The Philadelphia Story

NR 7.9
1940 1 hr 53 min Comedy , Romance

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

  • Cast:
    Cary Grant , Katharine Hepburn , James Stewart , Ruth Hussey , John Howard , Roland Young , John Halliday

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Reviews

LouHomey
1940/12/05

From my favorite movies..

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Console
1940/12/06

best movie i've ever seen.

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Odelecol
1940/12/07

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

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Doomtomylo
1940/12/08

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

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iamccarthykelley
1940/12/09

The Philadelphia Story is a brilliant rom com. It's smart, funny, emotional, romantic and so much more. Much of this comes from its brilliant screenplay (its Oscar win was well deserved) and the actors who make it come to life. The story is a creative twist on classic tropes (for example, rather than a love triangle it has an odd love polygon, featuring three potential suitors competing for Katharine Hepburn's Tracy Lord and a sub-triangle surrounding James Stewart's Macaulay Connors), the dialogue is clever and witty, and the humor works extremely well. It is a wild, fast-paced joyride of a film, but it manages to never get the audience lost along the way, even through multiple faked identities and misunderstandings among the characters. Much of the credit for the success of The Philadelphia Story goes to the actors. Its central figures are played Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, and Cary Grant, all undeniable titans of filmmaking. The manic pacing of the film presents a challenge to these actors, as they need to be over the top to meet the demands of the script, but going too far makes the film hokey and unbelieveable. Luckily, the film delivers on the promise of its billing, with each of the three leads delivering a stellar performance. The film is also stocked with scene stealing supporting players such as Ruth Hussey, Roland Young, and Virginia Weidler, each one adding to the merits of an already excellent film. The Philadelphia Story fits into a number of subgenres. While it is most associated the remarriage subgenre, in which a divorced couple rediscovers love, much to the chagrin of their current romantic partners (ex. His Girl Friday), but it also fits into the wedding subgenre in which one of the romantic leads is about to get married to another person and the other lead has to break up the wedding (ex. The Wedding Singer, Made of Honor), and the journalism subgenre, in which one of the romantic leads is tasked with writing a story about the other and in doing so falls in love (ex. It Happened One Night, 27 Dresses). Ultimately, this subgenre transcendence reflects one of the more fascinating traits of The Philadelphia Story: it is a combination of a number of classic romcom themes. It explores the relationship between social class and romance, definitions of manhood and masculinity, the validity of marriage, and female sexual agency, to name a few. Dealing with so many issues often could dilute each of them; however, the confused and manic nature of the film makes this compounded exploration of issues successful. The hectic pace implies that all of these anxieties coming up at once is in itself an anxiety unto itself. To the extent that The Philadelphia Story doesn't get the attention it deserves, it can only be attributed to the fact that it is often overshadowed by its central player's other output. Each of the three leads was incredibly successful both before and after The Philadelphia Story, collectively appearing in films such on the level of Bringing up Baby, His Girl Friday, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, to only name films from the top of my head. However, The Philadelphia Story is a phenomenal achievement and not one to be missed.

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Ivan Lalic
1940/12/10

Cary Grant, James Stewart and Katherine Hepburn together on the big screen was something you couldn't see quite often even in the era of classic Hollywood. Pretty thin script, average movie and some flat lined acting from the famous threesome was even more exotic movie happening. Yet, the creators of "Philadelphia story" managed to do just that, filming a forgettable flick with megastar casting and that's just a shame. "Philadelphia story" is one of the most overrated oldies in the history of Hollywood.

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simon-mcdonald
1940/12/11

The Philadelphia Story is perhaps the greatest Romantic Comedy of all time. Katherine Hepburn is wonderful I might even go as far as to say its one of Katherine's greatest ever roles. She plays a very very funny Tracy Lord, she previously played this role on stage just about 1 year previously and in the film she was just as amazing. She spends the whole movie taking the mickey out of Carry Grant and Jimmy Stewart. Carry Grant plays a reporter who is in love with Tracy, and Jimmy plays Tracy's ex husband. Excellent support from Virgina Weidler and Ruth Hussey.A Hilarious film with some wonderful scenes. I can't recommend it enough. 10 out of 10.

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MisterWhiplash
1940/12/12

The Philadelphia Story, about an upper class woman about to get married and the two men - one her ex and the other a writer who may get a 'scoop' on a scandal unfolding - gets better as it goes along, even as its still a 'light' Rom-com. Stewart probably didn't deserve his Oscar for his role as Mike Connor, but he is so much fun here it makes the movie. I also liked and appreciated, which I don't get to see in Rom com's today, how other people call out Hepburns character for being a "prig" upper class socialite type. actually compared to the sociopaths who made Rom com's so insufferable in the past 25 years, she's almost positively delightful and human.Grant is funny too, though kind of more of the 'straight' guy in comedic moments. Its a frothy Hollywood romance with skill and grace and drunken shenanigans, and even kids get eloquent quips. I may personally prefer when these actors are in screwball mode in other films (Hawks jumps to mind), but it's respectable, quality stuff, and it takes its characters seriously - Hepburn especially deepens and has a sophistication with the character that's surprising when it starts off seeming like it could dip into pre sitcom territory (and some may argue it's what that is).But Mankiewicz and Cukor have fun with them in what is not great but very good, and that's enough.

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