D.C. MOVIE GUYS

Turner Classic Movies (you should not be watching movies on television, but if you have to, you could do worse than Turner Classics) recently devoted a month to the career of Cary Grant. As someone who has seen a few dozen of Mr. Grant’s movies, you can ally me with the film-going faction who counts him as one of the best (if not the best) motion picture actors of all time. In a filmography quite profuse with four-star movies, one from the so-so category is Night and Day, a faux bio-pic in which Cary plays a character named Cole Porter. The movie has taken on a certain degree of infamy (mostly thanks to Vito Russo’s book The Celluloid Closet and its attendant documentary). It portrayed Mr. Porter in a fashion as romanticized (but nowhere near as clever or risqué) as any of his musical plays and completely ignored his (then) whispered affection for the lads.
Needless to say there is no need for such discretion/fear nowadays and a new Porter bio-pic, De-lovely, directed by Irwin Winkler and written by Jay Cocks does acknowledge Mr. Porter’s extra-marital predilections. But although the marriage between Porter (Kevin Kline) and wife, Linda (Ashley Judd) is not exactly Hollywood picture perfect, she certainly seems to be the main reason that he becomes the celebrated playwright and songsmith. At his earliest, Mr. Porter, an Indiana Ivy Leaguer born to wealth, is first glimpsed as a somewhat dissolute songwriter who possesses a certain drawing room charisma, but little standing outside the party world. It is his meeting with divorcee Linda Lee Thomas (an equally wealthy celebrated hostess) and their subsequent marriage that pushes him to the forefront. At career’s end, Porter will be one of the most accomplished and respected lyricists in 20th century musical theatre
Kevin Kline may be no Cary Grant, but he is not exactly chopped liver either. In fact, Kline brings likeability even to movies that one should know better than to applaud including Mr. Winkler’s own Life as a House (a sentiment drenched as well as uncredited remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru) and The Emperor’s Club (actually an improvement over the movie it so desperately yearns to be, Dead Poet’s Society). Although best known for his supporting work in The Big Chill, Sophie’s Choice, and A Fish Called Wanda, Kline is a charming and convincing lead.
With a framing story that seems a supernatural version of This is Your Life, host Jonathan Pryce takes an aged Porter backwards. His songwriting takes him from the drawing rooms of high society to triumphs on the Broadway stage to Hollywood—where the movie makes the point that bowdlerized and somewhat dumbed down Cole Porter was more than enough to set the motion picture mogul’s toes a tappin’ (especially MGM’s own Louis B. Mayer). And through it all his greatest triumphs are endorsed, propelled, and applauded by Linda. The movie makes the point that he may have fancied the boys of the chorus, but he never formed any emotional attachment that was stronger than one he shared with the wife staying true to her in his fashion.
Ms. Judd, here momentarily freed from the lifetime contract requiring her to play opposite Morgan Freeman or in thrillers or in thrillers co-starring Morgan Freeman, delivers a terrific performance as Mrs. Porter. We first see her as a divorcee and typical hostess with the mostest. Maybe she could not give her husband everything he needed, but there would probably have been no Cole Porter, the public figure, without her encouragement and love. Judd brings all this love, strength, and joy of spirit to the part without making her some long-suffering martyr.
Irwin Winkler was one of the top producers in Hollywood who with partner Robert Chartoff were the team behind a slew of movies including Rocky, Raging Bull, and The Right Stuff. As a director, Winkler has produced a string of serviceable entertainments of which De-lovely is a prime example. Although the production numbers uniting the cast to sing some Porter standards is a nicely theatrical touch, Mr. Winkler’s real triumphs here seem to be a producer’s successes: casting Kline and Judd; putting together a package for the cash-strapped (and nearly out of business) MGM to distribute; and convincing a slew of contemporary recording artists such as Alanis Morrisette and Elvis Costello to contribute their vocal talents to the picture as well as the soundtrack album.
Although Kline and Judd are the movie’s most visible assets, whatever legacy it has is to remind another generation of the song styling of Cole Porter. And isn’t that just De-lovely or is it the tops?

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