Customer Reviews

The Philadelphia Story

5 star:		(145)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In 1940, Katherine Hepburn's movie career was in desperate condition. Her 1938 film BRINGING UP BABY, although recognized as a Howard Hawks's masterpiece today, was at the time a box office failure. The failure signaled the temporary end of demand for her talents in Hollywood, although she had HOLIDAY in the can (and costarring, like both BRINGING UP BABY and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, Cary Grant). So, she went back to the stage, in a play written specifically for her, and the subsequent hit was an unexpected and triumphant return to the screen for Hepburn. Her career never looked back again, especially when two years later she teamed with Spencer Tracy for the first time. Ironically, she originally requested that Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy play the Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart roles.

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY is such an extraordinarily well-done film that one can watch it repeatedly, reveling each time in new and hidden details. It strikes the perfect balance of being spectacularly well-acted, hysterically funny, and delightfully silly while maintaining an elegant veneer. The cast is nearly overwhelming in its quality, with Hepburn and Grant turning in especially fine performances. Jimmy Stewart is also superb, though he won an Oscar for this year that he probably didn't deserve. The Academy in 1940 may have been giving him the award as an apology for not having won the year before for MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. Unfortunately, this meant that Jimmy Stewart's best friend Henry Fonda failed to win for one of the finest performances in the history of American cinema, as Tom Joad in THE GRAPES OF WRATH. Still, although the Oscar clearly should have gone to Fonda, Stewart manages a great turn. He and Grant manage a great moment when Stewart adlibbed a hiccup, and Grant, not batting an eye, adlibbed, "Excuse me." The rest of the cast is flawless. Too many excel to mention, but special mention must be made of Roland Young as Uncle Willie, Virginia Weidler in a marvelous turn as Tracy Lord's precocious younger sister, and the erstwhile Errol Flynn nemesis Henry Daniell as the devious and unscrupulous Sidney Kidd.

Although this film holds up magnificently upon reviewings, there is nothing like seeing it for the first time. I remember vividly how exciting it was to watch this in the lamentably demised Lincoln Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, having absolutely no idea how the film was going to end only five minutes before the closing credits. Who will Tracy marry? Will she marry? How will the film managed to tie up all the loose ends.

I have a list of my all time favorite lines from films. One of my favorites comes from this one. On the morning after Tracy has gotten rip-roaringly drunk, she has almost no memories of what happened, but what she does recall makes her fear that she might have been in a compromising situation with Jimmy Stewart. After Stewart assures the confused and fearful Tracy Lord that nothing happened because she was drunk and "there are rules about that sort of thing," the infinitely relieved Tracy says, "I think men are wonderful."

The film has managed to permeate our culture in subtle ways, from inspiring musical remakes, to providing famous adult movie stars with their names, to providing foundations for jokes (in the Rocky and Bullwinkle adventure "The Ruby Yacht of Omar Khayyam," whenever Bullwinkle sees his jewel encrusted small boat, he mutters under his breath, "Yar, yar").

They make few movies of the level of quality as "The Philadelphia Story." This movie is just full of life, good and bad. Cary Grant, James Stewart and Katharine Hepburn are a trifecta of astounding talent, and they blend together with ease and style. Like real people, everyone has their faults and their strengths. Everyone is right and wrong at the same time, in their own way.

The dialog is so amazing, you want to quote it at every opportunity, although your life probably doesn't provide the opportunity to drop these kinds of quotes. The "High Society" at play, and the lowbrow crashers making their nickels and dimes all the while allowing their pretensions to art...this is great drama.

The DVD is not particularly exciting, and is a surprising let down for such an amazing film, however a film this great doesn't need extras. The main course is filling enough.

Definitely something you will watch over and over again. One of the best.

Hollywood has a long history of taking Broadway theatricals and turning them into successful films. In 1940, this process produced "The Philadelphia Story" which had been very popular while on the stage with Katherine Hepburn. As it happened, Katherine was given a lot of control over the film. She chose all the leads and virtually had the film adaptation custom crafted for her. The end result was a fabulous cast, great performances and one of the funniest scripts ever produced. One final bit of trivia, the studio claimed to have shot the entire film without the need for any second takes.

