The Philadelphia Story (1940) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself. Director: Donald Ogden Stewart (screen play), Philip Barry (based on the play by) Stars: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 34 titles created 24 Jul 2011 a list of 30 titles created 31 Aug 2011 a list of 43 titles created 26 Feb 2013 a list of 33 titles created 9 months ago a list of 33 titles created 2 months ago Title: The Philadelphia Story (1940) 8/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 2 Oscars.

Another 3 wins & 5 nominations. See more awards » Videos A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. Director: Howard Hawks A drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family. Director: Frank Capra In Africa during World War I, a gin-swilling riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced missionary to use his boat to attack an enemy warship. Director: John Huston 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X A young man falls in love with a girl from a rich family. His unorthodox plan to go on holiday for the early years of his life is met with skepticism by everyone except for his fiancée's eccentric sister and long-suffering brother. Director: George Cukor Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch Due to his insistence that he has an invisible six foot-tall rabbit for a best friend, a whimsical middle-aged man is thought by his family to be insane - but he may be wiser than anyone knows. Director: Henry Koster A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them? Director: Alfred Hitchcock Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. Director: Howard Hawks Romance and suspense ensue in Paris as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Who can she trust? Director: Stanley Donen A spoiled heiress running away from her family is helped by a man who is actually a reporter in need of a story. Director: Frank Capra A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn't back down. Director: Frank Capra A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.

Director: Frank Capra Edit Storyline Philadelphia socialites Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven married impulsively, with their marriage and subsequent divorce being equally passionate. They broke up when Dexter's drinking became excessive, it a mechanism to cope with Tracy's unforgiving manner to the imperfect, imperfections which Dexter admits he readily has. Two years after their break-up, Tracy is about to remarry, the ceremony to take place at the Lord mansion. Tracy's bridegroom is nouveau riche businessman and aspiring politician George Kittredge, who is otherwise a rather ordinary man and who idolizes Tracy. The day before the wedding, three unexpected guests show up at the Lord mansion: Macaulay Connor (Mike to his friends), Elizabeth Imbrie - the two who are friends of Tracy's absent brother, Junior - and Dexter himself. Dexter, an employee of the tabloid Spy magazine, made a deal with its publisher and editor Sidney Kidd to get a story on Tracy's wedding - the wedding of the year - in return for Kidd not ... Written by Huggo See All (85) » Taglines: Broadway's howling year-run comedy hit of the snooty society beauty who slipped and fell - IN LOVE!

See more » Genres: 17 January 1941 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Die Nacht vor der Hochzeit See more » Filming Locations: Mono (Western Electric Sound System) Color: Did You Know? Trivia Katharine Hepburn 's swimming pool dive is the real thing. No doubles were used. See more » Goofs When Tracy and Dexter are talking about the information that Kidd has on her father, Dexter hands her pictures and the story of her father and the dancer, Teena Mara. After Tracy shuffles through the paper multiple times, there doesn't seem to be anything written, typed or have pictures on this paper. See more » Quotes George Kittredge : You're like some marvelous, distant, well, queen, I guess. You're so cool and fine and always so much your own. There's a kind of beautiful purity about you, Tracy, like, like a statue. George Kittredge : Oh, it's grand, Tracy. It's what everybody feels about you. It's what I first worshipped you for from afar. Tracy Lord : I don't want to be worshipped. I want to be loved.

Sobre las olas (Over the Waves) (1887) (uncredited) (Buffalo, New York) – See all my reviews After Katharine Hepburn was one of a group of stars dictated "box office poison" by the ruling moguls of Hollywood she went east and scored a complete triumph on stage with The Philadelphia Story. But our Kate was the shrewd one, she had the foresight to buy the film rights from author Philip Barry and peddle them to the studio that would guarantee her repeating her stage role and giving her creative control. On stage she had co-starred with Joseph Cotten, Van Heflin, and Shirley Booth all of whom became movie names later on, but meant nothing to Hollywood in 1940. She had the choice of leading men and cast in their places, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey. This was Grant's fourth and final appearance on screen with Hepburn. It's a typical Cary Grant part, witty and urbane, with a touch of the rogue in him. He's Hepburn's ex-husband, still very much in love with his ex-wife, but she's marrying stuffed shirt John Howard.

