Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons

Cary Grant is the befuddled English earl casually puttering around his tourist attraction of a grand old estate in casual dress while a bull of an American millionaire (Robert Mitchum) crashes into hi...( read more  read more... )s life and seduces Grant's sophisticated lady (Deborah Kerr). It's pure fantasy, of course, with its cool, cultured lovers swapping witty banter with the same calm they swap gunshots in an old-fashioned duel. Have adultery and jealousy ever been so civilized? Stanley Donen never shakes this very British drawing-room comedy of manners free of its talky, stagebound source or its deliberate snail's pace, but he does manages to bring a lightness that softens the wit with an American lilt. Ultimately, though, it's all about a crack cast in fine form: Mitchum's sleepy-eyed insolence, Kerr's easy elegance, Jean Simmons's flighty outrageousness, and especially the charm and measured grace that is Cary Grant. --Sean Axmaker

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438 ratings

Unrated, 105 min.

Directed by: Stanley Donen

Release Date: December 23, 1960

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DVD Release Date: September 18, 2001

Stats: 83 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (83)


  • March 26, 2009
    an old school english drawing room comedy of manners wherein modern millionaire yank bobby mitchum handily poaches titled yet impoverished englishman cary grant's filly, seven year itchy deborah kerr. is it gunfight at the ok corral then? or perhaps a duel at dawn? oh no. dir...( read more)ector stanley donen paces us thru the worst of personal relationship wars with rapier wit and comedic banter that dares one to keep up with all the verbal grenades tossed about. throw in atomic jean simmons as a tipsy though possibly explosive tour guide and you've got a different kind of filmic entertainment, entertainment that thinks as fast as you. maybe faster.
  • January 29, 2008
    "the grass is greener" is one excellent work from classic comedy director stanley donen who could elaborate those bedroom drama which mainly be epathetic with estrogen to a divine sophistification, even a mundane subject of un-marital affair could be polished with civilized suave...( read more)ness.

    the main story set is cary grant and deborah kerr are happily married in their old historical british mansion, living by exhibiting fair of their ancient house, until one day american prodigal charm boy robert mitchum steps into their private living room to captivate kerr's matronly affection by exclaiming "your eyes are beautiful as poetry"...then the composed grant sinks into a predicament of his happiness with his competent love rival who is recklessly unpreditable and boyishly charming...

    usually the corny scenario of cuckolded man would run amok to bombard the wife with the accusation of infidelity and rageous condemnation, but not our resourceful grant with fine spirit of sportsmanship who schemes to connive his wife galloping to her provocatively exciting lover, escpecially the third party is insolently luring as robert mitchum. since he comprehends his objection would even enhance mitchum's rascal attraction to kerr, so he intends to stand his position without movement...then everything is drastically modified after a challenge of pistol duel. you gotta admire the clever wits in the lines of grant, and his mellowed wisdom as the ultimate debonair who conducts himself gracefully, retains his dignity under such a circumstance of potential humiliation.

    jean simmons plays the talkative friend who flashes herself in the gaudy wardrobe of christian dior, and her vivicious humor is also adequately humorous under such an awkward condition as the outsider of a threesome.

    "the grass is greener" is definitely very british, and incidentally it parodies the feud between america and britain, symbolizing it with marvellous line like "maybe it's time for america to place a statue of liberty (or libertine!) in britain" as the insinuation of mitchum's bold inference to grant's married life. such sophisticated comedy could be only made with stanley donen and stars like grant, kerr, mitchum and simmons, and nowaday show business can no longer produce such tasteful comedy with such pearly dialogues, impossible to exist under the absurd emphasis of savagely rugged manhood in contemporary action cinema or the radical effimination of male beauty in various recent advertisements.
  • October 17, 2009
    An average out turn for Cary Grant, typical for the types of films he made in late 40s and early 50s...only this was the mid 50s, so not up to snuff with the rest of the stuff he made around the same time, it's not bad, but it's nothing new.
  • January 20, 2009
    Cary Grant. An earl wins back his wife by contriving a duel with her millionaire lover.
  • December 15, 2008
    not thanks not my thing
  • July 24, 2008
    nominated for best picture at the golden globes
  • May 24, 2008
    I adore Cary Grant!!!
  • March 10, 2008
    classic, must see again
  • January 10, 2008
    Delightful, witty, well acted.
  • December 27, 2007
    One of the very few Cary Grant movies out there that doesn't do anything for me. The ONLY highlight of the movie is watching Grant & Mitchum have a duel with pistols in the hallway.

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