Filling in the Gaps: The Philadelphia Story

Every cinephile has gaps in their resumes.  Films they feel they should have seen but have not.  The classic movies that inspire many of today’s films and pop culture references are often known only by reputation or by famous snippets.  In this feature I will attempt to fill in my own gaps, while keeping in mind the modern viewer and how the films might interest them.

 

The Philadelphia Story is one of those movies I’ve known my entire life only out of name recognition. If you had asked me what it was about, or even who was in it, prior to my watching it I would have had no clue.  Based on the title alone I imagined some haughty melodrama. But, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The movie is equal parts screwball, romantic comedy, and social satire.  And, outside of a few cringe worthy moments of early century sexism, it is still very relatable even today.

 

The Philadelphia Story takes place mostly over the course of 2 days leading up to the wedding of socialite and heiress Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn). Lord, a member of one of Philadelphia’s oldest and richest families is about to embark on her second marriage to a self-made millionaire whose serious nature clearly doesn’t match up with Lord’s very large personality. So enter a few unexpected wedding guests who upend her nuptials.

 

 

First is ex-husband C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant). Like Tracy, Haven is of that privileged class and has known Tracy since childhood, but their marriage ended quickly due to Dex’s drinking and a awkwardly glossed over bout of spousal abuse (one of those cringe worthy moments mentioned above). But Dex has turned his life around and finds an opportunity to show up at Tracy’s wedding when he latches on to two reporters for “Spy” magazine looking to get into the wedding so they can write up for their social gossip column.

 

The reporters Mike Connor (Jimmy Stewart) and Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) are more than just paparazzi though. They are both struggling artists who use their magazine job to pay the bills and this sets up a environment ripe for social commentary as the artists, privileged, and self-made men all clash over the course of 24 hours in the rich Philadelphia neighborhood.

 

Hepburn and Grant are predictably fantastic, playing much different characters than they had two years earlier in the similar Bringing Up Baby. But it is Stewart who really shines in this movie.  He is given many of the film’s best lines and gets an extended period of the second half of the movie to play a hilarious drunk. And for his efforts, Stewart did get the Oscar for this performance (his only win for his career).

 

 

But while Stewart won the Oscar it was Hepburn for whom this film really paid off. After the flop of Bringing Up Baby in 1938, Hepburn personally bought the rights to make this film after starring in the play it was based on on Broadway. A perfect fit for both her acting style and her image of wealth and privilege as it conflicted with depression era politics, the movie became a huge hit for her and reinvigorated her career.

But all that context aside, the movie is fantastic. The writing and acting is extremely high caliber across the board.  It can occasionally veer into screwball territory as the pacing of the jokes pick up in the second half of the movie, but it also has a keen wit and insightful take on the class warfare of the era. That social commentary aids in its continued relevance today. Many of the comments from Stewart’s Connor could just as well work today.

 

 

There are some aspects that clearly date the film though. The movie kicks off with a silent scene of Haven and Lord’s marriage ending. It is played for slapstick, but involves Grant pushing Hepburn to the floor which just does not play in today’s world. There’s also a gag that runs through the film of Tracy’s drunk Uncle Willie (Roland Young) who has a penchant for pinching the posteriors of young women. The film doesn’t glorify him, but the acceptance of the behavior is simultaneously realistic for the era and off-putting.

 

That being said, these are pretty minor offenses for a movie made in 1940 and don’t really ruin modern enjoyment of it. The Philadelphia Story is a great movie that is both a movie very much of its time, but also relevant now.  And, it is worth a view for any modern film lover.

 

The Philaddelphia Story (1940)

Directed by: George Cukor

Starring: Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart

Recommended for: Fans of Hepburn, Grant, or Stewart, romantic comedy lovers, and people who like watching respectable actors pretend to be raging drunk.