The African Queen

After I finally sat down to watch The African Queen, the I immediately wondered why it had taken so long to check it off my list.  I loved it.  It’s the kind of film that feels tailored to me: action and adventure down the wild jungle rivers of Africa with a surprisingly welcome bit of romance.

Rose (Katharine Hepburn) is a British missionary in Africa with her brother in the early twentieth century.  Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) is a steamboat captain who brings them mail and news, including that Germany and Britain are at war.  By the next time Allnut visits, Germans have burned the village to the ground and Rose’s brother is dead.  Taking pity on the lady, Allnut takes her with him on the river.  Seeing he has a load of explosives and old canisters of gas, Rose gets an idea to make torpedoes and attack a German ship.  The river journey ahead of them is long and treacherous, but along it they may find strength in each other and even love.

This film quickly becomes a thrilling ride of an adventure.  In fact, it’s rumored that Walt Disney was inspired by The African Queen to create the Jungle Cruise ride.  All along the river are wild animals, bugs, Germans and white water rapids.  The rapids scenes are hair raising moments that make you hold on and release you into euphoric celebration alongside our characters.  It’s so much fun!

Inside the boat, there is at first tension between Charlie and Rose.  She, being so straight-laced, despises the way he drinks and he, being more laid back and not the happiest drunk, gets annoyed with her stuffiness easily.  When Rose pours all of Charlie’s gin into the river, the scene rivals Pirates of the Caribbean for angry “Why is the booze gone?” moment.  But after a close call down the rapids, which Rose handles like a champ, a spark is lit between them.

For the next scene or two, the nervous emotion between our leads is electric.  In my mind, it rivals some of the greatest love scenes in its sweet and awkward sincerity.  By the time their new found love and attraction is out in the open, it’s just as much an uplifting relief for the audience as it is for the characters.

The African Queen was nominated for four Academy Awards and won only one.  It was nominated for best screenplay, John Huston for director, Katharine Hepburn for best lead actress and Humphrey Bogart won for best lead actor.  In my mind, this is the best film of 1951.  Okay, I’ll let it tie with A Streetcar Named Desire, but I finally understand how Brando didn’t win that Oscar.

Bogart is so energetic and endearing throughout the film.  He seems to channel a bit of Buster Keaton’s character in The General in the way that he is so in tune with The African Queen.  I love how Bogart gets up on the side of the boat and kicks the boiler with both feet to fix it.  The early scene with his stomach growling is subtly hilarious and makes his character softer than his bristly face would suggest.  His gin swilling side in the beginning of the film is wonderfully rough, yet gels well with his more lovable side later in the film.  In the end, it may have been Bogart’s ridiculous hippo impression that sealed that Oscar envelope.

If you enjoy action, adventure, romance, Bogart and Hepburn (and who doesn’t?) you absolutely must see The African Queen.  Honestly, go now, it’s on Netflix Instant.  I imagine children will eat this movie up, with all the fun and thrilling moments journeying down the river.  They’ll probably get a kick out of the random b-roll of wild animals edited in and the adults can enjoy unforgettable performances by Bogart and Hepburn.

“Never say die.  That’s my motto.”

Bringing Up Baby

As one of the most delightful screwball comedies of the 1930’s, Bringing Up Baby, has been enjoyed by generations and all ages.  Directed by Howard Hawks, it is the story of befuddled boy meets impulsive girl and she gets in the way of his museum’s grant for one million dollars.  Not the best way to capture his heart.  But she can keep him beside her if he thinks that she is in danger of a leopard in her apartment.  Don’t worry, Baby is as docile as a kitten, I hope.

The boy in question is Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant in thick glasses).  We meet him contemplating high in the air next to a brontosaurus skeleton.  He is engaged to marry Miss Alice Swallow (Virginia Walker) tomorrow and their match seems less than romantic.  She clearly states that, “Our marriage must contain no domestic entanglements of any kind.”  Looks like all work and no play coming up for David.

The girl is Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn in her first comedy).  At first, she just seems daffy, accidentally taking David’s ball at the golf course, then his double parked car, against all his logical explanations that it is clearly his.  Later, we see it is all a ploy as she attempts to win his heart.  After she realizes that taking him away from the golf course had cost him one million dollars, she tries to make it up to him, but her live-wire antics keep getting in the way.  When he is about to leave, and get married on top of that, the luck that she has a leopard in her apartment brings them together again and out to her aunt’s home in Connecticut.

