Review of The Philadelphia Story (1940) by Allen B — 17 Jan 2011

Decent movie with a terrible beginning but plenty of laughs and a great performance by James Stewart. The film is apparently made up of one take scenes, and many performances suffer because of it, especially ones featuring Hepburn whose personality seems to drastically change whenever she's on screen.

Oh, and the ending is quite ridiculous and somewhat sexist. On the one hand, Hepburn's character is very well developed, strong willed, and, most importantly, feminine, but the ending they force on her undoes all these in favor of having her yield to the most dominant of the pursuing men, "like any good woman should." Come on.

Overall, though, not a bad film, and quite funny.