#901: CUKOR, George: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
CUKOR, George (United States)
The Philadelphia Story [1940]
Spine #901
Blu-ray
The Booklet
Twenty-page booklet featuring an essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme.
Commentary
From 2005 featuring film scholar Jeanine Basinger.
The Philadelphia Story [1940]
Spine #901
Blu-ray
With this furiously witty comedy of manners, Katharine Hepburn revitalized her career and cemented her status as the era's most iconic leading lady — thanks in great part to her own shrewd orchestration. While starring in the Philip Barry stage play The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn acquired the screen rights, handpicking her friend George Cukor to direct. The intoxicating screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart pits the formidable Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn, at her most luminous) against various romantic foils, chief among them her charismatic ex-husband (Cary Grant), who disrupts her imminent marriage by paying her family estate a visit, accompanied by a tabloid report on assignment to cover the wedding of the year (James Stewart, in his only Academy Award-winning performance). A fast-talking screwball comedy as well as a tale of regret and reconciliation, this convergence of golden-age talent is one of the greatest American films of all time.
112 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2017
Director/Writers
Based on the play by Philip Barry.
Screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart.
George Cukor was 41 when he directed The Philadelphia Story.
Other Cukor films in the Collection:
#1009: Holiday (1938)
The Film
Other Cukor films in the Collection:
#1009: Holiday (1938)
The Film
“Box office poison,” eh? [see below] … Hepburn wasn’t going to take that lying down. The carefully crafted play opened on Broadway in 1939 and was a sensation. Ah, but to transfer that to a hit film, after all the flops?
Hepburn originally asked for Gable and Tracy who were “busy” (probably stayed away due to the “poison” label; Hepburn’s romance with ST hadn’t yet begun) — but she probably lucked out with Cary Grant (C.K. Dexter Haven) and James Stewart (Macaulay Connor).
The screenplay is perfection. Dialogue-heavy, but moving through 112 minutes like a whirlwind, the film is a delight, and revived Hepburn’s career at just the right moment.
Cukor’s genius is evident in the very first scene — which was not in the play! It plays like a silent movie; military drum as Grant looks like he’s about to sock Hepburn in the face — but instead, he pushes her over onto her butt. We’re supposed to like this guy, thereafter?
Genius.
Film Rating (0-60):
58
The ExtrasThe Booklet
Twenty-page booklet featuring an essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme.
“Hepburn had been enduring a string of flops at RKO which culminated in 1938 with Howard Hawks’s Bringing Up Baby {Spine #1085}. Nowadays, Baby is beloved, but at the time, ticket buyers weren’t much interested in seeing Hepburn’s dizzy heiress drive Cary Grant’s professor nuts. Her next movie, Holiday (1938), made on loan-out to Columbia Pictures, was a project she’d long wanted; she had understudied the lead role of Linda on Broadway ten years earlier. Like The Philadelphia Story would be, it was an adaptation of a Philip Barry play, costarring Grant, and it was directed by her best friend in Hollywood, George Cukor; indeed, it was Cukor who talked Columbia into letting him have Hepburn. The result: Holiday was almost as good as Bringing Up Baby, and its box-office receipts were even worse. Shortly before its release, a trade-paper ad labeled Hepburn ‘box office poison.’ The excellent company in that category of stars, which included Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Joan Crawford, was no comfort. Neither Hawks nor Cukor blamed Hepburn for the poor Baby and Holiday ticket sales, but the industry most certainly did. Hepburn was already pondering the future; a little more than a week before the ad ran, she had used her own money to buy out her RKO contract.”
Commentary
From 2005 featuring film scholar Jeanine Basinger.
Basinger is wonderful — non-stop, full of really great stuff. She gives enormous and thoughtful credit to two crew members who might generally be overlooked. The art director Cedric Gibbons: just look at those interiors! The perfect furniture, the books in the background. No rough edges. And of course, the DP, Joseph Ruttenberg, who was an absolute master at lighting a scene. Hepburn would rave about the beautiful shadows he cast under her chin!
And Cukor. Two-shots, three-shots, sure … but there are a few scenes with seven or eight actors, perfectly and naturally blocked, moving in and out of the frame … the ACL (average cut length: see this great site) — well, I’d imagine it’s in the neighborhood of 6 seconds (Tarkovsky is 40!) … always the perfect cut to a reaction shot (e.g. the final scene, where you still aren’t sure you which one she’ll marry) …
In Search of Tracy Lord
A documentary about the origin of the character and her social milieu.
In Search of Tracy Lord
A documentary about the origin of the character and her social milieu.
A number of likely candidates, but Hepburn herself is probably the best best …
Piece
About actor Hepburn’s role in the development of the film.
Piece
About actor Hepburn’s role in the development of the film.
How Howard Hughes bought the rights for her as a “present.”
Two full episodes
Of The Dick Cavett Show from 1973, featuring rare interviews with Hepburn, plus an excerpt of a 1978 interview from that show with Cukor.
Great stuff. Hepburn’s first television interview. Cavett smartly gave her two uninterrupted hours. She almost made him tear out the carpet in the studio. She lived her life moment-by-moment and didn’t give a damn about what anybody else thought. Only actress yet to win four Academy Awards and not bother to show up to receive them.
Two full episodes
Of The Dick Cavett Show from 1973, featuring rare interviews with Hepburn, plus an excerpt of a 1978 interview from that show with Cukor.
Great stuff. Hepburn’s first television interview. Cavett smartly gave her two uninterrupted hours. She almost made him tear out the carpet in the studio. She lived her life moment-by-moment and didn’t give a damn about what anybody else thought. Only actress yet to win four Academy Awards and not bother to show up to receive them.
Cukor’s appearance is short. Cavett can’t penetrate him.
Lux Radio Theatre
Adaptation of the film from 1943, featuring an introduction by filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille.
Lux Radio Theatre
Adaptation of the film from 1943, featuring an introduction by filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille.
A little scratchy, but worth the listen to hear an entirely different cast: Loretta Young (Tracy), Robert Taylor (Haven) and Robert Young (Connors).
Restoration demonstration
Amazing look at Criterion at work on what looked to be an impossible restoration. The original negative went up in flames in 1978 at Eastman, and when they finally found a decent work print, it was warped every 30 frames or so. Gotta de-warp the whole thing, then remove all the dust and scratches.
Restoration demonstration
Amazing look at Criterion at work on what looked to be an impossible restoration. The original negative went up in flames in 1978 at Eastman, and when they finally found a decent work print, it was warped every 30 frames or so. Gotta de-warp the whole thing, then remove all the dust and scratches.
And you wonder why we don’t get more silents?
Trailer
Exceptionally cool original trailer from ‘41.
Trailer
Exceptionally cool original trailer from ‘41.
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