Cary Grant and Joan Bennett co-star in Big Brown Eyes which had it been done over at Warner Brothers would have been standard material for James Cagney and Joan Blondell. In fact the whole project was an unusual one for Paramount, it was a gritty urban drama that Warner Brothers specialized in.Grant is a police detective and Bennett a manicurist turned reporter (only in Hollywood) who team up in life and who team up to solve a series of robberies. What begins as high end jewel robberies turns deadly serious when during a payoff gone bad, a baby is killed in the park by a stray bullet.When the doer Lloyd Nolan is acquitted in court due to perjured testimony and political influence, Grant quits the force and Bennett goes back to manicuring and look for justice in an unofficial manner. Need I say they get it though you have to see Big Brown Eyes to find out how its done. But I will say that forensics and Bennett's manicurist training does help a lot. Walter Pidgeon is also in the cast as a crooked politician, hip deep in the rackets, a type that Thomas E. Dewey was putting in jail with increasing frequency in New York at the time. Two very funny supporting performances come from Marjorie Gateson as an amorous robbery victim with an eye for Cary Grant and Douglas Fowley who was one of the gang that they trick into squealing. That is the highlight of the movie.Big Brown Eyes is a slick comedy directed by Raoul Walsh who gets the whole cast in sync like a Swiss watch. An unusual film for Cary Grant, but his fans will like it.

Mega-stardom for Cary Grant still was ahead of him when he made this amiable romantic mystery with Joan Bennett, though the film is still well worth watching and is one of the better films in this era. By 1937-1939 he was pretty much a household name, with films such as THE AWFUL TRUTH, HOLIDAY and GUNGA DIN to his credit (BRINGING UP BABY was perhaps the best of the films of this time period, but in 1938 it was a financial flop).As for Joan, though much of the film I thought she was her sister Constance, as Joan died her hair platinum blonde for the film and she's best known as a raven-haired actress. It's amazing how much alike they look given the same hair styles. She, too, had better and more popular films in the future and so this film is one from both their transitional periods--clearly they were stars, but not of the first order.The film is a wonderful blend of comedy, romance and mystery and is one of the better examples of this odd genre combination. While it isn't up to the tip-top standards of THE THIN MAN (but what was?), it was certainly a very good film. What I liked best was the writing for Joan's character. She was a wonderful 'broad'--a worldly and wise lady who had some of the best one-liners I've ever heard in a film of the era. She was enticing AND mouthy at the same time--whatta dame! The mystery involves an evil private detective (Walter Pidgeon) who is not above a lot of larceny in order to make it in his racket. Not only does he find stolen items, but he's not above having others killed or dealing with crooks to get it. During most of the film, Grant plays a police detective (an odd casting decision, I know) who is in love with Joan AND is assigned to a case involving Pidgeon--though at this point, no one knows he's "Mr. Big" behind everything evil and corrupt Grant is investigating. Throughout the investigation, Joan in the role of a reporter, does amazingly well in helping her boyfriend and even though they snipe at each other a bit, they are a great screen couple.Overall, a delightful film that is close to earning an 8. Very well written and surprisingly good for an earlier Grant film.

And in that of Raoul Walsh, as well. The early scenes, which try really hard to be cute, show no influence of Walsh. When it gets more into the career of policeman Grant, we see some fast-paced action and it makes sense as a Walsh project. Sort of.Grant was young and hadn't become a major star yet. He looks great and does a creditable job. His female co-star is Joan Bennett. Now there was an interesting actress: She worked with all the great foreign directors when they came to Hollywood. She made several movies for Fritz Lang. She worked for Max Ophuls. She worked for Jean Renoir.Here she is a blonde, like sister Constance. She's fine.Walter Pidgeon looks young too. He is cast in the sort of role Robert Montgomery or Warren William got more frequently: He's a charming crook.When the movie begins, Bennett is a manicurist. Then, suspiciously quickly, she's an ace newspaper reporter. Was this little film assembled from various attempts or is the plot just a little unconvincing? There are many wonderful reaction shots that move quickly from close-up of one bit player or extra to close-up of another. I think the most famous use of this sort of extreme close-up is that of the chatty woman in "Brief Encounter." But the ones here are great. Indeed, they elevate what is essentially a trivial movie up a notch or two.

This little movie is more than forgotten. It is so mundane that no one has decided they can make a nickle from it, despite having some of the very same features and creative crew as projects that are celebrated. Cary Grant is about the same here, as in, say, "Charade."I have to admit, it is flat. It all can be laid at the feet of the writer, I suppose.These comedies are delicate. I suppose they cannot be engineered, like so much in film can. Oh, the execution can of course, but if the writer doesn't froth intuitively, nothing can spin it in after the fact.But then again, this was the 30's where experimentation was the rule. And I suppose you need several failures before you get a "His Girl Friday" (which this resembles) out of so many tries.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.