Reporter James Stewart and photographer Ruth Hussey are covering Hepburn's wedding for Spy Magazine, the National Enquirer of the day. Through a little judicious blackmail they're invited to this premier society wedding, but both feel out of place and used. After The Philadelphia Story, Katharine Hepburn was a movie name the rest of her long life. Even with an occasional clinker no one ever questioned her about being box office poison. James Stewart won the Best Actor Oscar in probably the most romantic he was ever on the screen. A lot felt it was a consolation Oscar for not winning it for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in 1939. Stewart himself proclaimed to all who'd listen that he voted for good friend Henry Fonda in the Academy Sweepstakes for The Grapes of Wrath. I've always felt that when Stewart talked about those hearth fires banked down low to Hepburn, he was really talking about himself. He's a cynical fellow at first and his romantic side comes as a surprise to him more than even the audience. The Philadelphia Story has become such a classic that even the musical remake High Society doesn't try to copy it, it just presents a softer musical alternative.

But I'd kind of liked to have seen Hepburn do this with her original cast as well. Oscars were in the future for Van Heflin and Shirley Booth and Joseph Cotten the following year made his debut in the biggest film of all. 39 of 47 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes High Society - DVD Movie Central HIGH SOCIETY Stars: Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Celeste Holm, John Lund Director: Charles Walters Features: newsreel, radio ads, cartoon, trailers, Cole Porter featurette Length: 111 minutes Release Date: April 22, 2003 "For you and I have a guardian angel on high with nothing to do, but to give to you, and to give to me, love forever true." Film ** 1/2 How about this for the archetypal Hollywood high concept - a re-envisioning of the Best Picture Oscar-winning comedy The Philadelphia Story as a musical! The film's original cast members would surely have rolled around in their graves at the very notion...except they were still very much alive at the time.

Consider that this original line-up included Cary Grant and James Stewart as competing rivals for the affections of a fair, young Katherine Hepburn. That's a rather intimidating cast! Regardless, MGM decided to take a swing at the musical re-make, and thereby, High Society (1956) was born. MGM, however, took minimal risks with its casting! Katherine Hepburn's role was awarded to Grace Kelly, Hollywood's most beautiful and popular young actress at the time. Never mind that she was not a singer. That job could be handled readily by her two formidable co-stars, for the roles of the competing rivals would be played by none other than Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, a fantastic casting coup for any musical. High Society began production only shortly before Grace Kelly was to depart for Monaco in preparations for her eventual marriage to Prince Rainier. Consequently, she was the ideal choice to play Tracy Lord, the glamorous young heiress engaged to be married...because that is exactly what Grace Kelly was in real life! Although Elizabeth Taylor at once point had been considered for the role of Tracy, High Society succeeds almost entirely because of Grace Kelly's presence. No audiences back then could have resisted the opportunity to watch a film starring a real princess!

The film eventually grossed $13 million, a staggering sum of money in those days, and was to be Princess Grace de Monaco's last motion picture. During production, there was also much publicity about High Society's team-up of crooners Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. It was their first film together. Crosby of course was already an established musical comedy star and a big box office draw. Sinatra, however, had been box office poison for some time. Luckily, this film came in the midst of an amazing career revival that had begun with his Oscar-winning performance in From Here to Eternity. For High Society, Sinatra plays Mike Connor, a young reporter smitten with Tracy's charms. Thanks to the film's great success, Sinatra never needed to look back again on his return to the top. In High Society, Bing Crosby plays himself. Just like in his last film. And in the film before that. Here, he supposedly occupies the Cary Grant role as Tracy's dashing, former husband. Hmm, Cary Grant or... Bing Crosby? Is that a trick question? Hmm.

Anyways, to hear Bob Hope tell it, Bing and he always tried to fill their working schedules with as many golf days as possible and often left directors no choice but to film entire sequences around their scenes. Bing, an old hand at these romantic comedies, also preferred to do only one take of any of his scenes, mistakes or not (the better to rush off and play more golf, perhaps!). Of course, that's Bob Hope's version of the truth, if you feel this perpetually tongue-in-cheek goofball is any more a reliable source of information than Bing himself! No wonder they got along so infamously in their Road pictures! High Society begins with an overture. Ah, the classy days when opening music was used to set audiences into the right mood while they streamed into the theater! When the film proper begins, we run smack into Satchmo himself, Louis Armstrong, who serves as the musical bookends to this film. For the opening, he sings the amusing title song "High Society Calypso" and establishes the stage for the screwball, romantic elements to follow. At the end, his band will play an upbeat rendition of the traditional wedding march.

