The Talk of the Town |  | Director: George Stevens
Actors: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan, Glenda Farrell
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
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Rating:  29 reviews
Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Japanese (Subtitled), Georgian (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: COLD07809D
ISBN: 0767821815
UPC: 043396078093
EAN: 9780767821810
Theatrical Release Date: August 20, 1942
Release Date: February 25, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
The screwball comedy was the definitive genre of the Depression, but as America edged toward war in the early '40s, it suffered some strange and wonderful mutations--none stranger than The Talk of the Town, directed by George Stevens from a script by novelist Irwin Shaw and frequent Capra collaborator (and future blacklist victim) Sidney Buchman. Cary Grant, awkwardly cast, is a small-town political agitator who is framed for the burning of a local factory; he takes refuge in the attic of a country cottage that landlady Jean Arthur is preparing to rent out to a celebrated law professor (silver-tongued Ronald Colman, perhaps the only actor in Hollywood who could make Grant look like a proletarian). Stevens, suspended between his light '30s style (Swing Time) and his heavy postwar manner (A Place in the Sun), struggles to balance a charming, surprisingly suspenseful romantic triangle with the heavy, debating-society tone of the screenplay, which pits Grant, the representative of a compassionate, emotional sense of justice, against the cool, abstract application of the law advocated by Colman. Caught between these two highly verbal characters, Jean Arthur doesn't have much to do but be adorable and provide the occasional quizzical reaction shot--two things she does with exquisite skill. Stevens and Arthur teamed up again one year later for another strange-bedfellows farce, the marvelous The More the Merrier; in 1953 Arthur made her final film appearance in Stevens's Shane. --Dave Kehr
Product Description
A fugitive hides out with an unsuspecting professor & landlady and tries to convince the legal-minded professor that theres a human side to all laws. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Ronald Colman Jean Arthur Run time: 117 minutes Rating: Nr
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
 Truly a blast from the past September 12, 2009
magellan (Santa Clara, CA)
This is a delightful movie from a bygone age. With a great cast, the movie combines screwball comedy with the darker side of the rampant corruption in a small town. Cary Grant is somewhat miscast as the hard-boiled revolutionary who's been framed, and the standouts here are Ronald Coleman and Jean Arthur. But it's Coleman who really steals the show. He can communicate more with one glance than a whole paragraph of dialog.
As others have noted, the movie is more than slightly schizoid, the first two-thirds being quite light-hearted (considering the sinister background of an innocent man's frame-up for arson and murder), with the last one-third far more serious as Coleman is converted to the cause of defending and exonerating Grant. Basically, the movie starts out as a goofy domestic comedy which ultimately transmogrifies into a much more serious morality play in the last third of the movie.
Edgar Buchanan also turns in a fine performance as Grant's small town lawyer who's trying desperately to get Grant a fair trial. Overall a fine movie from a bygone age. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
A Lawless Man and Man Full Of Law November 7, 2008
Lynn Ellingwood (Webster, NY United States)
A man who escapes from jail just before his sentencing for arson and homicide hides from his pursuers with a beautiful landlady played by Jean Arthur. She has another border, a famous lawyer who fails to see the human side of the law and the consequences for the accused. Discussion about fairness and how guilt is determined make up a considerable amount of the dialogue here but it is hardly worthless. A good movie with a little food for thought.
 ABOVE AVERAGE GRANT VEHICLE 3 1/2 STARS September 23, 2008
! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b (TRI STATE AREA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The last of the films in my Cary Grant box set 'The Talk Of The Town' is not the worst, but not the best either. Once again Grant "Carys" (Ha Ha) this film. It's actually a pretty good film, but it seemed a bit long for the story. The cast is very good and the story is well written, but it should have been about 20 minutes shorter. The DVD transfer looks very good on the DVD box set and the usual 6 or 7 minutes of extra tidbits about the film as an extra.
Charming Masterpiece August 3, 2008
Curtis T. Stotlar (Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
George Stevens rarely disappoints but this film plays several games simultaneously and succeeds right across the board.
Frederic Hollander wrote the musical score and he summed things up beautifully with the opening credits. There were dead serious moments, then a romantic theme and thus followed the film. The serious parts were filmed in shadow and low-key lighting anticipating no idea at all what was to follow.
"Talk of the Town" plays to a large part with ambiguity. Who loves whom, what is to be had, who is right - in total, what in the world is going on. It injects humor, light but important, suspense throughout and one of the most satisfactory endings I can remember. Stevens cut his teeth on short films with Laurel and Hardy and his expertise can be found everywhere but without slapstick in this case. His secret is timing as it so often is and the timing from set to set or even within the entire film is impeccable.
This a film to catch if you can. I'm sorry I'd put it off for so many years!
Curtis Stotlar
the inimitable jean arthur April 21, 2008
W. Hamilton (NSW Australia)
This situation comedy - sometimes mistakenly tagged a screwball comedy - is a delight. Like most stories of the sort, getting out of the situation is not as smoothly handled as the thing itself, so while the first two-thirds of the film are brilliantly funny, the last third seems comparatively earth-bound. At its best, the film is Jean Arthur at her best: lines delivered with perfect timing and pitch, moving (bounding) with the vigour and conviction of a child, one moment winsome, the next wise-cracking and feisty. Cary Grant and Ronald Colman also give great performances in roles a little outside their usual fare. The script is knowing and very witty, and George Stevens' direction is always assurred. If, as seems, the DVD transfer lets this classic down, then what a pity - because new generations should be able to enjoy a fine film like this to the best advantage.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
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