For the most part, this is an interesting film because it has interesting characters. And like any good cuisine, the ingredients are added with impeccable timing and in such a way as to produce a very spicy result. Instead of identifying with one central character, we are forced to wear the shoes of at least three. James Stewart plays, Macaulay Connor, a dissatisfied reporter working for a society rag. He represents the white-collar class. Hepburn and Cary Grant each represent the upper class. Hepburn is Tracy Samantha Lord, a wealthy heiress who is planning to wed for the second time, after rejecting her first husband on the grounds of what seems to be alcoholism. Grant plays that ex-husband, C. K. Dexter Haven, a now reformed drinker who is still in love with Tracy but is forced to make her life more difficult on the day before her upcoming nuptials.

There is a strong social commentary within the film. Tracy's betrothed, George Kittredge, is a working class lad who has worked his way to success. He is possibly the only unlikable character in the movie; as his ambitions are a little too obvious, his mind a little to shallow and his love a little too conditional. There is some early foreshadowing of doom for their relationship. The most obvious clue comes when George tries to mount his horse, after refusing help, and makes a botch of it. Each little scene is jam packed with meaning. The movie would certainly make an interesting study for film students.

All of the main characters, barring George, go through significant changes throughout the movie, even if they only change in our perceptions. Tracy's ice-princess veneer is shattered and she becomes a warm, vulnerable and loving woman. Macaulay drops his prejudices, finds some moral fibre and finally stands up for what he believes in. Dexter forgives himself and in doing so, forgives Tracy. Even Tracy's Father turns out to be a caring and wise figure, instead of the distant, immoral playboy we hear described at the start.

Overall the film is too clever for words. They just don't make films like this anymore. It actually relies on the audience to get the joke. The puns, cultural references and interactions are not forced down our throat with a laugh track and a snare-drum. That's not to say you have to work hard to "get" this film; it's more like talking with your friends; you just understand, without further explanation. Everything about this film is perfect, which makes it a delight to watch time and time again. If you don't mind classic black and whites, you'll love Philadelphia Story.

It's hard to overpraise THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940), the film version of a successful Broadway play by "society" playwright Phillip Barry. Everything about this movie is top-notch: the suavely witty jazz score, the book, the lavish interiors of Philadelphia "Main Line" mansions (truly the MGM "high gloss" touch at its finest), and especially the winning performances by Katharine Hepburn as slightly spoiled socialite Tracy Lord, Cary Grant as her ex, C.K. Dexter Haven, and especially Jimmy Stewart as Macauley ("Mike") O'Connor, yellow journalist for the tittle-tattle SPY magazine assigned to get the goods on the Philadelphia rich. And he does get the goods--and they almost get him, in a film that manages to be verbally witty, supremely funny situationally, yet upfront about American class divides in the prewar era. In fact, Jimmy Stewart's role was Oscar-winning, as the Academy was impressed by the depth and nuance he gave to his chip-on-the-shoulder journalist, following the idealistic title role of MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON the year before.

In classic screwball fashion, Tracy Lord (Hepburn) is scheduled to marry a self-made man who worships his maker, until neighbor and ex C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant) and interloping journalist Macauley ("Mike") Connor (Stewart) try to save her from her insane idealism by romancing her themselves! In a classic drunk scene, not politically correct today but funny nonetheless, Stewart serenades (perhaps "bellows" would be a better word) to the tune of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" the nearly comatose Tracy Lord after a night--and most of predawn morning--of champagne overconsumption. Then he goes looking for his presumed rival, the rich boy next door, "C.K. Dexter Haaaven!"

Really, there is nothing to fault in this highly polished jewel that shows MGM at its very best at the very height of the so-called "studio era." The supporting cast is equally solid and enjoyable and includes Ruth Hussey as Mrs. Embry, Connor's photog assistant, and the irrepressable pre-adolescent Virginia Weidler as Tracy's little sister Dinah, the resident smartass who says what others are thinking.