For now, Armstrong is leading this jazz ensemble to Newport, Connecticut to participate in a music festival, which, not coincidentally, is scheduled at the same time as the wedding of attractive heiress Tracy Lord to stiff upper lip, George Kittredge (John Lund). Lurking somewhere around the bushes is Tracy's former husband, Dexter (Der Bingle himself), who just happens to be the organizer of the music festival and is not too secretly still in love with his former wife. Through some blackmail involving Tracy's scandalous father, reporters from Spy Magazine, Mike Connor and Liz Imbrie (Celeste Holm), are allowed to cover the wedding, much to Tracy's displeasure. Problems arise when her Uncle Willie shows up, and she masquerades him as the father to fool the reporters. Further complications ensue when Tracy's estranged, real father shows up and has to impersonate Uncle Willie briefly! But the most intriguing conflict arises out of Mike's increasing infatuation with Tracy, which leads to a very madcap love quadrangle involving Tracy, on the eve of her wedding, with her fiancï¿½, her former husband, and now a news reporter! Who will ultimately win the hand of yonder fair maiden?

I wish I could say the film is an unqualified success but it isn't entirely so. Director Charles Walters never seems to hit a comfortable stride, although this may have been partially due to the film's rushed production. Nonetheless, Walters still makes a lot of weird directorial decisions. For instance, there is his odd choice of framing for some of his scenes. In an effort to emphasize the Lords' wealth, Walters uses many wide-angle shots, long shots, and stationary cameras early on to show as much of the luxuriously-decorated Lord manor as possible. The downside of this approach is that it distances audiences from the on-screen actors and makes many of the early exposition scenes, especially those with Bing Crosby, rather dull and uninteresting. That's a big no-no for the start of any film! Walter wisely comes to his senses for most of the musical numbers, when the camera pulls up nice and close and shows some life after all. Walters is also not able to elicit the proper tone from his actors' performances.

While John Lund as the fiancï¿½ is bland (as he should be), Bing Crosby's Dexter is inappropriately even blander, which makes the issue of Tracy's still-lingering attraction for him over her fiancï¿½ at times puzzling and unconvincing. Frank Sinatra is okay when he sings but demonstrates little aptitude for the precise comic timing that is required of his role (James Stewart, by contrast, had impeccable timing in The Philadelphia Story). The women fare better. Grace Kelly turns in a somewhat shallow performance but is still quite frankly so captivatingly charming and stunningly gorgeous throughout the entire film that no one will really mind much, including me! Lydia Reed (as Tracy's younger sister Caroline) and Celeste Holm bring great spunk and enthusiasm to their performances. Sadly, they are criminally under-used and have relatively little screen time. As a result, the overall tone of High Society is decidedly uneven. Sometimes it plays like a straight drama, but the dramatic scenes are often too dull or generic to carry much weight. Bing may have won an Oscar for a dramatic performance earlier in his career, but he hardly registers here for his straight scenes.

Other times, the film feels like a screwball comedy, but the delivery of the dialogue is frequently off-tempo and the pacing of the editing or on-screen action too slow to convey the proper comic effect. This is a shame, because the script introduces many juicy situations ripe with great potential for madcap hilarity but then leaves them undeveloped or forgotten. The female actresses, particularly Grace Kelly, do display the proper screwball spirit but the male actors are like stiff wooden planks. Still other times, the film feels like a romance. Surprisingly, these are among the most effective scenes in the film. This is particularly true of the tender reminiscences aboard the yacht True Love, during which we really begin to understand the affection Tracy and Dexter once possessed for one another. This flashback sequence is relatively short, but it is the very heart of the film. Without it, the film's final conclusion would have felt contrived and very flat. Nonetheless, for all its pacing woes, High Society remains, in the end, a musical and so incorporates many Cole Porter songs, mostly sung by the cast's two crooners, into the proceedings. Frankly, I've never quite understood the enormous popularity of crooners.