Winning over a no-nonsense paleontologist is not easy when the fossil he has been waiting for has been snatched up and buried by your dog.  Or when he has had the misfortune of meeting your aunt in nothing but a fluffy cuffed bathrobe.  Clearly, David is just annoyed by Susan for a good duration of the film, but watching him endure such frustrations and embarrassments is fun and makes him a more likable character.  Who knows, maybe all that screwy fun will bring him around to Susan.

The film is filled with delightfully hilarious moments.  David and Susan working together to get out of a formal party with their wardrobe malfunctions unnoticed had me in stitches.  The misadventures on the road with Baby in the car were a riot.  Misjudging the depth of a stream whole leopard hunting ends in a huge laugh.  And Susan repeatedly stealing cars out of the blue never gets old.

Bringing Up Baby is a wonderful hoot of a film.  Hepburn and Grant play off each other with perfect chemistry.  Unfortunately, the film bombed at the box office so badly that Hepburn became labeled “box office poison.”  That certainly didn’t attract the Academy.  Yet today Bringing up Baby is a treasured film, showing how a screwball comedy should be played and winning over more and more viewers, including me.

“There is a leopard on your roof and it’s my leopard and I have to get it and to get it I have to sing.”

The Lion in Winter

I watched A Lion in Winter with my mom and sister, while I spent a little time at home.  Supportive of my blogging mission, they were excited to watch a best picture nomination with me.  Shortly into the film, they both had their questions and comments.  “Which Henry is he again?  John looks like such a slob.  Is that Katharine Hepburn?”  I always enjoy a little banter while watching these films.  However, about an hour into the movie, mom had fallen asleep and my sister spent most of the time looking at her phone.  I warned them that A Lion in Winter may not be their taste in movies, but I think they were curious as to what a “British costume drama” actually was.

After the film ended and my mom woke up, I gave her the gist of what happened.  I could tell they both lost interest because of the historical time period, rather than the dramatic family based plot.  King Henry II (Peter O’Toole) has allowed his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn) to leave the Tower of London over the winter holiday so they may all visit with their three sons, who all want to be named successor to the throne.  Henry also has his mistress, Alais (Jane Merrow) around, whom he wants to marry, and her brother, King Philip of France (Timothy Dalton), who starts to make deals with each of the possible future kings behind Henry’s back.

The pull over which brother will be named the future king of England is the main source of family tension.  Richard (Anthony Hopkins in his debut role) is the strongest and most handsome of the brothers, but has a quiet and meek side as well.  While Eleanor is pushing for Richard, Henry would rather give the throne to the youngest son, John (Nigel Terry).  Just by his appearance we see what a mistake this would be, John is a messy-haired slob who can’t stand up straight.  Plus, he just whines and expects the throne because daddy promised it to him.  Then there is poor Geoffrey (John Castle), the crafty but forgotten middle son who just is not satisfied with being a duke.

The character chemistry is what works best in this film.  With Eleanor trying to manipulate Richard with guilt, Geoffrey trying to lead John, and all three sons scheming with Philip, all these alliances flow and intertwine flawlessly.  Best of all are the scenes between Henry and Eleanor.  O’Toole and Hepburn make their characters interact with the most fluid mix of love and loathing that makes this film a shear joy to watch.  At one point, I made some natural chuckle of delight watching these two in an argument, to which my sister looked up and asked what was so funny.

When I asked my sister what she thought about the movie, she said, “It was good, but all they did was talk.”  For your casual, twenty-first century movie goer who generally doesn’t watch movies more than twenty years old, that seems like a normal reaction.  No harm, no foul.  Yes, most of the action comes in the form of dialogue and long eloquent speeches, but they’re so telling and beautifully delivered. The part that made me smile though, is that my sister did recognize that it was good.  There’s no hiding that.  And Katharine Hepburn simply should not have shared that Oscar, it was all hers.

“I could peel you like a pear, and God, himself, would call it justice.”

Funny Girl

Loosely based on the life of Fanny Brice, Funny Girl tells the story of the young Jewish girl’s rise to becoming the star of Zeigfeld’s Follies through her comedic talent, not necessarily her looks.  When I say loosely, I mean the film takes a lot of liberties leaving out many events in Brice’s life and the character becomes more iconic Barbra Streisand than anything else.  I would not consider this a biopic, but rather a musical inspired from Brice’s life.

