Tag: Cary Grant

Classic Films · Comedies

Arsenic and Old Lace

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Image: Arsenic and Old Lace, 1944

Before watching the beloved classic Arsenic and Old Lace (Disc/Download), I never would have believed any one movie could contain so many random topics such as serial killers, the Panama Canal, plastic surgery, Niagara Falls, etc. Frank Capra has made me a believer in the oddball, the screwball, and heck, even baseball! Let’s pour a drink and unpack this weird, wonderful film.

Cary Grant starts the movie at the NYC marriage license bureau, about to get hitched to the loveliest girl-next-door, Elaine. Ironically, he is also the author of a book about why men should never get married. Before Mortimer can leave town on his honeymoon, he first has to check in with his elderly aunts to share the good news. While at their home, he discovers the dead body they stashed in the window seat, still awaiting its proper burial in the basement. The aunts have been poisoning their lodgers for years, and Mortimer’s brother has been aiding and abetting, under the delusional persona of Teddy Roosevelt. He thinks all the victims died of Yellow Fever while digging the Panama Canal, which apparently runs through their Brooklyn basement. Things get weirder still when a Frankenstein look-alike shows up at the house, who turns out to be psychotic eldest brother Jonathan. He’s accompanied by plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (the always-creepy Peter Lorre), and yet another dead body in the trunk of his car. Cary Grant is the glue that keeps this madcap story from going completely off the rails, and even though his performance is about as broad and hammy as I’ve ever seen from him, he’s the level-headed one in a family of lunatics.

My favorite part of the movie is every time Teddy makes a run up San Juan Hill, shouting, “CHARGE!!!” as he dashes up the staircase. Before he gets carted off to the Happy Dale mental asylum, let’s toast him with this appropriately named classic cocktail that’s probably a little safer than the aunts’ elderberry wine. While watching Arsenic & Old Lace, I recommend drinking a Roosevelt.

Roosevelt

1 ¾ oz dark rum

½ oz dry vermouth

¼ oz orange juice

1 barspoon simple syrup

Orange Twist

Combine dark rum, vermouth, orange juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a chilled coupe. Express the orange peel over the glass, then use as a garnish.

This is a perfect movie for Halloween because not only does it take place on October 31st, but there’s a delightfully spooky cemetery, a Boris Karloff look-a-like, and a lot of unexpected visitors knocking on the door. If you’re looking for more of a treat than a trick, give Arsenic and Old Lace a watch. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

Only Angels Have Wings

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Image credit: Only Angles Have Wings, 1939

Those who follow the Cinema Sips Instagram account know I love spending Friday night with a cocktail, a pizza, and movie from my Uncle Len’s Criterion Closet. Several weeks ago, I posted about watching Only Angels Have Wings (Disc/Download) and was overwhelmed by the response I received from fans. After getting over my grievance that so many of y’all were holding out on me with your recommendation, I decided the best gift I could give to lovers of this Howard Hawks classic was a cocktail pairing.

Starring Cary Grant as the owner of an air mail service in the fictional South American port town of Barranca, Only Angels Have Wings is kind of like the TV show Wings, except you never really know if the pilots are coming back for episode 2.  The geography in this part of the world makes flying difficult, and planes are forced to travel blindly through thick banks of fog. Jean Arthur arrives on a banana boat (literally, a boat carrying bananas, not the bouncy, inflatable water activity for drunk spring breakers), and after charming a couple of the American pilots, this sunshine meets her grumpy match in the form of Cary Grant’s weathered airman Geoff. He’s got no time for flirting, and no interest in forming attachments when life is so precarious. Just ask his ex, played by a young Rita Hayworth. Of course Jean wears him down, and one bullet wound later, he’s ready to risk something even scarier than a dangerous flight: his heart.

