Talk of the town (1942)

The Talk of the Town (Dir. George Stevens) is 40 % screwball comedy, 20 % crime story and 40 % romance. Does that sound messy? If it weren't for the sweetness of the film, that would definitively be my final verdict. The story starts from the encounter between Dilg, a man accused of killing his foreman who has escaped from prison and Nora, who owns a boarding house. These two seems to have had some sort of past history. Dilg is lodged into Nora's house but there is a complication: a law professor has been promised a room in the house and he starts to live there, too. The first part of the film is light-hearted: will the professor find out about Dilg? The second part takes a more uncommon turn, chronicling these people's lives together and their romantic tangles. A few discussions about law and guilt are thrown in for good measure. Dilg, who is wrongly accused of having killed his boss, scorns conventionalism - he argues that this gives him the right to act some juridical decrees - and the law professor argues for good law practice. Cary Grant is great as Dilg: he manages to be a bit menacing, but kind-hearted nonetheless.