These singers are often like a bunch of Johnny One-Notes, as all their songs have a velvety propensity to sound exactly the same, no matter what tempo or key or rhythm the songs require! I much prefer the spirited approach of a Ray Bolger or Fred Astaire, for while they were imperfect singers, they infused into their renditions an exuberance and distinctive syncopation and simple joy of singing that is absent in the pitch-perfect but oh-so-dull warblings of a Perry Como, Mel Tormï¿½, Bing Crosby, or even Ol' Blue Eyes. Why, even Satchmo has more pizzazz! So, it goes without saying that the weakest musical numbers in High Society, save for one major exception, all involve anything that has to do with crooning. Sinatra's "Mind If I Make Love to You," sung while he dances with Grace Kelly, is a virtual groaner. Furthermore, Sinatra's wooing of Grace Kelly in "You're Sensational" is so bland that you quickly forget Cole Porter wrote it.

Crosby's rendition of "I Love You, Samantha," immediately following Frank's tune, is virtually dead-on-arrival; by contrast, Grace Kelly's blink-and-you'll-miss-it drunken take on this same song is a sheer delight. And she isn't even a trained singer! Crosby's crooning also nearly sabotages what is supposedly the lively number "Now You Have Jazz" with Louis Armstrong and his band. Fortunately, the jazz musicians overcome the crooner in the end and maintain an infectious cheerfulness to the proceedings, even enticing Der Bingle to swing it, too. Oddly, of all the singers in the cast, Louis Armstrong, with that famous grin and raspy voice of his, seems to be having the most fun, especially in the bright spins he gives to the film's opening and closing musical melodies. Of the musical highlights, there are three big ones. One is a duet by Sinatra and Holm, who are absolutely delightful in the coy "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" number. They make a surprisingly fun pair, and I suspect that Celeste Holm missed her true calling as a regular comedic actress!

Also, Crosby and Sinatra have a highly-publicized duet together - the amusing jingle "Well, Did You Evah?" sung over some drinks with a short dance. It's even a bit of a show-stopper, thanks to Cole Porter's witty and often outrageous lyrics. Lastly, and most memorably, there is Bing Crosby's rendition of the love song, "True Love," as he romances Grace Kelly one peaceful evening on his yacht. The tune is a simple, sweet throw-back to more old-fashioned ballads, hardly resembling Cole Porter's usual trademark of sophisticated lyrics and rhythms. While Bing does croon the song, for once, the style is very appropriate, and this endearing song provides him with his most tender moment in the film. It even features some harmonizing by Grace Kelly! For all the strengths and weaknesses of High Society, the principal reason for its initial success and lasting appeal even today can be traced directly back to one person - Grace Kelly. Her Hollywood career was regrettably brief, barely five years in length, yet during this period, she established herself as one of Hollywood's most desirable leading ladies by appearing in some of the most memorable films ever made.

That list includes such classics as High Noon, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief (interestingly, Alfred Hitchcock tried repeatedly, especially for his film Marnie, to bring the princess out of retirement but to no avail). Fortunately, Grace Kelly's legacy as one of Hollywood's greatest beauties has been immortalized forever in these films and others. High Society is her final bow, but it is a classic Hollywood example of art imitating life. Video *** High Society is presented in a matted widescreen format to preserve the original Vistavision appearance of the film. The color processing is provided by Technicolor, which gives the film a sparkling sheen. The terms "Technicolor" and "MGM musical" apparently go hand in hand! The transfer is pretty solid for the most part. There are no glaring compression defects, although the source print has some problems. Firstly, as is common with these older films, the image's brightness intensity seems to flicker ever so slightly in various scenes. Unfortunately, there is probably little that can be done to rectify this, apart from a truly expensive restoration effort, so live with it we must.

Secondly, second-unit shots and processed shots, particularly those involving rear projection, are a disaster and look quite grainy. Processed shots were extremely common during the studio era but often looked fake even then. Today, they are the absolute bane of any restoration or digital mastering efforts. Still, even with these faults, the print shows remarkable clarity, wonderfully vibrant colors, and a relative absence of debris. Fans of the film will greatly appreciate the overall video quality as presented here! Audio *** High Society's audio has been given a 5.1 Dolby Digital upgrade. It is very pleasing to the ear and preserves the integrity of the original soundtrack. Most of the audio will come from the front speakers until musical numbers, during which all speakers will come alive. While the audio mix does not have a very deep low end nor does it create a very dynamic aural environment, it is perfectly in line with the overall spirit of the film. BONUS TRIVIA: Keen-eared listeners will recognize Cole Porter's "I've Got My Eyes on You" being played by the orchestra during a party sequence, while the drunken Tracy is being watched over by her fiancï¿½!

