The Talk of the Town (1942)

With such a dreary choice of newish films on digital TV, I have been recharging my batteries with some choice oldies.  Now no one in their right mind could believe that Cary Grant could be a villain, not even in "Suspicion", so the fact that this film opens with his breaking free from jail where he has been placed for arson and murder does not make the viewer think for one moment that he is a bad person.  And of course he's not -- he's just slightly eccentric with some unpopular opinions.  He takes refuge in the house of Jean Arthur (the quintissential screwball comedy heroine) just as she has let the property to law professor, Ronald Colman.  He is about to be nominated for the Supreme Court and must avoid any scandal -- and naturally he has landed in a mare's nest. It's a pretty talky film as Grant and Colman debate the law while getting more friendly, and of course both are falling for Arthur's quirky charms.  It's no surprise with whom she ends up, but the alternate choice would have made as satisfactory an ending.  I suspect that this movie is not as well-known as it might be or as it deserves, since despite the so-so supporting cast, it presents three charismatic stars at their best.