The Grass Is Greener
Encyclopedia
The Grass Is Greener is a 1960
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...

 comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 featuring an ensemble cast consisting of screen veterans Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...

, Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

, Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...

, and Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...

,directed by Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen ; is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are Singin' in the Rain and On the Town, both of which he co-directed with Gene Kelly. His other noteworthy films include Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Indiscreet, Damn...

. The film was adapted by Hugh Williams
Hugh Williams
Hugh Williams was an English actor and dramatist of Welsh descent.-Personal life:...

 and Margaret Vyner
Margaret Vyner
Margaret Vyner was an Australian-born film actress who appeared in British films. She was married to the film director Hugh Williams.-Selected filmography:* Sensation * Sailing Along * This Man Is Dangerous...

 from the play of the same name which they had written and found success with in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

.

Plot

The Earl and Countess of Rhyall (Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...

 and Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

) are facing financial troubles and are therefore forced to permit guided tours of their stately home.

A suave, somewhat obnoxious American oil tycoon, Charles Delacro (Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...

), barges into the lady of the manor's private quarters, either deliberately or by mistake. He introduces himself, explaining the family name was originally "Delacroix" but his grandfather tired of Americans pronouncing the "X" in the name.

Delacro's attentions to the Countess turn her head. Rather than behave jealously, the Earl invites the American to come visit, along with an equally grating ex-girlfriend of Lord Rhyall's, the American heiress Hattie Durant (Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...

).

A love triangle (or quadrangle) soon develops, kicking off a tale of love, jealousy and other strong emotions that eventually leads the gentlemen to a duel with pistols.

Set Design

British interior decorator Felix Harbord served as the film's special consultant for settings.

Reception

While the film was a moderate success at the U.K.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 box office, it fared much worse in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Reviews of the film were mostly lukewarm. Despite its initial failure, the film has since developed a following and has been a staple of American cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

. At the time of its release, Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...

's performance as a madcap heiress earned some praise and a Laurel Award
Producers Guild of America Awards 1989
The 1st PGA Golden Laurel Awards, given on 29 March 1990, honored the best film and television producers of 1989.-Film:*Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award:**Driving Miss Daisy - Lili Fini and Richard D. Zanuck*Lifetime Achievement Award:...

 nomination.

Cast

  • Cary Grant
    Cary Grant
    Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...

     as Victor, Earl of Rhyall
  • Deborah Kerr
    Deborah Kerr
    Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

     as Hilary, Countess of Rhyall
  • Robert Mitchum
    Robert Mitchum
    Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...

     as Charles Delacro
  • Jean Simmons
    Jean Simmons
    Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...

     as Hattie Durant
  • Moray Watson
    Moray Watson
    Moray Watson is an English actor.Watson's father was killed in Belgium in World War II. He was educated at Eton College and made his first appearance on stage whilst still a student at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art at a matinee performance in memory of Ellen Terry at Hythe, Kent...

    as Trevor Sellers, the Butler
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