Review of The Philadelphia Story (1940) by Stuart K — 30 Dec 2012

Directed by George Cukor (A Star Is Born (1954) and My Fair Lady (1964)) and based on a play which opened a year previously written by Philip Barry, this is a light and breezy romantic comedy, with some brilliant dialogue and an amusing little love triangle at it's core, played out by the two top actors and top actress of it's day, and they don't disappoint.

There's brilliant chemistry between them and the rest of the cast. Rich Philadelphia socialite Tracy Samantha Lord (Katharine Hepburn) divorced her husband C. K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) because he did not meet up to her standards, and he was a drunkard.

2 years pass, and she is about to marry again, this time to George Kittredge (John Howard), a "nouveau riche man of the people". Spy magazine publisher Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) wants to cover the wedding, so he sends reporter Macaulay Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) to the Lord family estate, Tracy reluctantly lets them report, but matters are further complicated when Haven turns up at the house, Tracy's parents Seth (John Halliday) and Margaret (Mary Nash) welcome him back, and Macaulay falls for Tracy.

It's a well made film, it has the hallmarks of a screwball comedy, but it's a lot more classy to be one, and it has a nice romantic feel to it. But the dialogue is well written, and Grant, Hepburn and Stewart spark brilliantly off one another, (Stewart won an Oscar for his turn).

It's a film from the 1940's, but it hasn't aged a day.