THE PHILADELPHIA STORY

It may be difficult to imagine now, but in 1938 and 1939, Katharine Hepburn was extremely unpopular with Hollywood and with the American public. A string of box office failures, coupled with her abrasive and combative behavior with the press and fans, had garnered her a reputation for being extremely arrogant. Seeking to reignite her career she returned to the stage, starring in a new play by Philip Barry. That play was The Philadelphia Story. She would perform the role of socialite Tracy Lord in two tours and on Broadway for over a year. When Hollywood decided to produce the play as a movie, Hepburn had already purchased the rights to the story (thanks to help from Howard Hughes), so she was guaranteed the role. Teaming with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart for the movie version of the play, Hepburn’s shrewd selection of this vehicle paid off. The Philadelphia Story would become one of the biggest movies of 1940, and Hepburn’s career and public perception were back on track.

Tracy is a divorcee living with her parents and her precocious younger sister, and she is engaged to be married again. This go-around she will marry George Kittredge, a dull businessman who dotes on her but whom is out of place in the world of wealth which Tracy is accustomed. When word of the wedding gets out, the publisher of Spy Magazine sends reporter Mike Connor (Stewart) and his girlfriend, photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey), to cover it. To help Mike and Liz get the full inside scoop, the publisher is sending another employee of Spy Magazine with them. That employee is C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), Tracy Lord’s first husband!

This is screwball comedy at its finest. Hepburn is at the top of her game as she plays cat-and-mouse with Mike and Liz when they first meet Tracy. Soon, it becomes unclear who Tracy will end up with, as she discovers the depths of reporter Mike which she wasn’t expecting. The two of them share a drunken evening together, the night before her wedding is supposed to take place. And of course, her feelings for her first husband are also reignited. While you know from the get-go that Tracy is never going to marry George… what you don’t know is who she will end up with, or if she will end up with anyone at all. The suspense of how this tale ends beautifully lasts right up to the last few minutes of the movie.

The Philadelphia Story is one of those truly iconic films that every true movie buff should see. It’s one I’m disappointed I never made time for in the past. It is also one I will most certainly watch again. This is an undeniably perfect marriage of comedy storytelling, filmmaking, and acting.