Is it worth the extra nine bucks for the two-disc edition? In my opinion yes, as it includes an hour-long documentary about celebrated Director George Cukor (whose other credits include THE WOMEN and A STAR IS BORN). Katharine Hepburn is on hand, too, in a self-produced 1993 autobio she called "All About Me."

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY is a "class act" in every sense of the word. Any home that wants to include Hollywood's best on its shelves should buy and enjoy this outstanding DVD.

This film is famous enough--justifiably, I might add--that I need not provide a synopsis. IMHO, it would be pretty hard not to enjoy the delicious antics played out in this Broadway-hit-turned-Hollywood-classic unless, like a previous reviewer, you have an extreme aversion to any of its cast members. No, my complaint is with the print itself.
Little or no restoration has been done, leaving images somewhat flickery and not very sharp with fairly poor contrast. Warner has done fine work on some of its other releases but I'm now inclined to wonder if it only applies to non-MGM titles--perhaps a little unresolved rivalry in evidence? There are subtitle and caption options and the lone extra is the original trailer which looks no worse in quality than the film itself. Sound is clear, plain-vanilla mono which is fine since that's how it was originally released.
This film was remade as a musical, High Society, in 1956 starring beautiful Grace Kelly who was, coincidentally, the daughter of Philadelphia parvenus before retiring to become Princess of Monaco. I personally prefer the original and would add that, predictably, Hepburn provides more convincing depiction of Yankee royalty as she was closer to the genuine article (I believe she was a DAR). My advice is that if you're a fan for whom this is a must-own (and I include myself among these numbers), try not to pay list for this no-frills release and hope for better things in the future.

This is a delightful romantic comedy about the life and loves of a high society girl. Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) is about to be married to George Kittredge (John Howard), a self made man who elevated himself from the lower class. The wedding is supposed to be a private affair, but Tracy's ex-husband C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) blackmails her into letting two reporters, Macaulay Conner and Elizabeth Imbrie (James Stewart and Ruth Hussey) cover the event. What ensues is a screwball courtship for the heart of Tracy as everyone falls in love with her at once.

Director David Cukor ("Little Women", "My Fair Lady") provides a fast paced comedy with rapid-fire repartee and fosters a bubbly chemistry between the cast members, which brims with laughs. Cukor received one of his five Oscar nominations for this film and it was well deserved.

Katharine Hepburn is marvelous as the blueblood bride to be. She is a well-grounded girl who is not beyond putting on airs for show. She is simultaneously sassy and dreamy and her comic timing is superb earning her one of twelve nominations for best actress. Despite a star's billing, Cary Grant plays a supporting role as the sarcastic Dexter Haven. With his deadpan delivery, he provides the perfect foil to Hepburn and Stewart.

Even with the luminous cast, Jimmy Stewart steals the show with a comedic tour de force. His inebriated scene with Cary Grant is uproariously funny and his puppy dog wooing of Katherine Hepburn is enchanting. It is hard to believe that James Stewart only won one Oscar in his outstanding career. Though nominated five times, the only role for which he won the statue is this one, a performance that is unquestionably among his best.

This tremendous comedy brings together three screen legends at the peak of their careers. It was nominated for six Academy Awards winning two, and it was rated #51 on AFI's top 100 of the century. It is a timeless classic that is sure to please. I rated it a 10/10. See it and enjoy.

It has taken me a while to warm to this 1940 classic probably because the characters are not as immediately likeable as others of the period, for example, Howard Hawks' "Bringing Up Baby". In what has to be her career-defining role, Katharine Hepburn was born to play imperious Main Line socialite Tracy Lord. As Hepburn herself says, the part fits her like a glove as her angular beauty is matched by the razor sharpness of her haughty, self-absorbed character. On the eve of her second marriage, Tracy is surrounded by three men who all want her at some point in the story. With whom she ends up is no surprise, but the journey there contains all the biting wit and human insight that one could hope for in what is essentially a drawing room comedy.

