The Philadelphia Story (1940)

The Philadelphia Story (1940), MGM Studios

"The Philadelphia Story" is a romantic comedy that has a brilliant script, wonderful performances, and amazing chemistry between Katharine Hepburn and her two leading men, Cary Grant and James Stewart. (The last not so surprising as Katharine Hepburn could have amazing chemistry with anyone and anything, including a box of rocks).

Ruth Hussey is a stand-out with her deadpan humor and perfect comedic timing. James Stewart is amusing as a down-to-earth and creatively-frustrated writer. Katharine Hepburn swallows every scene with her larger-than-life presence, confidence, and talent. Cary Grant is charming as the man still in love with his childhood best friend/ ex-wife.

Notes: 

The film opens with C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) storming out the front door, carrying packed bags. Tracy Lord Haven (Katharine Hepburn) follows shortly after, carrying his golf clubs, which she throws to the ground, and one single club, which she snaps in half over her knee. She whirls and strides back to go inside the house, but C.K. reaches her first. He grabs her shoulder and makes a motion like he wants to punch her, but settles for just face-palming her to the ground (geez!). Tracy Lord is left lying on the floor, rubbing the back of her neck, disgruntled.

**Two Years Later**

A page from the Philadelphia Chronicle reads:

Philadelphia society looks forward to the wedding Saturday of 

Mrs. Tracy Lord Haven, former wife of C.K. Dexter Haven, and 

Mr. George Kittredge. The ceremony will take place at the home of 

Mr. and Mrs. Seth Lord, the bride's parents.

Tracy and her mother, Margaret Lord (Mary Nash), are going over details for the upcoming wedding at the Lord's estate. Due to the size of their mansion, it is relatively clear that the Lords are very wealthy. Tracy's younger sister, Dinah (Virginia Weidler), is lamenting the poor C.K. and saying that she misses him. Dinah also complains about Tracy not inviting their father to the wedding. 

Tracy meets her fiance, George Kittredge (John Howard), at her family's stables, to go riding. Dinah and Uncle Willie (Roland Young) accompany them. 

Macaulay Connor (James Stewart) is a writer for a magazine, and his boss, Sidney Kidd, wants him to get the inside story on Tracy Lord's wedding. Connor does not want to do the assignment because he thinks gossip stories and snooping are undignified. Connor's photographer, Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) has no qualms about working on the assignment because she needs the money. She asks Sidney how she and Connor are supposed to gain entry into the Lord's estate, and Sidney brings in his inside man- C.K. Haven. 

"Three musketeers?"

C.K., whose been working for the magazine for two years in South America, is willing to lie and say that Connor and Elizabeth are friends of Tracy's brother to get them inside the estate.

The next day, C.K., Connor, and Liz are welcomed into the Lord's house by the butler. Connor and Liz snoop around the various parlors while C.K. announces their arrival to Tracy. Ruth Hussey is great as Liz Imbrie, the fast-thinking, wise-cracking photographer. 

"Let's make some prank calls, shall we?"

C.K. says hello to Dinah and Margaret, who are glad to see him, and to Tracy, who is not glad to see him. C.K. tries to feed Tracy the story about Connor and Liz being friends of her brother, but Tracy sees right through the lie and tells C.K. to get them out of her house. 

"Nice try, sneaky ex-husband"

C.K. takes her into the other room, and asks if she's interested in a little blackmail. C.K. explains that the magazine will run a scandalous story about Tracy's father with a dancer in New York unless Tracy agrees to let them do a story on her wedding. Tracy agrees to let Connor and Liz stay and attend the wedding, and she tells her mother that they must pretend that they are family friends. 

Tracy is upset about having reporters in her home, so she decides to put on an act and live up to her perceived stereotype. When she goes in to meet Connor and Liz, she pretends to be a superficial, flighty, spoiled rich girl.

"Please, let me dazzle you with my rich girl charm."

Connor and Liz are introduced to Margaret and George.

"Rich people everywhere!"

When Uncle Willie arrives, Tracy immediately pretends that he is Seth Lord, her father, in order to cover up the fact that her actual father will not be at the wedding. Tracy offers Liz and Connor drinks, and when Liz sets her camera down on the table to take the drink, Tracy "accidentally" knocks the table over, breaking the camera. Seth Lord then appears in the entryway, and Tracy exclaims, "Uncle Willie!" so that her lie is safe. 

Liz drops off Connor at the local library so that he can do some research on the Lord family's history, and he ends up finding Tracy Lord sitting at a table, reading his book of short stories. She suggests they go on a walk, and once outside, she tells Connor that she loves his stories and can't understand why he doesn't write books full time. Connor explains that there is no money in writing books, and that he needs to eat and pay his bills. He also explains that Liz is a painter, but she can't do that full time either because she needs money to live. 

Once Tracy and Connor are back at the Lord estate at the pool house, Tracy offers to let Connor use a house that she owns and barely uses to write. Connor declines the "patronage." C.K. shows up and he and Tracy begin to take shots at each other back and forth, and Connor becomes uncomfortable and slips away. 

"Let's hash out our failed marriage in front of this guy"

C.K. and Tracy grew up together and his nickname for her is "Red." C.K. tells her that George is not worthy of her in mind and spirit. They start arguing about their former marriage, and C.K. accuses her of being overly-critical of other people's faults, and in particular, his drinking problem. He tells her that the one thing he is contemptuous of is "Your so-called strength. Your prejudice against weakness, your blank intolerance. 

