Once upon a Time

Cary Grant is, irrefutably, the greatest movie star of all time. For evidence, take a look at Once Upon a Time, an airy soufflé of a movie about a once-hot Broadway producer named Jerry Flynn (Grant), now on a cold streak, who discovers a young orphan boy with a dancing caterpillar. Convinced this will save his theater from being reclaimed by the bank, Flynn skillfully turns the caterpillar into a media sensation and becomes a substitute father for the boy--but he plans to sell the caterpillar to the highest bidder, even though he promised the boy that he wouldn't. The surprise in the movie is not how impossibly charming Grant is, but how willing he was to take chances; Flynn becomes more of a villain than you'd ever expect before he sees the right path, and Grant doesn't shy away from it. A slight movie, but a superb performance. --Bret Fetzer