Search - Once Upon a Time on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1944 DVD Release: 02/25/2003 Format: DVD - Black and White - Closed Captioned Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Japanese, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 29 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 6 Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Farce, Showbiz Comedy

Based on Norman Corwin's satirical radio play My Client Curley, Once Upon a Time is an engaging bit of whimsy, completely dominated by the personality of star Cary Grant. It all begins when fly-by-night Broadway producer Jerry Flynn (Grant) learns of a trained caterpillar (!) that dances to the tune of "Yes, Sir, That's My Baby." In short order, Jerry has promoted Curly the Caterpillar to international stardom-and in the process he alienates both Pinky Thompson (Ted Donaldson), the impressionable 9-year-old who owns Curley, and Pinky's attractive older sister Jeanne (Janet Blair). Eventually, Flynn comes to his senses and regains his essential decency-though it's too late to continue capitalizing on Curley, who has turned into a non-dancing butterfly! Full of delightful contemporary references and "cameo appearances" by such celebrities as producer Walt Disney and radio commentator Gabriel Heatter (both played by uncredited impressionists), Once Upon a Time proved an agreeable diversion for wartime audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cary Grant - Jerry Flynn
Janet Blair - Jeannie Thompson
James Gleason - "The Moke"
Ted Donaldson - Pinky Thompson
Howard Freeman - McKenzie
William Demarest - Brandt

Once Upon a Time is one of the least well-known of Cary Grant's movies from the '40s -- indeed, it's a film so obscure, and was so seldom shown on television, that this reviewer can remember fans wondering if they'd actually seen it, or if it were some figment of their imagination. Perhaps its obscurity was a blessing, because this is just about the best looking film from the '40s Columbia Pictures library. The image is so sharp and rich, and the source so clean that it might make preservationists cry, and the sound is a good match -- can it be that the master materials were pulled from the vault for striking new prints so infrequently, that the film has been handed down to us in uniquely pristine form? The classic Capra movies should all look this good. Somebody at the studio obviously liked this release, because the 89-minute movie has been given 28 chapters. The disc opens automatically to the main menu, which is easy to manipulate. The chapter selections are well labeled and placed. The special features are limited to subtitles in five languages, and a selection of original trailers from three other Columbia titles, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, His Girl Friday, and It Happened One Night -- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is presented in so pretentious a fashion as to provoke laughter from this observer, while the It Happened One Night trailer is notable for its exceptionally rough condition, an unintended reminder of what the original videocassette edition of the movie looked like at the outset of the '80s, before it underwent major restoration. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide