BFI's Cary Grant: 10 Essential Films

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Created by Fergenaprido.

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From thrillers to romantic comedies, British-born Cary Grant starred in some of the very finest films to have come out of Hollywood. Here are the 10 best places to seek him out.

“How can anyone be ‘Cary Grant’?” asked critic David Thomson. “But how can anyone, ever after, not consider the attempt?” For Grant is the epitome of the urbane, sophisticated Hollywood actor, one whose charisma, comic persona and output have survived the passing of time better than many comparable, moustachioed icons of the industry’s golden age. No list of the greatest comedies and thrillers that we’ve ever known would look complete without at least one film with Grant at its centre, paradoxically flappable yet unflappable, coolly desirable yet often hilariously at the mercy of his female co-stars or a world spinning into physical chaos around him. He’s an actor that you could watch in almost anything, but the 10 films below represent ‘la crème de la crème’.

Your Suggestions

To our list above, you voted to add these Cary Grant gems…

1. Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra, 1944)
2. Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963)
3. Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941)
4. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (H.C. Potter, 1948)
5. An Affair to Remember (Leo McCarey, 1957)
6. Penny Serenade (George Stevens, 1941)
7. Indiscreet (Stanley Donen, 1958)
8. To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955)
9. My Favorite Wife (Garson Kanin, 1940)
10. The Talk of the Town (George Stevens, 1942)

Two clear favourites emerged when we asked you what you thought deserved a place in our top 10. Coming late in his career, the comic spy thriller Charade was a glaring omission many of you thought, valuable for its twisty-turny plot and the magical chemistry between Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Most popular of all, however, was Frank Capra’s black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace, in which Grant goes up against his two homicidal aunts. But what, oh what, could we have left off??

Samuel Wigley
Updated: 22 October 2018

See previous version in history to view all 20 films in one list.

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  1. 1 -

    The Awful Truth

    1937, in 15 top lists Check
  2. 2 -

    Bringing Up Baby

    1938, in 23 top lists Check
  3. 3 -

    Holiday

    1938, in 7 top lists Check
  4. 4 -

    Only Angels Have Wings

    1939, in 10 top lists Check
  5. 5 -

    His Girl Friday

    1940, in 22 top lists Check
  6. 6 -

    The Philadelphia Story

    1940, in 22 top lists Check
  7. 7 -

    Notorious

    1946, in 24 top lists Check
  8. 8 -

    I Was a Male War Bride

    1949 — a.k.a. You Can't Sleep Here, in 3 top lists Check
  9. 9 -

    Monkey Business

    1952, in 4 top lists Check
  10. 10 -

    North by Northwest

    1959, in 30 top lists Check
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Last updated on Apr 20, 2020 by Fergenaprido; source