Mr. Lucky (1943)

(On Cable TV, October 2022) I thought I was done watching most of the good Cary Grant films, but as it turns out—no, there are still a few left, and while Mr. Lucky is easily not top-tier Grant material, it finds him in fine form, inhabiting the kind of utterly charming character he was best at. Possibly drawing upon similar sources of inspiration as Casablanca, the film takes us to a foreign port city on the eve of World War II, where a roguish man (Grant in fine charismatic con-artist mode) falls for a wealthy, beautiful heiress (Laraine Day). Much of the fun is not really in the standard romantic angle or the arc of the selfish cad learning to be a better, more heroic figure—it’s in the small ways Grant plays his character, turning relatively mundane material into, well, classic Grant charm. His scoundrel is rarely less than completely likable. There’s a reason why Mr. Lucky rarely pops up even in extended Grant retrospectives—it’s very tied to its time in overtly selling war bonds and the script, while competent, isn’t particularly stellar. But it’s well worth a look: it’s a good showcase for him, and even the wartime sensibilities can be intriguing. There are far worse movies in his filmography.