Or Jimmy Stewart as was. And just like his transatlantic namesake, he was the finest example of the old fashioned, clean cut leading man you could hope to find under the Gainsborough Studio’s copious petticoats, as well as elsewhere. From top wartime-cum-regency shenanigans The man in Grey through Waterloo Road, The Prisoner of Zenda and such and such, all the way up to dotagetastic stuff like The Wild Geese and that gobsmacking turn as Prince Philip, via truly loopy nuns-in-speedboats thriller The Trygon Factor. A tip of the tricorn hat is well deserved.
FINEST HOUR: Just to demonstrate the man’s versatility, palling about with John Wayne in comedy western (surely ‘northern’?) North to Alaska. It may not be the world’s greatest film (how many films starring Capucine and/or Fabian are in your personal top ten?) but the man mucks in with the brawls and wisecracks as gamely as he did with the breeches and foaming flagons back home.
George White
December 11, 2022 at 10:00 pm
That turn as Prince Philip was in the astonishing TVM The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana.
Starring Christopher Baines (a jobbing British actor whose career was otherwise in small bits in stuff like Space Precinct and peak Practice) and a pre-Dynasty Catherine Oxenberg as the titular couple, with Granger as Prince Philip, Dana Wynter of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers and then appearing in RTE soap Bracken as the Queen, Olivia de Havilland as the Queen Mum and Ray Milland as the Welsh butler, it’s mostly shot in New York, hence Holland Taylor as Frances Shand Kydd, Jeannine Taylor (the lass with the axe in her face in the first Friday the 13th) as ‘Samantha Edwards’, a thinly disguised proxy for Camilla, and ROberta Wallach (daughter of Eli and Anne Jackson) as some European princess, with young Elisabeth Shue and Frances Conroy elsewhere.
Has a ludicrous depiction of Sloaney youth in suspiciously upstate NY-looking rural landscapes, who seem more like the snobby villains from a sub-Porky’s/Animal House/Caddyshack teen comedy than the British upper-class. an American-accented Edward and Andrew, royals eating breakfast reading the Sun, lots of fog and was never shown in the UK, despite being a British co-pro from Clive James’ pals Chrysalis TV.