Review of The Philadelphia Story (1940) by Rebecca H — 31 Jan 2009

A witty film that sails above my head. I'm really not sure what it is trying to say, other than having high principles makes you a bad person because everyone is flawed. Unfortunately, on several occasions this comes across more as women should shut up and take adultery and abuse from their husbands.

Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) is getting remarried, but on the eve of her wedding, her ex arrives with two reporters who want to cover the wedding, and a lot of soul searching and heavy drinking ensues. Tracy has the worst father ever to crawl out of a swamp, and reporter Mike (James Stewart) is endlessly romantically tied to his photographer Liz (Ruth Hussey), despite it being evident that he has no interest or connection with her. However, Stewart is excellent and extremely funny, so on some level that makes it worthwhile, even if I don't know what I supposed to take away from this weird story, particularly the romance.