Cary Grant starred in some of cinema's "most cherished, enduring classics", from "The Philadelphia Story" to "North by Northwest", said Dan Einav in the FT. "Yet Cary Grant was, in a sense, merely a part" played by Archibald Leach: an anxious, unhappy man who'd created his debonair persona "as a means of escaping from himself". As the actor famously said: "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant."
"Archie", ITVX's new four-part drama, explains how the boy born into extreme poverty in Bristol, to a depressive mother and a cruel and feckless father, transformed himself into one of Hollywood's biggest and best-loved stars.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The best scenes, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph, are those in which he returns to Bristol to visit the mother (beautifully played by Harriet Walter) he thought had died decades earlier. It would have been interesting to explore this complicated relationship further. Instead, the drama is mostly set in sunny California. Alas, the Hollywood of that era is not recreated all that convincingly, which lends the mini-series a feeling of "cheap artifice".
Sign up to The Week's Arts & Life newsletter for reviews and recommendations.
-
Broken brains: The social price of digital lifeFeature A new study shows that smartphones and streaming services may be fueling a sharp decline in responsibility and reliability in adults
-
'Mankeeping': Why women are fed upFeature Women no longer want to take on the full emotional and social needs of their partners
-
The Hermit Kingdom's laptop warriorsFeature American firms are unwittingly hiring IT workers with a second job—as North Korean operatives
-
'Mankeeping': Why women are fed up
Feature Women no longer want to take on the full emotional and social needs of their partners
-
Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid: 'more than just a novelty'The Week Recommends Europe's first plug-in hybrid pickup is 'surprisingly agile'
-
6 lush homes in the treesFeature Featuring a glass house in Texas and a home built for a Broncos quarterback in Colorado
-
Conservatism is rising. Just look at the music.In the spotlight The radio reflects American culture
-
Brooklyn vs. the Beckhams: trouble in paradiseIn the Spotlight Scion of the Beckham clan and billionaire heiress wife Nicola Peltz staged an elaborate vow renewal – and none of his family were on the guest list
-
Alien: Earth – a 'bold' prequel to the space horror classicThe Week Recommends Set two years before Alien, new Disney show pays 'homage' to the original
-
Music reviews: Ethel Cain, Amaarae, and The Black KeysFeature "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You," "Black Star," and "No Rain, No Flowers"
-
Film reviews: Highest 2 Lowest and WeaponsFeature A kidnapping threatens a mogul's legacy and a town spins into madness after 17 children disappear
