You’re about to see something rare – I’m going to criticize Cary Grant. Not in a huge way; how could one hugely criticize Cary Grant? But there will be some words said, by me, about him, that aren’t entirely complimentary.
“The Howards of Virginia” is set during the Revolutionary War. Grant plays Matt Howard, a man who as a young boy lost his father to war with the Indians. When Matt grows up, he wants to go out to Ohio and start life anew as a frontiersman, but then something happens that changes all his plans – he meets a girl (isn’t that always how it is?) Her name is Jane Peyton (Martha Scott) and she’s from a wealthy, landed family. Matt has nothing but his charms to recommend him, but he doesn’t see that as a problem. He woos her and wins her, even though her family considers him beneath contempt, and he takes her out to the Shenandoah Valley where he builds her a large home, in stages. They try to compromise on their differences in breeding and station, but one thing she never understands about him is his fierce patriotism. He’s always talking about how things should be better for the common man, and he likes to get out there and work with his own hands. She believes that he should buy slaves to do his work and remain a gentleman. These differences lead to a separation later in their marriage, when he decides to go off to war and she returns to the home of her youth with their children.
Through Matt’s participation in these events, we see Patrick Henry’s impassioned speeches to the House of Burgesses. We see the Boston Tea Party, and we see the cold and starving soldiers trying to make it through another winter. Many aspects of the Revolutionary War are brought to life for us, often linked with the effect it had on the people. All in all, it was an interesting movie.
Now for the criticism part—Grant was almost manic in his acting in some scenes. He needed to bulge his eyes a little less, stop shouting so much, and stop frisking around like a puppy. I would have felt his portrayal much more realistic if he had played it a notch or two lower. As it was, he played it like a melodrama, which it wasn’t meant to be.
That said, I do think you would enjoy this film, which was not rated.
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