The tropical setting of this movie lends itself nicely to a tiki-inspired cocktail, and lucky for us, Don the Beachcomber came up with an appropriately named one just a couple years after the film was made. While watching Only Angels Have Wings, I recommend drinking a Test Pilot.

Test Pilot

1 ½ oz Dark Rum

¾ oz Light Rum

½ oz Cointreau

½ oz Lime Juice

½ oz Falernum

1 dash Angostura Bitters

6 drops Pernod

Maraschino cherry (garnish)

Combine ingredients in a blender with a cup of ice. Blend for about five seconds, until the ice is crushed but not liquefied. Pour into rocks glass, add more crushed ice if needed, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Director Howard Hawks does a terrific job with the aerial sequences in this movie, but it’s the horrific bird strike that really had me on the edge of my seat. It’s easy to see why Only Angels Have Wings is so popular among classic film fans because not only is it great to look at, but it maintains a high level of suspense throughout. My friends in cinema, if you wanted me to fall in love with this movie, all you had to do was ask. Cheers!

Classic Films

Notorious

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Image credit: Notorious, 1946

As a rule, I hate August, but if I must suffer through it, at least I’ve got Hitchcock Week at the local revival cinema. This summer, I had the best intentions: I would skip the big movies I’ve seen a thousand times in favor of finally watching Notorious (Disc/Download), a movie I’d never seen. And then… it got hot. Very hot. So hot that leaving my house became an impossibility. I finally admitted defeat, popped in a Criterion disc, and fixed a drink. Even in a heat dome, Hitchcock Week marches on.

Starring Cary Grant as a government agent, and Ingrid Bergman as the honey trap he sets for an underground network of Nazis in South America, Notorious is a tense, sexy thriller set in Rio de Janeiro. Grant’s Agent Devlin recruits Bergman’s Alicia after her father is convicted of being a Nazi spy in Miami (Imagine! A Florida judge actually trying and sentencing a guilty man for treason! What a time to be alive!), and the two fall in love before she gets her assignment: seduce suspected Nazi Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) to gain information about his acquaintances and plans. Devlin lets her go through with it, Alicia assumes the agent didn’t really love her after all, and she succeeds to the point of marrying Sebastian. However, Devlin is never far away, even when things become more and more dangerous for her. No spoilers, but a scene involving a wine cellar had me clutching my glass so hard I feared it would break.

Speaking of alcohol, there is a lot of it in this movie. You could certainly pop several bottles of champagne (be careful not to run out!), but I prefer to try a Brazilian classic. While watching Notorious, I recommend drinking a Rabo-de-Galo.

Rabo-de-Galo

1 ½ oz Cachaça

¾ oz Cynar

¾ oz Red Vermouth

Dash of grapefruit bitters

Orange twist (garnish)

Combine Cachaça, Cynar, Vermouth, and bitters in a shaker with ice. Stir to combine, then strain into a glass filled with large ice cubes. Garnish with a twist of orange.

Someday, I still hope to see Notorious on the big screen, preferably when it’s not over a hundred degrees and I don’t have a long walk over scorching sidewalks to the cinema. Watching at home with a cocktail is still fun, but be sure to put away all your devices and pay attention: you won’t want to miss a single look between these two glamorous spies. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

Bringing Up Baby

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Image credit: Bringing Up Baby, 1938

So a leopard, a dog, and a paleontologist walk into a bar… Not really, but this week’s film Bringing Up Baby (Disc/Download) definitely feels like one long, preposterous joke you tell after a few strong drinks.  From Cary Grant in a frilly bathrobe, to Katharine Hepburn hanging off the edge of a Brontosaurus skeleton, the hits just keep on coming.