This is the same tune that Fred Astaire once played on a piano for Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940. Features ** This DVD is part of Warner Brothers' Classic Musical Collection series. These DVDs all have a distinctive appearance, as they use vintage artwork from the films' initial releases for cover art. Unfortunately, this time around, the cover art is more interesting than most of the miniscule extras on the DVD. These include a short behind-the-scenes notes section, an even shorter cast and crew section, and an extremely short 1-minute newsreel about the Hollywood premiere of the film. Also included are two trailers, a weird one with Ed Sullivan for High Society and an older one for The Philadelphia Story. Next up is a short section of radio ads promoting the film; while these promos contain Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and more Bing Crosby, they are a total snooze. The final two featurettes are passable. The first is Millionaire Droopy, a Cinemascope cartoon starring the Hanna-Barbera character Droopy. It's amusing, in a Road Runner-Wile E. Coyote way.

The second is a 9-minute featurette with Celeste Holm discussing the movie and Grace Kelly. Sadly, Holm's voice is not what it used to be, and as a result much of her narration is difficult to understand unless you concentrate. That is a pity, because some of her anecdotes are quite amusing, such as the time Grace Kelly brought her enormous engagement ring onto the set (it even makes a dazzling appearance in the film!) or an infamous dinner in which a tactless studio exec observed that the MGM backlot was larger than all of Monaco! Droll indeed! A quick word - anyone who wishes to sing along to the tunes may view the lyrics via closed-captioning. They are strangely not available with the regular subtitles. This goes for all DVDs in the Classic Musical Collection, as well. Summary: High Society may not be high art, but in the end it's still a lot of fun and features the greatest crooners of the day, an ever-lively Louis Armstrong, and a charming Cole Porter score, including the classic "True Love." Best of all, Grace Kelly has never looked lovelier than in what would be her final film performance.

High Society (1956) Starring: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra - Three Movie Buffs Review Reviewed on: July 17th, 2001 Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in High Society. As far as remakes go, Hollywood seems to only have two directions to go in. They either copy the original so closely that nothing is surprising like the Psycho remake or they change the story so much that it really does not resemble the original at all. The successful 1999 remake of The Mummy has only basic similarities with the original. The best remake I have ever seen is High Society. It is a remake of the wonderful 1939 film The Philadelphia Story starring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. The reason this movie stands out as a remake exception is that it uses both ideas above. It follows the original's plot quite closely. Yet, High Society is a different film because unlike the original, it is a musical. High Society stars Grace Kelly in the Hepburn role, Bing Crosby in the Grant part, and Frank Sinatra taking on the part that Stewart won an Oscar for. Grace Kelly plays Tracy, a spoiled rich girl, who is about to marry a man she does not love.

Her ex-husband (Crosby) comes back to town under the guise of a jazz festival to secretly sabotage the wedding in hopes that she will remarry him. The plot is further complicated when a reporter (Sinatra) arrives to cover the wedding and also falls in love with Tracy. The plot has plenty of humor and fine dialogue, but the stand out parts to me are the songs. Crosby and Sinatra each get to croon a ballad. Crosby sings 'Little One' to Tracy's infatuated little sister, and Sinatra gets a tipsy Tracy hot and bothered by singing 'Mind if I Make Love To You?' However the best parts of the soundtrack are the duets. Sinatra and Crosby's 'Well Did You Ever', Crosby and Louis Armstrong doing a Jazz/Swing number that is the closest Crosby ever got to doing a rock n roll song. Even Kelly sounds nice when she contributes to 'True Love' with Crosby. An entertaining film all round. If it has any faults is that it was made in the conservative 50's and thus some of the vague sexual references seem down right archaic.

Crosby calls Kelly a virgin goddess and Kelly snaps back, 'Stop using those foul words!' Or when Tracy's father tells Tracy that if she had been a nicer daughter he would not have had to have an affair. Huh? What this film could use is a good remake. Did you enjoy Eric's review? +29 Reviewed on: July 17th, 2002 Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra in High Society. As Eric stated above, this is one of the best remakes in Hollywood history and an all around delightful movie. It certainly helps that the original version is one of the best-written comedies ever. In a lot of ways all they did was add songs. Most of the best lines from the first movie have been left intact. The casting of Crosby and Sinatra together was a brilliant move, as was the choice of Cole Porter to write the score. With the addition of the great Satchmo this is truly one of the most enjoyable musicals you will ever see. And though Grace Kelly (in her final film appearance) is quite good she doesn't hold a candle to Katharine Hepburn's Tracy Lord.

