I Was a Male War Bride (1949 Howard Hawks)

After the Pegg turkey, we needed something reliable, thus turned to the unbeatable combination of Hawks and Cary Grant, who must have had a lot of trust in the silver fox to agree to appear in drag (with horse's hair, to boot). Ann Sheridan plays the typically strong Hawks woman.

Unlike Tarkovsky, Hawks is a director who doesn't hang about. When a jeep pulls to a stop, one of the passengers will get out almost before it's even stopped moving.

Great bit where Grant describes the night's troubles to a sympathetic ear - one bed had a wife in it and the husband wasn't happy, and he wished he could have slept in Brooklyn, with the old man!

Hawks' direction is typically sparse and simple, often preferring to let the action happen within frame without cutting.

Shot by Norbert Brodine and Osmond Borrodaile - out F4 copy is very dark.

Marion Marshall plays 'Kitty'. Made for Twentieth Century Fox.