Directed by Howard Hawks, this fast-talking screwball comedy shows what happens when a buttoned-up paleontologist (Grant) meets his match in a flighty, chaotic socialite (Hepburn). She steals his golf ball and his car, he laments the cruel twist of fate that sent this #hotmessexpress careening into his ordered life, and before you know it, they’re ripping each other’s clothes off. Things get really crazy when a “tame” leopard gets delivered to Hepburn’s mansion, the family dog buries a priceless dinosaur bone, and the circus comes to town. I love any movie with a fast-paced plot and rapid dialogue, and it doesn’t get faster (or zanier) than this. Having been a longtime fan of the Grant/Hepburn pairing in The Philadelphia Story, it’s fun to see them in the meet-cute stage of a relationship, as opposed to bickering divorcees. Almost as though Bringing Up Baby is the prequel to their later film, back when this onscreen couple was just figuring out how to be “yar”.

Fans of The Thin Man will probably recognize doggie star “Skippy”, who achieved even greater fame as Nick and Nora Charles’s pooch Asta. Here he plays George, a pampered scoundrel who likes to steal bones and hide them all over his owner’s sprawling estate. One such bone is the missing piece to Cary Grant’s prized Brontosaurus skeleton, so while you’re watching Bringing Up Baby, I recommend joining the fun with this Skeleton Key cocktail.

Skeleton Key

1 ½ oz Bourbon

¾ oz Elderflower Liqueur

½ oz Lemon Juice

4 oz Ginger Beer

8 dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine bourbon, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice with ice in a Collins glass. Stir to combine and chill, then top with more ice, and ginger beer. Stir, and top with eight dashes of Angostura Bitters.

Fizzy and sweet, the drink also has a bit of a bite to it, mirroring the sharp tongues of our hero and heroine. For witty banter, hilarious physical comedy, and chemistry that’s off the charts, give these screwballs a watch. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas · Holiday Films

An Affair to Remember

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Image credit: An Affair to Remember, 1957

If, like me, you’ve run out of Douglas Sirk films to watch, yet still feel the powerful pull of the melodrama, look no further than this week’s Cinema Sips pick An Affair to Remember (Disc/Download). With its beautiful 1950s gowns, sappy dialogue (“Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories…”), and romantic cruise ship setting, Leo McCarey has picked up where Sirk left off. Just let me grab my fur stole and champagne coupe- it’s time to set sail.

Starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr as star-crossed lovers who randomly meet on a European voyage, this film has me yearning for the days when cruising the high seas meant high fashion and sophisticated cocktails instead of buffet lines and Legionnaire’s. Kerr’s stateroom is MASSIVE, like a perfect mid-century modern time capsule, and it’s a wonder she leaves the room at all. But of course, she must leave it if she’s going to bump into the suave Cary Grant, playing American playboy Nickie Ferrante, who has one foot down the alter and another in a starving artist’s loft. He “paints pictures” the way Rock Hudson “renovates barns” in All That Heaven Allows, but I guess it doesn’t matter what hobby you turn to when you’re that good looking. People will buy whatever it is he’s selling.

Because Nickie’s family roots are in a villa along the French Riviera, I’m bringing in some Mediterranean flavors with this festive drink. While watching An Affair to Remember, I recommend drinking a Pink Champagne Life cocktail.

Pink Champagne Life

1 oz fresh-squeezed Clementine juice

4 oz Pink Champagne

2 dashes Orange Bitters

1 Sprig Rosemary

1 Clementine peel

Add clementine juice, champagne, and bitters to a coupe, stirring gently to combine. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and clementine peel.

Although parts of this movie take place at Christmas, I’ve struggled to define it as a “Christmas Movie”. I suppose if you’re looking for an excuse to drink more champagne around the holidays, you may as well pop this one in. After all, Cary always looks great near a Christmas tree. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Classic Films · Uncategorized

To Catch a Thief

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To Catch a Thief
Image credit: To Catch a Thief, 1955

I’ve taken a lot of cinema travels this summer, so it’s fitting that I end the season with one last trip to the French Riviera. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic To Catch a Thief (Disc/Download) will make you feel like you’re sipping champagne at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, before meeting your lover for a sexy rendezvous. This week, say bonjour to style, suspense, and sun-drenched 1950s beaches.

