A film
review by fourstarfilmfan.wordpress.com on December 26, 2015.
If there
ever was a benchmark for the sophisticated, high-society brand of comedy, The Philadelphia Story is most certainly
it. It’s less screwball because instead of Howard Hawks, George Cukor takes the helm and injects the film with his more
refined sensibilities. It’s still very much hilarious and impeccably witty, but
it’s not quite as scatterbrained as it could have been. Once more you have the
iconic pairing of Cary Grant with Katharine Hepburn. Previously they had
been in two other Cukor pictures (Sylvia
Scarlett and Holiday) and of
course Hawks’ romp Bringing up Baby.
However, this time they’re joined by another cinematic titan in James Stewart and it proves to be a
wonderful battle for command of the screen. The story ends up being a wonderful
clash of classes and culture that also manages to illuminate a few bits and
pieces of truth.
C.K.
Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) had it out rather acrimoniously with his wife Tracy
Lord (Katharine Hepburn) and now two years down the line she is set to marry
someone else. She couldn’t be happier to be rid of him and all his faults. Her
new husband is a real man of the people,
the wooden George Kittredge (John Howard),
and he got his money doing an honest day’s work. In other words, he’s
everything Dexter (Grant) isn’t when it comes to class and manners, but he’s
also quite different than Tracy. But she doesn’t seem to mind. She’s on cloud
nine to be rid of Dexter.
Although Dexter
does take a back seat at times, it’s only so he can manipulate and connive in
the background, because he most certainly has an agenda. It’s great fun to
watch. First he brings in the folks from Spy
magazine to do a full spread on the big wedding. There’s belligerent journalist
Macaulay Mike Connor (James Stewart)
scoffing at all the opulence around him and then photographer Ms. Elizabeth
Imbrie (Ruth Hussey), who has
something complicated going on with her colleague. They’re all here because the
editor of Spy has a nice juicy piece
expose on Tracy’s father, and so Dexter advises her to go along with it. She
suspects her old spouse has something to do with it, and it’s true, he didn’t
put up much a protest when it came to taking part. However, Tracy’s not ready
to let him ruin what she’s got going. She and her younger sister, the crack-up
Dinah (Virginia Weidler), put on a
good show of upper class snobbery to utterly bewilder their guests.
The funny
thing is that while Tracy detests Dexter with the vehemence of the plague, her
mother and sister quickly welcome him back into their home with open arms.
After all, what kind of trouble could he cause a couple days before the
wedding, and Dinah is always game for a little chaos. She and Dexter have a
mutual affection for each other. They’re both serial troublemakers.
After the
surprise of Dexter wears off, the next person Tracy clashes horns with is the
brusque newsman Connor, who is as turned off by her as she is annoyed by him.
As she sees it, he’s invading her house as part of the paper’s plan to make her
life miserable and steal away all her privacy. For Connor, Tracy’s a stuck up
brat, who has had everything served to her on a silver platter in the west
drawing room. He thumbs his nose at the whole set-up. But a chance encounter at
the library no less, opens up a different side to these characters. Connor is
actually an accomplished novelist, far more skilled than his lousy journalistic
pursuits would suggest. He learns just how perfectly imperfect she is.
It’s at a
party the night before the big day that things get particular interesting. A
lot happens when you fill people up with a little champagne, some wine, and
some early morning gaiety. Tracy is absolutely swimming in exuberance partially
thanks to alcohol, partially because of the dancing, and maybe in expectation
of tomorrow’s high. But when things come a little loose around the edges,
things happen that you regret. As it turns out, Tracy doesn’t remember quite
what happened that night, but Dinah saw all the good parts from her balcony. It
involved a drunken Connor taking a jaunt to Dexter’s home at a god-forsaken
hour, followed by Ms. Imbrie with an inebriated Tracy in tow. What this sets up
is a wonderful little sequence where a hiccupping Connor helps Dexter
orchestrate a plot to get back at Spy
magazine editor Sidney Kidd. Then, Connor gets to spend the wee hours of the
morning rambling on and on. It’s innocent enough, but quite the evening no
less. It makes Kittredge quite distraught finding his bride to be in the arms
of a man who is singing Somewhere over
the Rainbow. And of course with such an unfortunate moment so close to the
wedding it looks like things will be called off. But Kittredge is willing to
make amends. It’s Tracy who realizes she has to break things off, because ironically
this man is too good for her.
It looks
like Dexter has won, but in a split second Connor is proposing marriage and
ready to tie the knot with Tracy to save the wedding. Once again Tracy makes a
sagacious decision (which is surprising given her earlier condition). Hangovers
on your wedding day are not usually a good thing. In this moment everything
falls back into place as it should and as we want it to. These are characters
that we grow to care about, despite their misgivings and class differences.
When
reading up on this film I was astounded to hear that the film supposedly had no
outtakes. Everything we see was as it was when it was first shot and that has
to be a testament to the strength of these actors and maybe a little luck. It’s
true that the film sometimes enters territory that feels unscripted and loose.
That’s when it really gets fun. Stewart and Hepburn. Grant throwing a quick
retort here and there. Imagine, this could have been a vehicle for Hepburn
paired with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. I’m sure that would have been great,
but the whole dynamic would have been very different.
So who is
the winner in this film? Cary Grant as Dexter? Katharine Hepburn as Tracy? James
Stewart as Connor? The Philadelphia Story
is a real winner for the audience. What more could you want in terms of
high-brow comedy bursting with legendary star power? [Reviewer’s rating: *****
out of 5 stars]
Academy
Awards: James Stewart, Best Leading Actor; Donald Ogden Stewart, Best Writing,
Screenplay
Academy
Awards Nominations: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Best Picture; Katharine Hepburn, Best
Leading Actress; Ruth Hussey, Best Supporting Actress; George Cukor, Best
Director.
Labels:
comedy, romance
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