Joan Bennett and Cary Grant worked well together, and they co-starred in two 1936 films, "Wedding Present" and this film, "Big Brown Eyes," an amusing mystery-comedy. The stars seem to relish the fast snappy dialogue, which they deliver in rapid-fire fashion. The farcical and improbable plot, written by Raoul Walsh and Bert Hanlon, is quite entertaining, despite lapses in logic and credibility. A blonde manicurist quits her job, becomes a reporter, and aides her policeman boyfriend track jewel robbers. When one criminal is acquitted by a jury, the cop quits his job to take justice into his own hands, while she quits her job as a reporter and returns to work as a manicurist. The casual job hopping must have stunned Depression-era audiences who were accustomed to double-digit unemployment rates.
The purloined jewels at the center of the plot belong to a Mrs. Cole, amusingly played by Marjorie Gateson; the daffy rich lady seems deliciously unconcerned that she consistently loses her baubles to robbers, while she introduces her spoiled Pekinese to strangers. A young Walter Pidgeon plays Mrs. Cole's shady insurance agent, who sidelines as a fence; Pidgeon is assisted by a young Lloyd Nolan, whose insistence on a larger cut of the Cole-jewelry take creates complications. The two thugs, who actually have the loot, resent Nolan's middle-man cut, and the crimes remain light and amusing, until a child is accidentally shot and killed, which darkens the film's tone immediately.
While not a highlight in Raoul Walsh's extraordinary half-century career as a director, "Big Brown Eyes" is well paced, and clever montages of talking heads in the manicure salon fill in expository blanks in the story. Superior to their follow-up pairing, "Wedding Present," Bennett and Grant are fun to watch, and the lines ricochet between them at a pace that may require a second viewing to catch. Great stars, good supporting cast, good script, and a legendary director, no enduring classic, but an entertaining treat.
The purloined jewels at the center of the plot belong to a Mrs. Cole, amusingly played by Marjorie Gateson; the daffy rich lady seems deliciously unconcerned that she consistently loses her baubles to robbers, while she introduces her spoiled Pekinese to strangers. A young Walter Pidgeon plays Mrs. Cole's shady insurance agent, who sidelines as a fence; Pidgeon is assisted by a young Lloyd Nolan, whose insistence on a larger cut of the Cole-jewelry take creates complications. The two thugs, who actually have the loot, resent Nolan's middle-man cut, and the crimes remain light and amusing, until a child is accidentally shot and killed, which darkens the film's tone immediately.
While not a highlight in Raoul Walsh's extraordinary half-century career as a director, "Big Brown Eyes" is well paced, and clever montages of talking heads in the manicure salon fill in expository blanks in the story. Superior to their follow-up pairing, "Wedding Present," Bennett and Grant are fun to watch, and the lines ricochet between them at a pace that may require a second viewing to catch. Great stars, good supporting cast, good script, and a legendary director, no enduring classic, but an entertaining treat.