Fanny’s only aspiration is only to become a star, but everyone can see that her looks may hold her back.  She works hard trying out for any part out there, even if she has no idea how to roller skate, she’ll do it.  Through some blunders, she realizes that her main talents are singing and comedy.  However, when she is picked by the great Florenz Zeigfeld (Walter Pidgeon) to become one of his famed Follies, she sees that she might be a fish out of water.  With a daring and unconventional surprise, she propels herself forward into stardom.  Along her way to the top, she meets a handsome gentleman who makes his fortune by gambling, Nick Arstein (Omar Sharif).  He’s a dreamboat who wants to give Fanny everything she’s ever dreamed of, it seems too good to be true for this rising star.

This is the kind of musical that’s so wonderfully quirky and utterly full of Streisand, most are likely to either love it or hate it.  I was surprised how much I loved it, perhaps my closeted Glee fan status helps this out quite a bit.  If any Gleeks have not seen Funny Girl, it’s essential to many references throughout the show.

Streisand’s Fanny was a little annoying at first, but she really grew on me.  Even better, I always thought she was at her best while singing.  Best of all, many of the songs are wonderfully funny in a surprising way.  In the red private restaurant scene, the duet between Nick and Fanny had me cracking up with lines like, “Isn’t this the height of nonchalance, furnishing a bed in restaurants?”

What I loved about Fanny are her reasons for becoming a comedian.  Her legs are too thin to be a chorus girl and her nose doesn’t make her a typical beauty queen.  She knows this, and in that ornate, perfectly Zeigfeld bridal finale full of fair and practically perfect women, Fanny turns her lead role on its head at the last minute, knowing exactly how to win over the crowd.  Her comedic genius stems from a defense mechanism, and it works perfectly for her.  Over and over throughout the film, it’s intriguing to see how Fanny uses her funny girl talents to ease the pain in tough situations.

Now, when you look at the Oscar history records and see that Streisand tied for best actress with Katharine Hepburn, there is something to keep in mind.  Streisand was a voting member of the Academy that year and, of course, voted for herself.  I don’t blame her, who wouldn’t do that?  I drove over an hour just to hold the Oscar that later went to Jeff Bridges.  But to vote for yourself, and knowing that that one vote tied you once with the great 4 win, 12 nomination Hepburn, it feels like an awkward joke.  It’s like being a freshman who invited yourself to a senior party.  After all, this was Streisand’s very first film.

“Who told you you’re allowed to rain on my parade?”

Alice Adams

Don’t most girls feel vulnerable or counted out due to their socioeconomic status at some point?  There is always an emphasis on wearing the right clothes to the right places and having things or a home to reflect a high enough status to be accepted. When this film begins, Alice (Katharine Hepburn) is anxiously getting ready for a party, but cannot even afford flowers from the shop for a little corsage.  She pretends she’s only looking around, acting too good for the flowers that are too expensive for her and ends up hastily picking flowers from a local park before anyone can catch her.  If she had been caught in action this day in age, there might have been a nasty viral text, possibly with an incriminating image circulating the teen social circles.

When Alice gets home, we see that her flowers are not the only problem.  She has to wear an old frumpy dress, looking a little too childish for her age and none of the boys asked her to go as a date.  Her brother, Walter (Frank Albertson) takes her, but leaves her looking like a wallflower while he rolls dice in the coat room.  Through it all, Alice keeps her chin up and finds a way to smile.  It seems like a miracle when a dashing young man, Arthur (Fred MacMurray) genuinely asks her to dance.

Alice’s mother (Ann Shoemaker) blames the social woes Alice has to bear on her father, Virgil (Fred Stone).  He has loyally worked a local drugstore for decades with no advancement, and has been on a generous sick leave for a while.  His wife urges him, for the sake of making Alice more desirable for a suitor, to seek more money, or better yet open that glue factory he knows a secret formula for.  The way Virgil sees it, he is in no position to ask for a raise or take a huge financial risk with a glue recipe he knows is equally the property of Mr. Lamb (Charley Grapewin).  But seeing the despair and heartbreak their meager status brings his daughter may be enough for a father to risk it.

Despite Alice’s lack of status, things seem to be going well between her and Arthur.  Mrs. Adams thinks that inviting Arthur over to a nice dinner would help speed up the engagement process.  With Alice and her mother buzzing about the house to make sure everything is perfect, the dinner slowly becomes disastrous.

