With Henry Travers, MacDonald Carey, Patricia Collinge and Hume Cronyn.


THE CARY GRANT BOX SET (Not rated) Score: 92

A master of wit and romance, a seductive acrobat with an inimitable clipped British delivery, Cary Grant was one of the great self-created Hollywood personalities and a first-rank star from the '30s through the '60s. There was really no one like him (not even admiring impersonator Tony Curtis in "Some Like It Hot"), and you can see him at his early best in this box set, a wonderful collection of four sparkling screwball comedies and one lusty romantic adventure.
"The Awful Truth" is Leo McCarey's sprightly 1937 comedy classic about a feuding divorced couple -- Grant and Irene Dunne -- who keep falling back in love despite the interference of lovestruck rich rube Ralph Bellamy. In George Cukor's 1938 romantic comedy gem "Holiday," from Philip Barry's play, breezy rebel Grant alienates too-practical rich girlfriend Doris Nolan, while charming her livelier sister, Katharine Hepburn. Howard Hawks' 1939 "Only Angels Have Wings" -- brisk, chic and very tough -- is a classic aviation thriller about daredevil mail pilots in the Andes, with fashion plate flier Grant wooing both Jean Arthur and Rita Hayworth.
Hawks' 1940 "His Girl Friday," maybe the best American sound romantic comedy ever, is based on the great Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur Chicago newspaper play "The Front Page." In it, Hawks switches star reporter Hildy Johnson from man to woman (Roz Russell)-- with Grant as her wily, scheming editor (and here, ex-hubby) Walter Burns. George Stevens' 1942 "The Talk of the Town," a liberal FDR-era romantic comedy, has Ronald Colman as a distinguished law professor whose landlady (Arthur again) is also hosting Cary, in one of his unlikeliest roles: fugitive anarchist Leopold Dilg.