Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress) play a wealthy divorced couple who are forced into close proximity for the preparations leading to Hepburn’s next marriage ceremony. To explore the rich themes of marriage, love, romance and the class system, we get the average Joe’s perspective from James Stewart as a reporter and Ruth Hussey as a photographer who are brought in deceitfully to cover the Philadelphia Socialite’s wedding. The dialogue is witty and the characterizations by Grant and Hepburn are exquisite. Massey’s performance got her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress and Stewart’s won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Hepburn starred in the play of The Philadelphia Story which Philip Barry wrote for Hepburn who backed the production and purchased the movie rights with the help of Howard Hughes so she could engineer a comeback after having a few flops. Donald Ogden Stewart won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award and George Cukor got nominated as Best Director but didn’t win. Roland Young as Uncle Willie and Virginia Weidler as Dinah Lord are sporting good fun to watch as they appropriately counter the pointedly staid John Howard, John Halliday and Mary Nash.
As I already promised Cary Grant will come later in a review all of his own; however, I will here recommend a few of Hepburn’s pictures which are worth seeing any day of the week: Bringing Up Baby (1938, a screwball comedy also starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn); Adam’s Rib (1949, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, directed by Cukor which I like much better than Pat and Mike [1952, directed by Cukor] or Desk Set [1957, directed by Walter Lang] which they both also starred in); The African Queen(1951, starring Humphrey Bogart in his Oscar-winning portrayal of Charlie Allnut and Katharine Hepburn, nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award, directed by Oscar Nominee John Huston); Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967, starring Spencer Tracy [Oscar nominated] and Katharine Hepburn in her Oscar-winning role; Oscar-winning script by William Rose, nominated for best picture and best director Stanley Kramer; 10 Oscar nominations in total); The Lion in Winter(1968, starring Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn in her Oscar-winning role; directed by Anthony Harvey, seven nominations total with three Oscar wins); Rooster Cogburn (1975, starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn) and On Golden Pond (1981, starring Katharine Hepburn in her Oscar-winning role, also starring Henry Fonda in his Oscar-winning role and Jane Fonda in her Oscar-nominated Best Supporting Actress role; directed by Mark Rydell; ten nominations total with three Oscar wins including Adapted Screenplay for Ernest Thompson from his play). Hepburn was nominated in 1933 for her role in Morning Glory as well as some other productions but I have not seen them or feel I can personally recommend them at this time; although it’s probably true that none of her movies would ever be a waste of time. As always, I suggest you look at the awesome webpage www.imdb.com if you wish to discover a complete filmography.
As to James Stewart again there is probably no movie of his that wouldn’t be worth seeing; however, some of my personal favorites are You Can’t Take It With You (1938, starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart and Lionel Barrymore amongst other great cast members, directed by Frank Capra and in my humble opinion much better than It’s A Wonderful Life [1946, which also was directed by Frank Capra]); Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939, starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur and Claude Rains, also directed by Frank Capra);Broken Arrow (1950); The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart and Doris Day); Cheyenne Autumn (1964) ; The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) [the remake of that from 2004 is okay, too, especially if you like Giovanni Ribisi and/or Hugh Laurie] ;Harvey (1972, TV Movie); and The Shootist (1976, starring John Wayne; Lauren Bacall and Ron Howard). I’m sure some of you are feeling like I missed some titles there but those are most likely movies I will recommend with reservations to be discussed at a later date or not.
Nominated for six Academy Awards including Ruth Massey’s performance for Best Supporting Actress, Best Director for George Cukor and Best Production for Joseph L. Mankiewicz, this film was released in December 1940. George Cukor directed several films with Hepburn which I did not already mention such as A Bill of Divorcement (1932, starring John Barrymore and Billie Burke); Sylvia Scarlett (1935) and Little Women (1933) but with other stars which I recommend more such as Dinner at Eight (1933, starring John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke and Wallace Beery); David Copperfield(1935, starring Freddie Batholomew, W. C. Fields and Lionel Barrymore);Gaslight (1944, starring Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotton, Angela Lansbury and which won Ingrid Bergman her first Best Actress Oscar). Incidentally Cukor was fired from Gone with the Wind (1939) and some of the scenes he shot are in the final version. I really wonder if I wouldn’t have liked that movie so much more if he had been kept on as the director for the whole production!
Personal favorites of Mr. Mankiewicz include The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947, starring Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney, directed by Makiewicz and produced by Fred Kohlmar and a tear-jerker so don’t forget to keep those hankies handy) andAll About Eve (1950, starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders and Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter which was written and directed by Mankiewicz and produced by Daryl Zanuck, winner of multiple Oscars and apparently still holding onto its record for the most female acting nominations at four). If you are an actress this is obviously a must-see!
The Philadelphia Story was remade as the musical High Society (1956, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong) which I find annoying and barely watchable but honestly I don’t like many musicals. I make an exception for two: Guys and Dolls (1955, starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser) and My Fair Lady (1964, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn and directed by Cukor, winner of eight Academy Awards from the Lerner and Loewe musical adaptation of the 1938 film adaptation of the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw). I like these two because the music keeps me humming while I iron my shirts and darn my socks! I WAS KIDDING – but I really do like those two movies for their music.
Favorite Quotes: (James Stewart as Macaulay Connor) “Doggone it, C. K. Dexter Haven, either I’m gonna sock you or you’re gonna sock me.” “Shall we toss a coin?” (Cary Grant as C. K. Dexter Haven)
Trivia Quote: "I have no one to thank but myself!” [Donald Ogden Stewart during his Oscar acceptance speech]
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Running Time: 112 Minutes
The next installment in my top ten films of all time alphabetically is Psycho!
No comments:
Post a Comment