Hepburn portrayal of sweet, nervous Alice is moves us to like her and cheer her on, even when we want her to just relax.  Poor Alice’s intentions are good and pure, but her approach is far too forced.  She tries so hard to be perfect, whether she’s pretending to be too good for the flowers at the shop, trying not to look like a wallflower at the dance or mustering a fake smile when it seems that all the dinner plans have gone terribly.  Hepburn brings out these qualities masterfully, earning her her second Oscar nomination, but unlike her first, it was only a nomination.

The film turns into a cute lesson in being enough just the way you are, even though Booth Tarkington’s novel had a much different ending.  That’s just how 1930’s Hollywood goes.

“A penny for your thoughts.”

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Coming home to break the big news of an engagement is stressful enough, but in Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, an emerging social issue was tossed in: interracial marriage.  John (Sidney Poitier) and Joey (Katharine Houghton) hope that the fact that she is white and he is black won’t be a big deal.  As they make their way from the airport, we see that it’s John who is more worried about how Joey’s parents will react to their racial differences.  Joey, young, naive and bubbly, thinks her parents will be fine with it.  After all, they have raised her to be this liberal and accepting.

It turns out, that this idea was better accepted in theory than in practice.  Joey’s mother Christina (Katharine Hepburn) is so excited for her daughter, until she actually gets a look at John.  The shot of her face dropping from happiness to shock is priceless.  When Joey’s father, Matt (Spencer Tracy) comes home, it takes him a moment to realize just what the situation is.  This is his daughter and only child, crushing her love won’t be easy, but when John tells Matt, in confidence from Joey, that he will not marry Joey without his approval, the decision carries even more weight.

As if things were not crazy enough, Joey tells John to invite his own parents over for dinner.  They don’t know that Joey is white and her parents weren’t expecting more guests.  For Tillie (Isabell Sanford), the family’s maid, who also happens to be black and doesn’t approve of John and Joey’s relationship, this is just more work and more racial tensions.  It’s obvious from the start that John doesn’t know how to talk to Tillie, but she’s not afraid to share her low opinion of him.

The best chemistry here, perhaps the best in film history, is between Tracy and Hepburn.  As the aging liberal parents coming face to face with their ideals, they are both gob smacked and confused.  While Christina is slowly being swept up in her daughter’s happiness of new-found love, Matt is looking at the cold facts of their society.  The pressure is on him to decide whether or not to approve of their marriage and he knows the huge obstacles the two will face for the rest of their lives.  What brings him to his final decision is remembering how it was to first fall in love with Christina.  A Tracy/Hepburn film never disappoints, and their final performance together, finished just months beforeTracy’s death is one of the most weighty and poignant of their careers.

Today interracial marriages are much more accepted than they were in 1967.  In recent years, the story has been flipped where the man was white and meeting the girl’s black family.  Unfortunately, 2005’s Guess Who just latched itself to tasteless stereotypes, making Ashton Kutcher a white-boy fish out of water.  Unless you’re into mediocrity, skip that and stay with the original classic.  But I wonder it it’s only a matter of time before this film is revamped for a homosexual couple.  It could be a great modern interpretation, or just another shameless remake with offensive gay jokes.  I think time will tell.

“I don’t think I’m going to faint, but I’ll sit down anyway.”

On Golden Pond

Only at the age of twenty-five, I’ve already found bits of me growing old.  Those few gray hairs have already multiplied to a streak and after a good downhill hike, I feel it all through my hip the next day.  There used to be some unspoken idea of invincibility floating through my mind, now I see that if we’re lucky enough to see our prime there will be a decline.  Of body and possibly the mind.  But as we inevitably age, we should not let these truths become a burden.  It’s important to take each year as a celebration and find happy things to come back to that will help keep us young in spirit.

In the film On Golden Pond, an old couple returns to their summer lake cottage they have had since their days as newly weds.  Right away, Ethel (Katharine Hepburn) is excited to return, “The loons, they’re welcoming us back.”  “I don’t hear a thing,” says her husband, Norman (Henry Fonda).  At first we get the idea that Norman is an old foggy, just a grouchy old man who’s mind is going along with his body.  He only lets his guard down around Ethel, the scenes where he can admit to his fear when forgetting things is heartbreaking and sweet.  I could not bear the thought of Norman and Ethel split apart.