This is one of those movies I could watch with the sound off and still feel like I got my money’s worth. To see Grace Kelly slink across the screen in her gorgeous Edith Head costumes is such a treat, but then Hitch had to go and add the Mediterranean Sea. And champagne. And Cary Grant in a lovely French farmhouse. Is he TRYING to make me swoon? If you like the Ocean’s Eleven trilogy, you’ll really enjoy this plot involving a retired cat burglar trying to clear his name after a string of “copycat” jewel thefts. Cary latches on to Grace Kelly’s jet set heiress, using her to draw the real thief out. But somewhere between sunbathing, picnicking, and enjoying the fireworks from a luxury hotel room, she falls for him. Can Cary catch the thief? Can Grace catch Cary? Can the world stop catching coronavirus so I can go to the French Riviera for real???

As previously mentioned, this is a champagne-heavy movie. For my cocktail pairing this week, I’m adapting the classic French Riviera cocktail into something a little more bubbly, and a little more American, in a nod to Grace Kelly’s roots. While watching To Catch a Thief, I recommend drinking this Copycat cocktail.

Copycat

1 ½ oz Bourbon

½ oz Rum

1 tsp Apricot Jam

½ oz Lemon Juice

1 oz Honey Syrup (2 to 1 ratio, honey to water, boiled then cooled)

3 oz Champagne

Combine Bourbon, rum, apricot jam, lemon juice, and honey syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Top with champagne, and stir gently.

Copycat

This spritz cocktail is perfect for lounging near the beach or pool in your couture, as I know we’re all doing during quarantine. Maybe just me? No matter your plans this Labor Day, I hope you get to take a day off, and I hope that day off involves a fabulous movie or two. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

That Touch of Mink

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That Touch of Mink
Image credit: That Touch of Mink, 1962.

The world lost a shining light of female grace and gumption last week with the passing of Doris Day. Beloved by so many, it’s difficult to pinpoint what captivated us.  Was it her cheerful onscreen persona that could make even the worst day just a little bit better?  Or the way she portrayed working women as real people- driven to succeed but vulnerable enough to desire love?  Or perhaps it was her style- that perfect, not-a-hair-out-of-place style which made us understand how a woman could find pleasure and power in the art of beauty, just for herself.  For me, it was all of these things and more.  I’ve already covered one of my favorite movie characters Jan Morrow in Pillow Talk, but as we celebrate the life of Doris Day, I think it’s important to discuss another important role, Cathy Timberlake in That Touch of Mink (Disc/Download).

When I first saw this film twenty years ago, the only memory I took away was the Automat.  Such a quaint but brilliant concept- a vending machine for hot food!  Genius!  But watching it now, as an adult, and as a fan of the romance genre, I can say That Touch of Mink was ahead of its time.  Within the gorgeous Mad Men-esque world of the 1960s, we see Doris as an unemployed career-gal, meeting cute with Cary Grant over a Manhattan mud puddle.  You expect this film to progress a certain way (secretary falls for her charming, grumpy, billionaire boss, etc. etc.), but instead it ends up in a totally different place.  The rich tycoon doesn’t give her a job (at least not right away).  Rather, he offers her a trip around the world, a new wardrobe, and a lavish penthouse, all in exchange for… being with him.  Because it’s 1962, the sex is only implied, but we know what this arrangement entails.  We assume Doris will slap him in the face, but surprising everyone, she agrees! She jets off to Bermuda, wears his mink coat (in the tropics no less), and lets him parade her around in front of the other tycoons and party girls.  But this being Doris, she comes down with a rash and can’t actually go through with the act.  Cary, in his dopey Mr. Rogers cardigans, is pissed but gentlemanly about it.  She manages to snag him in the end by hatching a jealousy plot with John Astin, but already the damage is done.  The audience sees Doris as a Bad Girl.  A girl who essentially agrees to prostitute herself, who drinks a bottle of scotch, and invites the creepy guy at the Unemployment Office to join her in a weekend motel romp.  And the thing is, I’m still pretty smitten with this version of Doris.

