I absolutely LOVE seeing Cary Grant dancing like a fool in this film! I wish he had danced more in other films. It only confirms for me that Cary Grant was very much aware of HOW TO MOVE in films to telegraph inner thoughts. He had an ability to use a form of body language and pantomine that he probably learned very early in his life. He would have been a great silent film star if he had been born forty years earlier.
shareHis character is not a goof for most of the film. This endless gag belonged in another movie.
shareIt actually made perfect sense in the movie at that point. Even though the story is told in the third person, you're still kind of seeing it through Ingrid Bergman's character. Before she knew he was not married, she saw him as a gentleman, honorable and mature, and we saw the debonair Cary Grant. When she found out he was a bachelor, she saw him as immature and selfish, and we saw the goofball Cary Grant.
shareIngrid Bergman was probably the most naturalistic, believable actress of the 1940s and 1950s. John Gielgud was a silly twit.
shareI agree with the OP. He was a fun-loving character, and I had no problem watching him act, as the previous poster put it, as a "goof". He was dancing well within his character.
"Sometimes you have to take the bull by the tail, and face the truth" - G. Marx
Just take a look at Cary Grant's earlier films in the 1930's and 1940's. In the film 'Holiday' Cary and Katharine Hepburn jump off trapezies and he performs a circus act most likely from his old circus days. In 'I Was A Male War Bride' he dresses up as a woman complete with wig and high heels. In 'That Touch of Mink' there is a scene where he gets dressed in the back of the taxi. I think he often responded to these quirky moments in films rather well because he was known as the charasmatic, suave gentlemen that women audiences fawned over. Then, for his character to suddenly do something out of character like this dancing scene in 'Indiscreet' it resonates to people that he probably liked to have fun and it is particularly clear that he is enjoying this scene. So maybe we have seen a little more of the real Cary Grant than of the character he is playing.
share[deleted]
That dance was the best part of the movie for me, the only time he seemed to be really relaxed. I liked the ball gowns, too, but most of the story was a little boring.
shareCary`s prancing fling dancing and Ingrid`s facial acting are pure comedy joy
I concur, it was the funniest scene in the film
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".
To Potato 2: Boring? Why? No exploding cars? I saw this in 1958 and thought it was charming, witty, and sexy. Still do. My only problem with the film was Ingrid Bergman. To quote the late John Gielgud: "Ingid Bergman speaks six languages. And she can't act in any of them." Except for her early films, I have to agree. Cary Grant, on the other hand worked hard at his craft and just got better as he got older.
shareYou don't have to be some sort of action movie nut to find a film boring. This film was very stagey and suffered in the same way a lot of B+W films suffered when adapted from a play, in that there was lots of lazy direction, long takes, and the majority of it felt like you were sat in a theatre watching a play and not a film. I can understand why some people could find sections of it boring.
"Please don't eat me! I have a wife and kids. Eat them!"
Long takes does not have anything to do with being boring.
Rope (1948) has very long takes and it is not boring at all.
Ingrid Bergman was a personality. Some actors are not so much brilliant actors, but good at a personna. Ingrid Bergman was a wonderful personna. She was an engaging and classy person who fit well alongside the dashing Cary Grant.
shareBergman was an exception. She was a personality, and a brilliant actor. One of the most brilliant of all time.
share