Voted by the AFI as one of the Top 100 films ever made, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY lives up to that ranking as a hilarious, timeless comedy.
I had never seen Katherine Hepburn in any of her early roles, and was shocked how gorgeous she is in this 1940 classic.
She stars as Tracy Lord, a beautiful socialite from a wealthy family who's about to marry her second husband George Kittredge. On the eve of the wedding, her dashing ex-husband CK Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) shows up at her parents estate where the wedding is being held.
Dexter has promised an inside story of the social event of the year nuptials to his editor.
He shows up with two photographers in tow, a young couple Macauley "Mike" Connor (Jimmy Stewart) and Mike's girlfriend Elizabeth (Ruth Hussey).
Hilariously told through superb plotting and dialogue, Tracy begins to feel some old emotions stirring for Dexter, Mike (Stewart) falls head over heels in love with Tracy and Dexter finds every opportunity possible to skewer Kittredge.
The cast is first rate, with Grant at his most charming (and was anyone EVER more charming in the history of film? I'd say no), Hepburn and Stewart rattling off FAST (!?!) dialogue and Hussey in fine form.
This was originally a huge hit on the Broadway stage and that shines through in a good way, with intelligent and witty verbal patter that is as funny today as it was over 75 years ago!
Roland Young is very funny as Tracy's Uncle with a love for his bourbon and young Virginia Weidler gets plenty of laughs as Tracy's young sister who still carries a torch for Dexter. When she wishes to the stars that he would come back for the wedding, she has no idea what she's getting herself into.
Director George Cukor (My Fair Lady, Adam's Rib, A Star is Born) is in fine form, juggling excellent performances from all his leads and letting them all shine. The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart speaks for itself. Anything written in 1940 that is still relevant after seven decades is pretty amazing.
Both Stewarts won Academy Awards for the film, Jimmy for Best Actor and Donald for his screenplay.
Hepburn starred as Tracy in the Broadway hit for over a year and her comfort with the material is obvious. She's fast, funny and her comic timing is as good as it gets.
A classic worthy of that label, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY is as humorously relevant today as it was in 1940 and earns an A+.
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