Their only child, Chelsea (Jane Fonda), will be visiting with her fiancé and his son for Norman’s 80th birthday.  Norman and Ethel haven’t seen Chelsea for years.  They love her just as much, but it seems their relationship is strained, especially between father and daughter.  Chelsea and Bill (Dabney Coleman) can only stay for one day, since they’re going to Europe and ask if young Billy (Doug McKeon) can stay there for a few weeks.  It seems kinda low at first to just pop in for a quick visit and ask for some babysitting services, but having a thirteen year old boy around does Norman a lot of good.  Though there’s some immediate friction, Norman and Billy become thick as thieves and have some adventures together between weeks of boating, swimming and fishing for old Walter.  But when Chelsea returns, she’s jealous of the quick bond Billy has made that she has always wanted with her father.

There’s something amazing about watching two of the greatest veteran actors together in their golden years.  Hepburn and Fonda both won lead acting Oscars for their perfect portray a pair of old loons still busting with life.  Sadly, On Golden Pond was Fonda’s final film.  Between his hilariously delivered smart-ass-old-man lines, “Oh, sure.  Black bears, grizzlies.  One of ’em came along here and ate an old lesbian just last month.”, and his touching moments of vulnerability, this really is one of his greatest roles.  It’s wonderful to see him become suddenly invigorated by the presence of a young boy.  And Hepburn’s portrayal of an old woman who doesn’t live by her age is amazing.  From old song and dance routines she does alone, practicing her loon calls and even diving into perilously cold waters, Hepburn’s Ethel is an amazing woman.  Best of all, Norman and Ethel together are the perfect couple who have only bonded closer after so many years.

On Golden Pond is such a touching story filled with reasons to celebrate life, love and happiness.  There are so many films out there about youth and young love, but films about happy people in their seventies or eighties are very few and far between.  Our culture tends to dismiss people after too many wrinkles or candles on the cake.  If we can make it to those high numbers, what an accomplishment, what a life.  And if after fifty years together you can still call your spouse a friend, you’ve got more to celebrate than most people.  I’m not big on tears, or admitting to them, but this film made me cry and thankfully my husband was there.  I only hope to say the same thing in fifty years.

“Life marches by, Chels. I suggest you get on with it.”

Little Women

Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott, Little Women tells the story of four sisters during the Civil War.  Their father (Samuel S. Hinds) is serving in the army as a minister, leaving the mother (Spring Byington) and four daughters to find ways to get by on hard times.

The girls all seem to be in their mid to late teens, the perfect age to mix in some mischief while going an extra mile now and then to help those in need.  Jo (Katharine Hepburn) is headstrong, loud, adventurous and the tomboy of the family.  She has a knack for writing and possibly a soft spot for Laurie (Douglass Montgomery), the boy next door.  Meg (Frances Dee) is the eldest and a romantic who finds herself torn between the wonderful life she and her sisters have and the love of Brooke(John Lodge), Laurie’s tutor.   Amy (Joan Bennett) is a pretty, proud, preening blond and Beth (Jean Parker) is the shy, quiet sister with a passion for piano.  Together, they make sacrifices, are rewarded for their good deeds and must face both good and bad times.

One thing that really made this film enjoyable is the relationship between the sisters.  In today’s films it seems that every family is classified under dysfunctional, like it isn’t cool to actually enjoy one another anymore.  In Little Women, the sisters are better in numbers.  They laugh, sing and play together in a perfect harmony.  It isn’t so wholesome it’s sickening either, it’s just fun and can make the viewer so happy to see a family so happy.

And it’s true that no one knows you like your family.  The best part about a solid family is that you have no problem just being yourself.  When Jo constantly shouts, “Christopher Columbus!” that’s just her thing, and her sisters accept it, even though it’s a bit rude.  Before they go out to a nice party they scold Jo and warn her not to say such vulgar things.

At a certain point in the film, I couldn’t help but smile and realize how lucky it is to enjoy one’s siblings.  Though we didn’t always get along so well when we were younger, today my siblings and I are thick as thieves when we’re together.  We have our weird games, certain ticks that come out when we’re together and know just how to make each other laugh until we all look like idiots.  Now that we’re all living apart, we seem to be more thankful for our good relationship and savor our time together.  I think that’s one lesson to be taken away from Little Women, but I hope you don’t have to watch a movie to appreciate your family.

If you’re looking for a fun, wholesome, family film, Little Women is perfect.  Especially if you have four little girls running around.

“If wearing hair up means becoming a lady, I’ll wear it down until I’m 100 years old.”

