None but the Lonely Heart (1944)

(On Cable TV, February 2020) When you intend to watch an actor’s entire filmography, you have to take the good with the not-so-good, and so any Cary Grant fan has to go through None but the Lonely Heart on the way to (or once past) better movies. Oh, it’s not that that this poverty/family/criminal drama is terrible—in fact, it does have its qualities, most notably in portraying a Londonian working-class environment and wrapping up domestic drama in spicier criminal activity. Still, this is fairly mild and disappointing stuff for Grant, who gets to use a Cockney accent (not his own) and a fraction of his natural charm as a young cad who learns better. For Grant’s fans, this is the film that best portrays his lower-class origins, although that’s not much of an overall comfort.  Fans of car chases will be impressed by an explosive action sequence late in the film—and seeing the wires used for the special effects only somehow makes it all better. A relatively minor entry in Grant’s filmography (but significant in its own way), None but the Lonely Heart remains for convinced fans in the mood to appreciate a bit of social realism.