This Is the Night (1932)

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Cary Grant made his big-screen debut as a singing javelin thrower in this romantic comedy about adulterous lovers (Thelma Todd and Roland Young) who go to great lengths to hide their secret affair from the woman’s husband (Grant). The cover-up involves hiring a woman (Lili Damita) to play the other man’s wife and all of the characters taking a trip to Venice together. This Is the Night is a screwball comedy until its final act, when we’re expected to buy into a genuine romance. But before the mushy love stuff takes over, there are enough scenes of mistaken identity, slapstick humor, and other screwball antics to make it watchable. Highlights include Young’s chauffeur accidentally ripping Todd’s clothes off her (twice), and a scene in which Young and best man Charles Ruggles get drunk and commiserate their lot in life. Young and Ruggles display great comic chops and timing, but it’s easy to see why Grant, towering over the rest of the cast in both stature and charisma, is the name most well-known nearly 90 years later. Director Frank Tuttle incorporates amusing musical interludes into the film.

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