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Just perfect...

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story behind this one when it was made was the return of Ethel Barrymore to the movie screen after a long time doing live stage productions. Interesting in that she is one of the few in this with very little British accent, yet because of her acting skills and return nobody cared. In fact RKO was already on major cramped budgets when this film was made. Like Barrymore, it had been a long time since King Kong and Gunga Din.Neither story made out too well, as this one did little business in the theaters. It seems in 1944, with the war raging in both oceans, this one just was not really in demand. The story is okay though a serious Cary Grant did not seem to be ready for prime time. Grant tries to carry part of the film, and Barrymore as his mother tries to carry the other. The cockney accent of the support cast is difficult to understand which made the film less audience friendly. Some of the writing on this is from the same writers that worked on How Green Was My Valley but this one is not even a shadow of that one, though the accents in that movie are thick too. Guess that proves that sometimes a weakness in one movie is not the same thing in another one.Grant is the careless son who mom is trying to make responsible this entire movie. He has many girl friends trying to move him in the same direction. It is only his mom who has any success though.

None but the Lonely Heart (1944)An odd but actually really interesting American movie set in London (and made on a huge soundstage built for the filming in California). At first you might twitch at Cary Grant's slightly affected accent—except that he grew up in working class London, though with a different neighborhood accent than this. His mother, played by Ethel Barrymore, doesn't even pretend at an accent, which is fine. She's tough as nails and she fights for her son's dignity with maternal hardness. "A breath of homeless wind," she calls him. This makes sense in context—the movie is from the big turning point and gruesome zone of World War II. It seems the Germans are losing ground at last, and Britain, a short Channel away from enemy soldiers, is desperate to keep morale up. A final scene has some badly done shadows of planes falling on a third major character, as he and Grant look up at the sky.There are a hundred great moments here, many of them in the clever, homey script (which is filled with old school aphorisms like, "They milk the cow that stands still"). And then there's the moment when Grant appears at the bottom of the stairs in a new striped suit. What a sight!Underneath all this is a tender, sad, triumphant story amidst the ruins of this mother and son family. You can read it two ways. The first is simple: a gadabout young man hasn't paid much attention to his aging, widowed mother and the two have to find ways of getting to know each other again. Both of the leads are terrific actors, and though they might seem mismatched in style, they are decent enough to pull of this seesaw of emotions.The other story is a social message about young men with skills coming to the aid of those who need them. In the bigger picture this means Great Britain in its fight against the Nazis. As the personal ups and downs fly around us while we watch (there is tumult of romantic and criminal activity), the bigger truth is developing—Grant's troubled character has to find some inner stability to make him a useful, happy human being. It's not about being a homeless wind after all.Overall there is a stage-like stiffness to part of the film (Odets was a playwright above all), but it's so moving at times, and so well written at others, I recommend it anyway. A classic? No. But it helps fill in some gaps in Grant's career (he just finished filming "Arsenic and Old Lace") and it does satisfy some dramatic impulse in me. An example of a great tidbit? Midway, Grant is making advances on the leading lady, and she rebuffs him flat. "Rolled a nice cold pickle jar down my back, you did," he says. A little later she says, "There's about twenty good kisses left in me but you'll never get one." Where the heck does this kind of great, old-fashioned, writing come from? The writer of the movie, of course, Clifford Odets, who also is directing. This is one of two movies the great writer directed. And this, in the end, is why to see it. He's not a terrific director, but he knows how to respect a good writer when it's himself. And there is so much that works here amidst the slightly awkward direction it's worth seeing. For those who love old movies, that is. And for anyone trying to get a grip on the effect of WWII on England, and London, and regular folk.

This movie couldn't even get off the ground for me. It didn't seem to have much a plot to begin with that I could get wrapped up. I actually dosed off somewhere after the first 20 minutes.It seemed such a miscast role for Grant. Known for his Rom-Com's and romantic leading men roles, this must have been his attempt to throw off the chains of typecasting so as to be considered a serious dramatic actor.But I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Why mess with what has worked so well for him in the past. Yes, I can understand an artist getting bored and wanting to expand their acting chops. But the public is who made Grant a star, so give the public want it wants! I think I could've taken Grant in a serious role, but it needed a much more interesting tale than this one to get me interested. As it was, it just seemed depressing and boring beyond what this Grant fan could handle. Sorry CG - I still love ya!

The film supposedly involves Cary Grant playing himself on sets that evoke his impoverished English childhood, in an anguished drama involving a mother that evokes his anguished mother.I don't know how much of the film had personal meaning to Cary (and how much of the meaning was generated by a publicity department, or imagined by fans) but the result is unsatisfying. Cary despite his genuine Cockney childhood is not convincing as a Cockney, and he comes across as the main wrong note in the film. Like the rest of the sentient universe I am a huge fan generally, and if one felt like arguing, one could argue that Cary's ineptness because it is so rare is revealing. It suggests a conflict -- seen especially early in the movie -- between being Cary Grant, being that English street character he spent his entire life disguising, and whatever this part required. So maybe something personal was at stake, but that's not necessarily the formula for a good movie, and here it isn't.The sets are great though, in a dark "foggy old London curiosity shoppe" kind of way. Ethel Barrymore is... well, Ethel Barrymore and enough said. Eternally noble Jane Wyatt is eternally noble (but we love her that way); in fact everyone is fine, including the fog, played by itself.Except Cary and the story.