FILM REVIEWS

Cary Grant made his last film appearance before retiring from the screen, at age 62, in “Walk, Don’t Run,” an amiable comedy based on Geoge Stevens’  Oscar-nominated comedy, “The More the Merrier.”

Stevens’1943 film, starring Joel McCrea and Jean Arthur, dealt with romantic complications, arising due to the housing shortage in Washington D.C. during World War II. In Walk, Don’t Run, the story is updated to a housing shortage in Tokyo during the 1964 Olympic Games.

Going back to his roots, Grant plays British industrialist Sir William Rutland, who arrives in Tokyo two days before the start of the games and cannot find any accommodations.  In despair, he answers an ad for an “apartment to share” and convinces the occupant, Christine Easton (Samantha Eggar), to rent him a room.

The next day he meets the handsome Steve Davis (Jim Hutton), a member of the U.S. Olympic walking team. Steve also needs a room and convinces Christine to take him on as a second tenant. After meeting Christine’s pompous fiancé, Julius D. Haversack (John Standing), Rutland decides to exercise his matchmaking skills in an effort to get Christine and Steve together.

Running time: 113 Minutes.

Directed by Charles Walters.

Written By: Robert Russell, Frank Ross, Sol Saks

Released: June 29, 1966.

DVD: April 29, 2003.