Cary Grant Comes Home Again for 2018
If you want to start an argument, try this: who ranks as Bristol’s greatest cultural export? Truth is, we’ll have to wait and see whether people are still talking about Banksy, Wallace & Gromit and our trippity-hopsters a century hence. That’s because they’ll have to remain enduringly popular to challenge Archibald Leach, formerly of Picton Street. 2020 marks 100 years since young Archie embarked on his journey to become one of the world’s greatest film stars: Cary Grant. Bristol’s biennial Cary Grant Comes Home for the Weekend festival already has ambitious plans to celebrate this by decamping to New York for its next bash.
https://youtu.be/WHkMZfmxDB8
But before that, the fest has announced a packed local programme for the weekend of November 23-25 2018. This kicks off with an opportunity to see local filmmaker Mark Kidel’s excellent Becoming Cary Grant documentary in the former asylum where Cary’s mum was hidden away for 20 years.
The fest climaxes with a glamorous gala screening of To Catch a Thief at the Trinity Centre. In between, you can see all three of Our Cary’s other collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (Suspicion, Notorious and the masterpiece North by Northwest). Also back on screen are two of the great 1940s screwball comedies in which he made his name: His Girl Friday and The Talk of the Town.
Bag yourself a Cary Grant badge (or a T-shirt, cushion, card, bag, mug and plenty of other covetable merch) at the festival
Putting all this into context, Hitchcock and Cary Grant: “The Only Actor I Ever Loved” is a pair of separate but related illustrated talks by film historian and author Mark Glancy (Queen Mary University, London) and Kathrina Glitre (Senior Lecturer, Film Studies, UWE) exploring Grant’s decision to seek darker roles. If you want to know more about Cary Grant’s Bristol, festival director Charlotte Crofts (Associate Professor, UWE Filmmaking) leads a Looking for Archie walking tour, which culminates in a Prosecco toast to the great man at his statue in Millennium Square.
Despite having been born here, it was only later in life that Cary Grant spotted the suspension bridge. (Note: this might not be true.) All pix of Cary Grant in Bristol are by the Bristol Post
During his many return visits to Bristol, Cary would often take tea with his mum at the Grand Clifton Spa Hotel. Don’t go looking for this in any city guide because it’s now known as the Avon Gorge Hotel. Head up there for the Cary Grant in Bristol event, which offers an opportunity to hear from David Brown, whose gap year hotel job was to cater to the star’s every whim. Also contributing their thoughts over a tasty afternoon tea will be award-winning producer/director Michael Davies, who’s currently developing a drama about Cary Grant and his mother, and BBC Radio Bristol producer Tom Ryan, who’s working on a documentary about Cary Grant’s Bristol.
Follow the links below for further details about the screenings and visit the Cary Grant Comes Home for the Weekend website for more information about the talks and other related events.
Read more: Cary Grant’s Long Strange Trip