As the pretentiously named C.K. Dexter Haven, Tracy's ex-husband, Cary Grant surprisingly plays the most grounded character in the story, a romantic in cynic's clothing, watching others get caught in the fear of commitment and a gauzy haze of indecision. His only moment of typical Grant physical humor is right at the outset when in the classic opening scene, he reacts to Tracy's golf club-breaking defiance with a well-judged facial push. Together, along with the uproarious "Bringing Up Baby" and the sublime "Holiday", Hepburn and Grant made a dynamic, temperamentally compatible screen couple in their youth, a combustible tug-of-war between equals versus the more subservient role she played later with Spencer Tracy. Ironically, the triangle (or more accurately, quadrangle) element of this movie allows just enough interplay between the two in what was to be sadly their final film collaboration. As the third point, a young and refreshingly cynical James Stewart portrays Macauley "Mike" Connor, a reporter covering Tracy's nuptials for the gossipy "Spy" magazine. Connor turns out to be a talented, published short story author, which Tracy finds immediately attractive. Intriguingly, it is Mike, not Dexter, who gets the most romantic scene in the movie as he bathes Tracy in the moonglow of romantic foreplay before a midnight swim.

What is so refreshing about this triangle is that it never reduces itself to some heroic duel to win the damsel. In fact, both men have understandable reservations about Tracy's high-and-mighty stance and her inability to tolerate others' weaknesses. Dexter turns out to be an alcoholic whom Tracy enabled during their marriage, and this makes for some of the most incisive dialogue in the movie. Mike is really an anti-establishment type who is appalled by what he is doing, and he also has an unspoken relationship with Liz Imbrie, his smart-mouthed photographer sidekick who of course, pines for him. In one of the more painful scenes, Tracy's father, whose apparent indiscretion provides the blackmail-driven plot which allows "Spy" to cover Tracy's wedding, tells off his daughter by calling her a "prig" and a "perennial spinster" asserting she is as cold as a bronze statue. Of course, the one man who wants to worship her is her fiancé, George Kittredge, who is socially insecure among the old rich and reveals his true intolerance when he believes that Tracy is guilty of the same type of indiscretion that ironically Tracy accused her father. As you can imagine, it all ties up beautifully, and all these complications come through with a great deal of humanity thanks to the wonderful, sometimes surprisingly edgy dialogue in Philip Barry's original play and Donald Ogden Stewart's screen adaptation. It is fair to say that the rest of the cast is fine but overshadowed by the three superb and fully embodied leads. Ruth Hussey does what she can in showing her character's vulnerability between the wisecracks as Liz, and Virginia Wiedler has a few hammy scenes as Tracy's precocious sister Dinah. A major portion of the credit for this first-class production needs to go to estimable filmmaker George Cukor, who is completely in his element here guiding his players to their peak. A true classic.

The extras in the new two-disc DVD package are excellent. The first disc has informative albeit rather enthusiastic commentary by film historian and critic Jeannine Basinger, as well as ten trailers for various Cukor classics. I am happy to report the video and audio transfer of the film itself is clean. The second disc contains "Katharine Hepburn: All About Me--A Self Portrait", a wonderful, nearly two-hour, first-person documentary made in 1992. At 85, she is a ball of energy and still quite lucid as she reflects back on her career in somewhat scripted remembrances. But her true feelings come out when she speaks lovingly about Spencer Tracy or what her responses are on myths about her. Her true personality - abrupt, ribald, and hilarious - comes across in the at-home scenes with her devoted entourage. It's a great retrospective of a full life. The second documentary is the Cukor contribution to "The Men Who Made the Movies" series produced by Richard Schickel, an overview of the master director's career though it oddly stops at 1954's "A Star Is Born". Both documentaries are chock full of memorable film clips.

Just like going to the movies in the forties, one can see a short with the acerbically amusing Robert Benchley and a cartoon on the second disc. There are also two radio broadcast versions with the three leads. The one-hour 1942 version is burdened by bad, crackling sound and an intrusive Cecil B. DeMille commenting on the plot throughout. The half-hour 1947 broadcast is the more intriguing of the two, as the actors' voices have coarsened somewhat over seven years. Hepburn, in particular, seems rather disengaged until the romantic interlude with Stewart when he humorously stutters a line in typical Stewart fashion.