One of my bucket-list items is to stay at Doris Day’s hotel in Carmel, CA, the Cypress Inn.  I’ve already perused their bar menu and picked out the drink I will have in Terry’s Bar (yeah, I’m that much of a planner).  It’s a champagne cocktail which pairs beautifully with this sophisticated, unusual film.  While watching That Touch of Mink, I recommend having a Day Drink.

Day Drink

Sparkling Rosé

Sugar Cube

Angostura Bitters

1/4 oz Peach Schnapps

1/2 oz Bourbon

Place sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute, and soak with a few dashes of bitters.  Top with Peach Schnapps and Bourbon, then Sparkling Rosé.

Day Drink.jpg

It’s incredibly striking to see the threads this movie shares with our modern counterpart, Fifty Shades of Grey.  Handsome, commitment-phobic billionaire seeks smart, pretty, innocent gal for exotic getaways, dress-up sessions, and sex?  Check, check, and check.  We’re missing the BDSM, but I don’t think I can picture Doris with a riding crop.  Unless we’re talking Calamity Jane, in which case she’s a natural.  So this week, let’s raise our glasses to Doris Day, patron saint of love, career, and family. Through her films, through her EPIC eye-rolls, I understand what it is to be a woman.  Cheers!

Classic Films · Holiday Films

The Bishop’s Wife

LizLocke1 Comment

The Bishop's Wife
Image credit: The Bishop’s Wife, 1947.

Who’s ready for an old-fashioned Christmas? This year, Cinema Sips will be highlighting  holiday films of the 1940’s, guaranteed to make you smile and long for the days when women wore hats and men dressed up to have breakfast. Kicking things off is the 1947 charmer, The Bishop’s Wife (Disc/Download).

Although it would later be remade with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston, the original film stars Cary Grant as the winsome angel Dudley, sent down to Earth to give guidance to a conflicted bishop and his neglected wife (played by David Niven and Loretta Young, respectively). You’d think this would be a sermon-filled snooze-fest, but in reality it’s a delightful Mary Poppins-esque film about tolerance, empathy, and the magic of the holidays. Plus, there’s Cary on Ice, Cary decorating a Christmas Tree, and Cary in a polka dot scarf. This is all the incentive I need to watch.

So apparently, angels have no problem with our holiday indulgences.  When Dudley counsels a failing writer, he also keeps refilling his empty bottle of booze with a sneaky little finger trick. I’m pretty sure I could also use some spiritual guidance like that right about now (*looks skyward*).  While watching The Bishop’s Wife, I recommend drinking a Bishop cocktail.

Bishop

3 oz Rum

1 oz Red wine

1/4 oz Simple syrup

3/4 oz Lime juice

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a wine glass.

Bishop

As part of my holiday posts this year, I’ll also be recommending some books that would make great gifts for the cinephile in your life. For fans of The Bishop’s Wife, be sure and check out Adriana Trigiani’s All the Stars in the Heavens, an engrossing novel about Loretta Young’s rumored Hollywood scandals and fun escapades with pal David Niven. You’ll see the bishop and his wife in a WHOOOOOLE new light. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

Father Goose

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Father Goose
Image credit: Father Goose, 1964.

If you like Cary Grant, whiskey, and WWII-era naval intrigue, you’re in luck this week. Father Goose (DVD/Download) is that rare movie that will please every member of the family.  Men, women, young, old- no matter what your situation is, it’s enjoyable to watch Cary Grant be awkward around small children.  Plus, booze in the jungle! LOTS of booze.

