Here's an offer you can't resist: a romantic comedy starring Katherine Hepburn as a strong-willed heiress named Tracy Lords who must choose between three men: her prim and proper fiancé, George Kittridge, her ex-husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), and a wry, sarcastic journalist, Mike Conner (James Stewart). Of course George is almost immediately out of the question, and Hepburn must choose between Grant and Stewart. She isn't gonna get a bad deal either way, that's for sure.

But at the outset, none of the men really love her for who she is. Dexter left her because he thought her frigid and unforgiving of faults; George loves her precisely because she's cold and far-off, like a statue, or a goddess;…

While not as frantic as Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks pairing of Grant and Hepburn, The Philadelphia story certainly has a giddy–up pace, and is even more voluminous in the infectious charm department.

There is a confluence of stars at the top of their game, an incredible script adaptation, and a sharp as nails director who understood the material that formed a perfect storm of romantic comedy. I’ve read every scene was a single take, and the shooting schedule was a scant six weeks.

Of course, Katherine Hepburn knew the role inside out, as she had played it on Broadway, and her Tracy Lords is the backbone of the picture. Flawed, yet strong .. confident, yet vulnerable, she choreographs the…

I watched this today for the second time with my mother, and found myself going huh? far too many times for my liking, because I remembered absolutely loving The Philadelphia Story the first time around. I still do have some qualms with the idea that Tracy is to blame for taking a stand against her ex-husband's alcoholism and her father's extramarital affair, but perhaps that's exactly the point... forgiveness as an essential virtue of the true woman and all that sort of stuff? But I feel like such a conclusion doesn't really do a film so witty and brilliant proper justice.

The three leads (and Ruth Hussey) are stunning in every way. I could watch them spar back and forth…

Take a monumental cast featuring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart; add ferociously fun dialogue; and multiply by a comedic story pitting the sexes against one another to potentially romantic ends; and film fans get an equation that ends with George Cukor's "The Philadelphia Story," a wittily irascible confection that is deservedly recognized as a full-fledged classic. Electrically scripted, handsomely directed, and memorably performed, the film is an energetic romp that has become a romantically comedic icon.

A comedy of manners and marriage, "The Philadelphia Story" finds an ex-husband reasserting himself in the life of his soon-to-be-married-again ex-wife. Comic hijinks ensue with the addition of two reporters who take a professional and, perhaps, personal interest in the story. The…

I thought all writers drank to excess and beat their wives. You know one time I secretly wanted to be a writer.
-C. K. Dexter Haven

It's not he funniest film I've ever seen, but it just might be the one with the most charm. How anyone could watch this film without having a big goofy grin on your face I will never know.

Donald Ogden Stewart adapts the stage play of the same name, saying it was the easiest adaptation he ever wrote. Practically every piece of dialogue is entertaining and delivered to perfection by it's cast.

Katharine Hepburn is at her best as the bit-crazy Tracy Lord while James Stewart is at his sarcastic best as Macaulay Connor,…

Connections are the only thing that really matter in life, and one’s happiness is directly proportional to the quantity and quality of these connections. The big cosmic joke on us is that forming deep, meaningful connections with other people turns out to be really, really hard. It’s not just that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Each of us is our own solar system, formed by a combination of elements as unique as our fingerprints and leaving us able to observe each other only from afar across vast distances of mostly empty space. Fortunately, there are things to help us cross this space, at least temporarily. Art, for example. Roger Ebert called movies empathy machines. They are,…

Quando iniciam os créditos de The Philadelphia Story e surgem os nomes de Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart e Cary Grant - três dos maiores atores de todos os tempos - sob produção de Joseph Mankiewicz (A Malvada), a expectativa por uma excelente produção clássica é grande.
Infelizmente, conforme o filme se desenrola, a expectativa não é superada. A história é alongada demais para uma ideia tão simples.
Quanto aos atores, chega a ser triste pensar que James Stewart vencera seu único Oscar por este filme (além do honorário), tendo atuado em outras obras-primas que exigiram muito mais de si.
Katherine Hepburn e Cary Grant estão engraçados, seus trejeitos e seus diálogos são pontuais. Mas o grande destaque do filme fica…