***The Class Struggle Continues...-Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant’s The Philadelphia Story

 

 

DVD Review

From  The Pen Of Frank Jackman   

The Philadelphia Story, starring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, directed by George Cukor, 1940

No question the late 1930s and early 1940s, that period from the hard edges of the then Great Depression and the war clouds of World War II, was a great age, a golden age, of screwball romantic comedy. And when one wants to list off the names of those who produced such witty material then the names of Preston Sturgis and George Cukor the director of the film under review, The Philadelphia Story, readily come to mind. Here Cukor has taken an old boy-girl romance linked to the edges of the class struggle and let the very professional actors he employed go through their paces. And laugh (and ever romance)- craving audiences loved the work.        

Here is the way the thing worked out. A high society Philadelphia woman (meaning very high society indeed), played by Katherine Hepburn, a woman moreover once scorned, decided to remarry after a disastrous (and short-lived) first marriage. Showing that she was no prude, and filled with a democratic spirit the prospective bridegroom was not from old society like the first husband but an up-from-hunger self-made man, a man of the “people.” Enter the first husband, played by Cary Grant at his most elegant, who is not quite finished with his red-headed ex-wife.           

Old Cary was still in love with Katherine and was ready to move might and main to get her back. But time was short because the wedding was only a couple of days away. His hook to getting Katherine back was via showing the new guy up as nothing but an old pill (excuse that quant expression). And so his scheme brought  in a scandal rag newspaper reporter (complete with female assistant- a witty photographer), played by James Stewart, to cover the story in order to save her from being mixed-up a scandal provided by an errant father.     

If you can believe this Cary pulls the thing off. See his problem with Katherine which he couldn’t conquer when they were married was that underneath her high society demeanor was a “nice girl” who just needs a couple of lessons in humility. And using old brother Stewart he was able to set actions in motions that show Katherine what she was really made of and to show her what an old pill that potential bridegroom would have been (sorry, again on that old pill thing). And so you can guess who will be standing at the altar when Katherine does see the error of her ways? All of this done with lots of droll gag lines, great mannerisms and facial expressions, especially by Hepburn, a little smaltz (by one and all), and some great photography. Yes, this one is directly from the golden age.