Stage Door

A boarding house is full of young actresses hoping to be discovered on Broadway.  Daily they talk of the rehearsals they were in, the parts they lost and nearly got not with jaded pessimism, but sarcastic hope.  When Terry Randall (Katharine Hepburn) walks in looking very high class with too much luggage and seeking accommodations, the girls push her away as an outsider and a threat.  What’s a rich girl with such a big wardrobe doing in a dump like this?  It seems that Terry wants to break into the business on her own, not with her family’s high class influence.

Among the countless girls in the boarding house are Jean (Ginger Rogers) and Kay (Andrea Leeds).  Jean, a smart mouthed blond, gets Terry as a new roommate and through her meets Powell, am important producer of plays.  Kay is desperate for a part, she’s behind on her rent and on the edge of being kicked out of the boarding house.  When Terry lands the leading role in Powell’s newest play, it tears Kay up inside and drives her to desperate measures.

The thing about Terry is she is not a good actress until tragedy strikes and she finds herself to blame.  Only until then is she able to pull from her own raw emotions and bring beauty to the stage.  That concept makes the film all the more enjoyable.

In the boarding house, there is safety in numbers and confidence knowing you’re not alone.  Together these girls can confide in each other, share their disappointments and build each other up.  They find courage and a shield from their failures in sarcasm; nearly every girl in that house is a fluent in it.  All that is wonderful, but it creates a lot of talk and not much action.  In some scenes, the girls all talk back and forth so fast with hidden jokes in the conversation it feels like an episode of Gilmore Girls, only with purpose and classic style.

Really, Stage Door is just an alright film about the odds against becoming a successful performer uplifted by the way the girls pull together.  The massive amounts of chatter start to drone towards the middle, suddenly everyone is upset and there’s a teary end.  Maybe if you enjoy girlpower/girltalk chick flicks this could really appeal to you, otherwise all those hens clucking could give you a headache.

“When I get back to my room, you’re the only thing I want to find missing.”

The Philadelphia Story

Wait…this was a comedy?

Shortly after Tracy (Katharine Hepburn) and Dexter (Cary Grant) are married they have a heated divorce.  Two years later, she’s getting ready to marry respectable George.  Dexter has plans to spoil the big day and even get it in the dreaded tabloid, Spy, after blackmailing Tracy with a juicy story about her father and a dancer.  James Stewart plays Macaulay Connor, a talented writer trying to find the balls to resign from Spy, but until then, covering Tracy’s wedding.  But the night before the wedding, everyone gets drunk and scandalous incidents occur that could ruin the big day.

The plot sounds like it could be hilarious, but it’s dry as a bag of bird seed.  There are some decent one-liners, a joke or two, but they just don’t stick the landing.  The plot tries too hard when at first, Tracy has to jump through hoops trying to trick Macaulay all day.  But after she’s good and wasted she’s all over him in the backyard.  The only honest laugh out of me this entire film was when Stewart says, “Wee!” while being spun drunk in a wheelbarrow.

Most of the funny parts are snuffed too quickly to get a laugh, or any emotion, out.  I guess towards the end, when half an hour is spent dwelling on whether Tracy slept with Stewart is supposed to be funny.  Maybe it was back then, but now it was just watching a hung-over bride have her virtue on trial by three men (and her little sister).  It could have been so much funnier, without treading into rude or raunchy waters, like it surely would today.

Stewart is fun to watch though, especially when he’s drunk enough to stumble into Dexter’s home at four in the morning with a bottle of champagne and a Dixie cup.  The earliest of Stewart’s movies I had seen before this was Rope (1948), so the moment he walked on screen with his hat askew like a skinny, plucky kid I immediately said, “Holy crap, he’s so young!”  He’s the one thing that pulls this soggy story out of the water and gets the viewer interested.

Hepburn portrays Tracy too much as a snobby bitch/loose whore to really captivate the viewers.  They desperately try to steer her away from those traits, but really that’s what we’re all thinking.  She has human moments, but they’re fleeting and soon she’s either down in her gutter or back on her pedestal.  Stewart’s real, and that’s why he wins for Best Actor.

So how can I recommend The Philadelphia Story? Well, Stewart, Hepburn and Grant fans can put this on their list.  People who like socialites and big parties from the ‘40’s, sure, why not?  Everyone else might just shrug and go, “Meh.”

“I thought all writers drank to excess and beat their wives. You know one time I secretly wanted to be a writer.”