You'll never be a first-class human being or a first-class woman, until you've learned to have some regard for human frailty. 

It's a pity that your own foot can't slip a little sometimes. But your sense of inner-divinity wouldn't allow that. This goddess must and shall remain intact."

George walks in on them, and C.K. says that he is leaving. He tells Tracy that he was left her a wedding present. Tracy jumps into the pool while George pulls out C.K.'s gift- a model replica of the boat that C.K. built, where he and Tracy spent their honeymoon. 

At Tracy and George's rehearsal dinner party, Connor and Tracy both get drunk, and George insists on taking Tracy home. 

"You're such a buzz kill, Future Husband"

Connor tells his driver to take him to C.K.'s house, where he drunkenly interrogates C.K. on whether he's still in love with Tracy. Connor also warns him about Sidney Kidd's motives and character, and begins listing off dirt that he has on Sidney. C.K. tells Connor about how Sidney is blackmailing Tracy and her father, and tells him that they can put a stop to it if they simply blackmail Sidney back. Connor is in agreement with this plan and says that he is through with the magazine anyway, and that he's not going to write the story on Tracy's wedding.  

C.K. begins writing down all of the dirt on Sidney as Connor tells it to him until Liz shows up at the door, with a passed out Tracy in the passenger seat of her car. Liz agrees to stay at C.K.'s and type out the notes on Sidney, and Connor leaves in the car with Tracy. 

Back at the Lord residence, Tracy and Connor continue to drink champagne and dance along a pond in the moonlight together. 

"Romantic!"

As they refill their glasses, Connor remarks that he isn't used to champagne, and that he usually drinks whiskey. He says, rather poetically, 

"Whiskey's a slap on the back, and champagne's heavy mist before my eyes." 

Connor tells Tracy that she can't marry George; that they don't seem to match up. Tracy insists that she is going to marry George, and she starts calling Connor "professor," and tells him that he is an intellectual snob. She tells him that he is a mass of prejudices, that he is intolerant, and 

"The time to make up your mind about people is never."

Connor begins to list off all the reasons he thinks Tracy is wonderful. He tells her, "There's a magnificence that comes out of your eyes and your voice and the way you stand there and the way you walk. You're lit from within, Tracy. You've got fires banked down in you; hearthfires, and holocausts. You're the golden girl, full of warmth, and life, and delight." 

"How am I supposed to resist you now?"

He suddenly kisses her and then they run off to go swimming together.

The next morning, C.K. brings Liz back to the Lord estate, where he finds George walking into the backyard, demanding to know the whereabouts of Tracy. Just then, Connor comes walking up the path to the house, holding Tracy in his arms. 

"Well, this is all kinds of awkward."

George tries to confront them, but Tracy is still drunk, and Connor carries her up to bed. When Connor comes back downstairs, C.K. punches him to save him from being punched by George. Dinah comes downstairs and tells Uncle Willie and C.K. that she saw Connor carrying Tracy from the pool house up to Tracy's bedroom. C.K. assures her that it was probably a dream. Dinah is too smart to believe this, but she agrees with him anyway.

When Tracy comes downstairs, she's hungover and does not remember what happened with Connor. Dinah tells Tracy about her "dream," and upon hearing this, Tracy comes to the conclusion that she must have had an affair. She wonders how she will tell George as C.K. tries to console her.

George shows up to confront Tracy about the affair, and Connor steps in to tell him that he and Tracy only kissed twice, went swimming, and that was the end of it. Tracy apologizes to Liz, who is currently dating Connor, and Liz assures her that it's alright, saying

"We all go haywire at times, and if we don't, maybe we ought to."

At this news, George is willing to go ahead with the wedding, but Tracy tells him no. George leaves, and Tracy realizes she has to tell all of her guests that the wedding is off. Connor tells her that he got her into the mess and he will get her out, and offers to marry her. 

"I'll marry you, Katharine Hepburn!"

She declines his offer, but thanks him for opening her eyes to the fact that she shouldn't marry George. Tracy begins telling the guests that the wedding is off, but then C.K. announces that he wants to marry her. 

Everyone wants to marry Katharine Hepburn

So Tracy and C.K. are remarried, with Connor as Best Man and Liz as Matron of Honor. Dinah exclaims excitedly, "I did it! I did it all!" Sidney Kidd shows up and snaps a picture of the bridal party.

"Cheese?"

"The Philadelphia Story" won "Best Actor" (James Stewart) and "Best Screenplay" at the 1941 Academy Awards, and was also nominated for "Best Picture," "Best Actress" (Katharine Hepburn), "Best Supporting Actress" (Ruth Hussey), and "Best Director" (George Cukor).  

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Director: George Cukor

Screenplay by: Donald Ogden Stewart

Based on the play by: Philip Barry

Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg

Cast:

Katharine Hepburn- Tracy Lord

Cary Grant- C.K. Dexter Haven

James Stewart- Macaulay Connor

Ruth Hussey- Elizabeth Imbrie

John Howard- George Kittredge

Roland Young- Uncle Willie

John Halliday- Seth Lord

Mary Nash- Margaret Lord

Virginia Weidler- Dinah Lord