The first half hour of this movie might have you thinking that it will be a formulaic farce, but it quickly turns into a an interestingly off-balance look at the tension between societal expectations and true love, succeeding both as a light-hearted comedy and a serious commentary on the ultimate irrelevance of economic classes in the pursuit of love.
With lesser actors, the script might have turned into something heavy-handed and forced, but Hepburn, Stewart, and Hussey do a wonderful job of revealing vulnerabilities in their characters, something that transforms the action from soap opera to something special. Cary Grant performs admirably in his role as the once-favored of Hepburn, but his role lacks the emotional range of the roles that Hepburn and Stewart played. That aside, the acting is consistently great and quite moving, though 21st century sensibilities might find it a little too emotive. The work of the young Virginia Weidler, who would die too young in 1968 of a heart ailment, is just one among many other hidden gems in this film.

Please watch this film if you'd like an idea of what "romantic comedy" meant in the US at the dawn of WWII.

I am a big Katharine Hepburn fan. The actor I most watched happened to be Cary Grant. I also saw quite a number of George Cukor films(Dinner at Eight, David Copperfield, Little Women). And this is the best film made by any of them. It was not just Miss Hepburn, but the concerted effort of the whole cast and crew that made this B&W classic so dazzling.

The whole play is closely knitted and fast paced (sometimes the dialogues were so fast that it took a second time to watch the movie before I could truly appreciate the story). From the two reporters (James Stewart and Ruth Hussey) to the whole Tracy's family (younger sister Dina, father and mother, Uncle Willie), their performances were most credible and delightful. Even though the whole play revolved around Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn), each of the remaining cast was given an intriguing personality. Dina (Virginia Weidler) was the smart and critical teenager who balleted, singed and played the piano - an act of mockery for the inquisitive reporters. Liz (Ruth Hussey) was the photography reporter who chose not to disclose his love of Mike (James Stewart). Both reporters were honourable and would not blackmail the Lord's family for an exclusive coverage of Tracy's marriage. I remembered when I first watched it on a 20" TV, I was already captured by the grand mansion the Lord's family lived in and the atmosphere of the high class the film successfully created around the Lord's family. Miss Hepburn also put on 5 elegant sets of costumes within the first 15 minutes!

It is also interesting to note that though "High Society" , a remake of Philadelphia Story made 16 years later, was very successful with the unforgettable song "True Love" sung by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly on the movie, Philadelphia Story still stood the test of the time and remained a classic unsurpassed.

As for Miss Hepburn, Philadelphia Story was her vehicle and she deservedly re-established her fame and success through her unparalleled portrayal of Miss Tracy Lord. Katharine Hepburn was Tracy Lord - a role specially created for her on Broadway and she subsequently owned the movie rights, with the role of Dextor (Joseph Cotton on Broadway version) assumed by Cary Grant. Whether you are a fan of Katharine Hepburn, this is a classic of a classic you should not miss!

In the Philadelphia Story, Katherine Hepburn stars as Tracy Lord, one of Philadelphia's socialites. Tracy is about to marry a rich industrialist, George Kittredge (John Howard). Her ex-husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), shows up on the day before her wedding with a newspaper reporter, Macaulay "Mike" Connor (James Stewart) and photographer, Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) with a proposition for Tracy. Since she kicked him out of the house years earlier, C.K. blackmails her into having her wedding day covered by the two reporters for Spy, a gossip magazine. As the plots begin to twist and love's in the air, who will Tracy marry?

This is a funny, distinctive and romantic classic! You can't go wrong with Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart (who won an Oscar for his flawless performance) as the three lead characters. They're all ideal in their roles. The supporting cast is wonderful, too. Especially Virginia Weidler as Dinah Lord, Tracy's younger sister.

The Philadelphia Story is a must-see classic!