135. The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Running Time: 112 minutes
Directed By: George Cukor
Written By: Donald Ogden Stewart, from play by Philip Barry
Main Cast: Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Ruth Hussey, John Howard

TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS...AND SOMETIMES TURNS BAD MOVIES TO GREAT ONES

In my previous post, at the end, I mentioned that upon a previous viewing of "The Philadelphia Story", I wasn't all that impressed with it. Well, this is why I always say, always give a movie two chances, because upon first viewing you may not be in the mood or you may miss things that you begin to see upon a second viewing. I highly enjoyed "The Philadelphia Story", for the most part thanks to Jimmy Stewart, but Hepburn and Grant didn't do a bad job either.

Two years after Tracy Lord (Hepburn) divorces her husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant), she's set to marry George Kittredge, a high society type, much like Tracy, and someone she feels will give her the life that she always wanted and never got with Dexter. With the high society reputation of Tracy and George, Spy magazine editor Sidney Kidd, is eager to cover the wedding, so he sends his top two agents, reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor (Stewart) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Hussey), along with Dexter into the home of the Lords' family. With the excuse that Connor and Imbrie are friends of Tracy's brother Julius. However, the ruse is quickly uncovered by the quick witted Tracy and Dexter spills the beans regarding the reporters and the real identities of Connor and Imbrie. To keep her father's name, which has recently been tarnished, out of the pages of Spy magazine, Tracy submits to the presence of the reporters, however her and the rest of the family begin their own ruse, making sure that Connor and Imbrie are none the wiser that they're onto them.

The film progresses and as it does Tracy becomes smitten with Macaulay Connor. It also becomes apparent that Dexter has not totally lost all of his feelings for his ex-wife and that there possibly may still be a spark between them. George is, of course, still in the picture and the wedding is never halted, despite the "quadrangle" that seems to be forming.

I can't for the life of me remember what my initial problems with this movie were, but that really doesn't matter now, as another viewing seems to have done the trick and turned me into a supporter of "The Philadelphia Story". My main reasons for enjoying this movie were Jimmy Stewart, who started out as a someone who seemed to have all the expressions and dialogue of any man who had been thrown into such a slapstick situation with Hepburn, which was mass confusion and bewilderment. But Stewart settles in and the scenes where he has consumed way too much wine are absolutely hilarious. I mean, where else are you going to see good old Eagle scout Mr. Smith drunk off his ass and hiccuping as he tries to exclaim his feelings for Tracy Lord. Priceless. I also loved the small bit of banter between Connor and the librarian, which cracked me up big time. This film also made me realize that maybe I've been a bit tough on Cary Grant. He was actually quite good in this picture and played a role that I loved him in, straight laced and always there to give the good advice or set someone straight. This was unlike many of his previous roles where he played a smarmy character, who always got the last word (ie. His Girl Friday, The Awful Truth). Hepburn was charming too, playing an elegant snob, who you couldn't help but think was as cute as a button. It's the performances by the wonderful cast that give this movie a place in history and a place in the book entitled "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die".

RATING: 8.5/10 I deducted a couple of points, only because a '10' seemed a tad too high. A few days of recollection could change that though.

NEXT UP: The Grapes of Wrath...Did I ever mention that I LOVE Henry Fonda? I've been waiting to watch this one for a long time.

June 27, 2010 5:20pm