The Talk of the Town (1942) 7.6
An escaped prisoner and a stuffy law professor vie for the hand of a spirited schoolteacher. Director:George Stevens |
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The Talk of the Town (1942) 7.6
An escaped prisoner and a stuffy law professor vie for the hand of a spirited schoolteacher. Director:George Stevens |
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| 0Share... |
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Cary Grant | ... |
Leopold Dilg - Joseph
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| Jean Arthur | ... |
Miss Nora Shelley
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| Ronald Colman | ... |
Professor Michael Lightcap
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| Edgar Buchanan | ... |
Sam Yates
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Glenda Farrell | ... |
Regina Bush
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Charles Dingle | ... |
Andrew Holmes
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Emma Dunn | ... |
Mrs. Shelley
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| Rex Ingram | ... |
Tilney
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Leonid Kinskey | ... |
Jan Pulaski
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Tom Tyler | ... |
Clyde Bracken
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| Don Beddoe | ... |
Police Chief
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In suburban Lochester, New England, three people end up living together in high school teacher Nora Shelley's rental house. The first is her new tenant, renowned Harvard law professor Michael Lightcap, who has rented the house for the summer while he writes his new book. The second is Nora herself. Despite having an auspicious first meeting, Lightcap hires Nora to be his live-in cook and secretary for a week until his manservant Tilney arrives. The third is Joseph, the property's gardener, who is currently laid up with a sprained ankle. In reality, Joseph is Nora's childhood friend Leopold Dilg, who has just escaped from prison. Leopold was being tried for the arson of the factory where he worked, and for murder for the death of the factory foreman Clyde Bracken, whose body was never recovered but who is assumed to have died in the fire. Despite the danger to herself, Nora hides Leopold since she believes his story that although he, as an activist, did speak out about the dangerous ... Written by Huggo
Talk of the Town is a good movie! It is well written with witty and interesting, sometimes even surprising dialogue. It is well directed and well played. Even the score is really good (I am not sure if both John Williams and Frederick Hollander borrowed or it was just Williams who borrowed form Hollander for Star Wars). I grew fond of Roland Coleman through this movie, he is simply debonair. Sure, the preaching toward the end of the movie is a bit thick, but it is in character and should you listen closely you would find that the message is as relevant today as then. And about the love triangle plot It keeps you guessing till the last moment (only one other movie successfully does the same: Casablanca). Talk of the Town is an intelligent and endearing mix of comedy and drama, it does not use comedy only for the introduction but keeps it up, in parallel to the drama, well through the movie; in that it is remarkable. To say the least it did not deserve to be forgotten, for it does what movies do best: give you a good time.