Reviews of The Philadelphia Story 1940
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The half-star deduction is for the icky gender politics.
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The veritable classic comedy, although James Stewart steals the show in terms of delivering a performance.
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Wealthy Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn) divorced her childhood sweetheart C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) because of his alcoholism. Years later, she prepares to remarry, this time to newly rich “man of the people” George Kittredge (John Howard). In a bid to win back Tracy, Dexter agrees to smuggle Macaulay “Mike” Connor (James Stewart, who won Best Actor for his performance) and his photographer Liz (Ruth Hussey) into the wedding ceremonies. As the weekend progresses, Mike and Dexter vie…
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It's a film where the strength of the story, performances and dialogue bring out the comedy, instead of the norm of today, where most so-called comedy movies tend to have whole scenes that are centered around a single joke, and so live or die by the quality of the joke rather than the quality of the characters/story.
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"The time to make up your mind about people is never."
Romantic comedies get a bad wrap, often for good reason as they fail to be romantic or comedic, but when a great one comes along there are few genres more enjoyable, like a great action or horror movie aiming for thrills or scares and achieving those goals without any pressure to be something more. Obviously, having thematic resonance or social commentary can elevate a great film to an even…
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I don't know... this time around I didn't like it as much. Of course, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant are great together. Still... what am I missing here...??
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My favorite actor and actress of all time brought together by one of my favorite screenplays. Win.
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The Good: What a fantastic ensemble! -- Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, Roland Young, and Virginia Weidler all in top form. Excellent dialogue (Hussey's lines here are priceless). Playful, likable characters. Wonderful musical score by legendary composer Franz Waxman (Sunset Boulevard, Rear Window, The Bride of Frankenstein, Rebecca).
The Bad: Not a fan of the fairy tale ending.
The Bottom Line: A top-notch cast playing delightfully charming characters in a whimsical romantic comedy. You rarely see anything as good as this nowadays.
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Funny and touching with surprising depth, The Philadelphia Story is yar alright.
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Just the perfect film that repays rewatching so well. Once you get past the plot and are free to concentrate on the little things, the genuine chemistry between Hepburn and Stewart and Grant and Hussey that somehow makes the movie for me now. The way Stewart's voice changes when he is talking to Hepburn, the way you can see him reexamine himself and change himself in her presence.
And every scene between Grant and Hussey is a delight, there is…