One of Cary Grant’s final films, Father Goose is a delightful romantic comedy that showcases the full spectrum of this iconic actor’s charm. As the salty expatriate Walter Eckland (who for some reason thinks that the South Pacific is a good place to retire in the 1940’s), Grant spends the majority of the movie sporting a 5 o’clock shadow and beach bum couture (think captain’s hat, topsiders, wrinkled oxford shirt). After the British navy destroys his boat, he’s forced to live on a remote island to watch for Japanese planes.  But fear not Cinema Sippers- the navy has hidden whiskey bottles all over the island like a fun easter egg hunt. He eventually ends up rescuing a beautiful French schoolmistresses from a nearby island, along with her female pupils. They bicker like they’re in an episode of Moonlighting, then eventually decide that marriage is a good idea. Hey, he’s a man with a boat and a history degree.  She could do worse.

Given the time period and setting of this film, I think a tiki drink is in order.  While most cocktails of this ilk use rum, I’ve just got to sub in whiskey here.  After all, provisions are limited in times of war.  While watching Father Goose, I recommend drinking a Filthy Beast.

Filthy Beast

1 oz bourbon

1 oz whiskey

1 oz lemon juice

½ oz simple syrup

½ oz orgeat

3 dashes tiki bitters

Lemon wheel garnish

Combine all ingredients except the lemon wheel in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a tiki glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Filthy Beast

Mr. Eckland and I share a very similar view toward children. They’re annoying, and needy, and anybody in their right mind wouldn’t sign up to have one, but if you happen to be stuck with one (or ten), at least you can put them to work. And by work, I mean bringing you the whiskey bottle. Cheers!

Classic Films

North by Northwest

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Image credit: North by Northwest, 1959
Image credit: North by Northwest, 1959

As families across the US make their way to top summer tourist destinations, I got to thinking about a place that’s certainly on my bucket list of attractions to visit- Mount Rushmore. However, I’m terrified that my trip would be a letdown because I’ve already visited this engineering marvel through the eyes of Alfred Hitchcock in the film North by Northwest (DVD/Download) many, many times. Truly, without Cary Grant scaling Thomas Jefferson’s forehead, is there even a point to seeing it in person?

North by Northwest is one of my favorite Hitchcock films, full of twisty plot developments, nail-biting suspense, and chic mid-century style. Cary Grant’s iconic grey suit is perfect for his portrayal of a Mad Men-era advertising exec, who through a case of mistaken identity, becomes involved in a secret spy mission to recover government documents from villains played by James Mason and a very young Martin Landau. Along the way Grant meets Eva Marie Saint, and they share a risqué rendezvous on the 20th Century Limited train. Can I just say, if train travel were as glamorous as it appears in North by Northwest, summer journeys would become a whole lot more appealing to me. Just imagine- craft cocktails, white linen tablecloths, en suite bathrooms, and Cary Grant waiting for you on a comfy bed in your cabin- what could be better?

It was INCREDIBLY difficult to pick just one cocktail pairing for this movie because there are so many great beverage moments. First there’s bourbon, Martin Landau’s murder weapon of choice (see above photo). Then there’s the fabulous train that Cary Grant stows away on, the 20th Century, which incidentally has a cocktail named after it. But if I have to pick just one drink, I have to go with the beverage Grant orders in the dining car- The Gibson. It’s classic, it’s timeless, and sophisticated- just like this film. While watching North by Northwest, I recommend drinking a Gibson.

Gibson

2 oz Gin

1/3 oz Dry Vermouth

Pickled Cocktail Onion

Fill a shaker with ice, then add gin and vermouth. Stir well, then strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with an onion.

gibson

There are several famous moments in North by Northwest, such as the big scene where Cary Grant is chased through a corn field by a crop dusting plane, and the climax on Mount Rushmore, but my favorite part is when he tosses his monogrammed matchbook to Eva Marie Saint as she sits in James Mason’s Frank Lloyd Wright-esque lair. Walking around with your own personalized matches- now that’s about as classy as it gets. Cheers!