starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart
directed by George Cukor
screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart
directed by George Cukor
screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart
Liz Imbrie: We all go a little haywire at times, and if we don't, maybe we ought to.I had seen The Philadelphia Story before, and I didn't remember loving it. Since the word "classic" is bandied about in regards to this flick, I thought I'd give it another look. Unfortunately, my opinion didn't change a whole lot.
The film starts promisingly, striking a very comedic tone from the first scene, but it then shifts to a more subdued tone that just doesn't mesh with the beginning.
Tracy Lord (Hepburn) was once married to C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant), but they have since divorced, finding their biting, sarcastic attitudes incompatible. Cut to a few years later and Tracy is due to be married again. The Lord family is famous in the Philadelphia social scene and the editor of Spy Magazine wants to send reporter Macaulay Conner (Stewart) to cover the shindig. There's a variety of misinformation, misunderstandings, and misdeeds that create chaos leading up to the impending nuptials...ideally, that chaos would inspire comedy, but the director really didn't allow the humor to ebb and flow. There were literally 15 minutes at a time where I didn't smile or chuckle. And that's where the problem lies with this flick. If you're trying to be a comedy (which the first 15 seconds of the film tell me that it is), you need to scatter the humor throughout. (Obviously, fault goes to the writer here, as well.)
All the acting is good, but the three leads really get overshadowed by the supporting characters, particularly Ruth Hussey as Macaulay's photographer and Virginia Weidler as Tracy's teenage sister. Weidler steals every scene she's in, and if, as a viewer, you're anxiously waiting for a minor, unimportant character to come back onscreen, there's something wrong with your flick.
It's not that The Philadelphia Story is a bad movie, but I don't think it lives up to the "classic" label that it often receives.
The film starts promisingly, striking a very comedic tone from the first scene, but it then shifts to a more subdued tone that just doesn't mesh with the beginning.
Tracy Lord (Hepburn) was once married to C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant), but they have since divorced, finding their biting, sarcastic attitudes incompatible. Cut to a few years later and Tracy is due to be married again. The Lord family is famous in the Philadelphia social scene and the editor of Spy Magazine wants to send reporter Macaulay Conner (Stewart) to cover the shindig. There's a variety of misinformation, misunderstandings, and misdeeds that create chaos leading up to the impending nuptials...ideally, that chaos would inspire comedy, but the director really didn't allow the humor to ebb and flow. There were literally 15 minutes at a time where I didn't smile or chuckle. And that's where the problem lies with this flick. If you're trying to be a comedy (which the first 15 seconds of the film tell me that it is), you need to scatter the humor throughout. (Obviously, fault goes to the writer here, as well.)
All the acting is good, but the three leads really get overshadowed by the supporting characters, particularly Ruth Hussey as Macaulay's photographer and Virginia Weidler as Tracy's teenage sister. Weidler steals every scene she's in, and if, as a viewer, you're anxiously waiting for a minor, unimportant character to come back onscreen, there's something wrong with your flick.
It's not that The Philadelphia Story is a bad movie, but I don't think it lives up to the "classic" label that it often receives.
The RyMickey Rating: C
Now that I find myself within reach of my widgets - I 'remember' the line that I liked which Hepburn said.
ReplyDelete"The time to make up your mind about people is never."
Ironic since I don't really follow that at all - ie. Randy the Ram -as soon as he drunkenly/drug-enly slept through his 'date' with his daughter, he (and thus the movie) was over for me.
"Philosophy" by Katharine Hepburn...
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