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Joan Bennett is a manicurist who becomes a newspaper reporter. She joins forces with jaunty detective Cary Grant to get the goods on a particularly vicious insurance racket. Bennett unwittingly puts her life in danger by dating a supposedly above-board socialite (Walter Pidgeon) who is actually the brains behind the criminal operation. Big Brown Eyes is an enigma; every time we think we're in for a screwball comedy, something awful happens to jolt us back to reality. It's hard to lightly dismiss such scenes as the shooting death of a baby in its stroller. Hal Erickson
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One of the least known of Cary Grant's starring vehicles, Kiss and Make Up was based on a European play by Stephen Bekeffi. Grant stars as high-priced beautician Dr. Maurice Lamar, who does so spectacular a job on his plain-jane client Eve Caron (Genevieve Tobin) that Eve's jealous husband Marcel (Edward Everett Horton) divorces her. Eve marries Maurice on the rebound, but she drives him crazy with her shallow vanity. Maurice would prefer the company of his faithful secretary Anne (Helen Mack), but she has wed the vengeful Caron! But when Anne discovers that Caron is as self-involved as Eve, she goes back to Marcel, while Eve, who started it all, quickly finds comfort in the arms of gigolo Rolando (Rafael Storm). Highlights in Kiss and Make Up includes Cary Grant's musical numbers (yes, he can sing) and a hilarious bit involving Cecil Cunningham as one of Dr. Lamar's less successful "experiments." The film also serves as a showcase for the 1934 crop of Wampas Baby Stars, including George M. Cohan's pretty daughter Helen and Jean Gale of the singing Gale Sisters. Hal Erickson
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A European princess heads for New York in order to see if the U. S. will back her country's bond issue. Unfortunately, she is afflicted with the mumps and ordered to bed. This is an ill turn for the banker planning to issue the bonds for if the princess reneges upon her public engagements, the deal could fall through and he will lose a huge commission. Thinking quickly, he starts looking for a look-alike. He soon discovers an impoverished actress who fits the bill. Trouble brews when a prominent and somewhat xenophobic newspaper publisher gets wind of the entire scam. Sandra Brennan
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In this newspaper farce, an editor loses his voice and his job after he tires of being tormented by the practical jokes of one of two reporters. The joker ends up the new editor. Soon after taking the job, his personality changes dramatically and soon he has become a pompous and excessively harsh taskmaster. His former partner is so disgusted that she decides to leave and marry a stodgy writer of inspirational books. The new editor loves his partner and tries to get her back. When he fails, he begins drinking heavily and wondering what kind of wedding gift he should get her. Knowing that she likes the excitement of police and fire calls, he insures that her wedding will be unforgettable by having fire engines, police cars, and hearses show up to the nuptials. In the end, the editor drives a wagon from the local loony bin into the ceremony and kidnaps her. Romance ensues and eventually the two are married. Sandra Brennan
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MGM loaned Myrna Loy to Paramount to co-star with Cary Grant in the roller coaster-paced romantic drama Wings in the Dark. Loy plays daredevil aviatrix Sheila Mason, who marries Ken Gordon (Grant), a flyer with serious aspirations to set groundbreaking world records. When Ken is accidentally blinded just before he jets off for Paris, Sheila prompts him to continue working at any cost. He decides to become a writer, dictating his work and mailing it off to several magazines; all he receives for his trouble is a pile of rejection slips, but Sheila doesn't let him know that. In the mean time, he works out a fantastic invention -- a plane designed for "blind flying," which enables the pilot to command the craft without the use of his eyes. His plane is repossessed for lack of payment, cluing him into what Sheila has been up to with his articles. Infuriated, he severs all communication with her. In an effort to drive Grant out of her mind, Sheila then undertakes a Moscow-to-Manhattan flight and thus attempts to set a new world record of her own. But on the last leg of her journey -- over Boston -- she becomes surrounded by thick blankets of heavy fog, and cannot locate the airport. At the last moment, Ken steals his own plane from Roosevelt Field, takes it up, and uses it to guide Sheila back to the ground, where he declares his undying love and devotion to her. Hal Erickson
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