Also Crosby and Sinatra, as great as they are in the musical numbers, cannot replace Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart.. One of my favorite scenes is where Tracy Lord and her kid sister decide to have a little fun with the reporter and photographer (the incredible Celeste Holm). They exaggerate their roles as spoiled rich girls with hilarious results. Playing the piano, doing ballet and speaking French with affected mannerisms. Again this scene is lifted almost exactly from the original. Still it is a well-done, very funny moment in the movie. The only point Eric makes which I disagree with is his complaint about the archaic dialogue. On the contrary, isn't this exactly how these people would speak? Even though Tracy may not be shocked by 'virgin Goddess' a well brought up girl of her generation should pretend to be anyway. As for her father's remark, indeed he probably believed what he said to be true. Although we can clearly see it for what it is, a lame excuse for his philandering. I agree that an updated remake is a good idea, but at the same time cannot fault this one for the language of the times.

So, though not quite as funny as The Philadelphia Story, High Society very nearly makes up for this with wonderful songs and three of the best singers and/or musicians of all time. Did you enjoy Patrick's review? +27 Reviewed on: July 17th, 2003 Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby in High Society. I only have one problem with this otherwise great movie. How can Grace Kelly pick boring, pipe smoking, stay at home Bing Crosby, when she has the chance to go off with swinging Frank Sinatra!?! As to the archaic language, I definitely agree with Eric. Being shocked by the phrase 'Virgin Goddess' seems incredibly implausible, especially since the phrase comes from her ex-husband with whom she has shared much more than mere words. Why should she feel the need to act shocked in front of him? Another cringe inducing bit of dialogue occurs when Tracy asks her fiancée, 'Does it bother you that Dexter was once my Lord and Master?' I doubt you would find many wives, even in the 1950s, who would refer to their husbands as their Lord and Master.

As for the father's excuse for his affair, maybe it's my 21st century sensibility, but doesn't that comment smack of incest? That aside, I just wish to add my agreement to my brother's opinion that this is a great movie. Love the cast, love the comedy, and most of all I love the songs. Any flaws in the dialogue are more then made up for by these wonderful songs. I still own and listen to the soundtrack. Did you enjoy Scott's review? +26 The Philadelphia Story by George Cukor |Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart | 883929152544 | DVD | Barnes & Noble® Videos Overview We open on Philadelphia socialite C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) as he's being tossed out of his palatial home by his wife, Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn). Adding insult to injury, Tracy breaks one of C.K.'s precious golf clubs. He gallantly responds by knocking her down on her million-dollar keester.

A couple of years after the breakup, Tracy is about to marry George Kittridge (John Howard), a wealthy stuffed shirt whose principal recommendation is that he's not a Philadelphia "mainliner," as C.K. was. Still holding a torch for Tracy, C.K. is galvanized into action when he learns that Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell), the publisher of Spy Magazine, plans to publish an exposé concerning Tracy's philandering father (John Halliday). To keep Kidd from spilling the beans, C.K. agrees to smuggle Spy reporter Macauley Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) into the exclusive Lord-Kittridge wedding ceremony. How could C.K. have foreseen that Connor would fall in love with Tracy, thereby nearly lousing up the nuptials? As it turns out, of course, it is C.K. himself who pulls the "louse-up," reclaiming Tracy as his bride.

A consistently bright, bubbly, witty delight, The Philadelphia Story could just as well have been titled "The Revenge of Katharine Hepburn." Having been written off as "box-office poison" in 1938, Hepburn returned to Broadway in a vehicle tailor-made for her talents by playwright Philip Barry. That property, of course, was The Philadelphia Story; and when MGM bought the rights to this sure-fire box-office success, it had to take Hepburn along with the package -- and also her veto as to who her producer, director, and co-stars would be. Her strategy paid off: after the film's release, Hepburn was back on top of the Hollywood heap. While she didn't win the Oscar that many thought she richly deserved, the little gold statuette was bestowed upon her co-star Stewart, perhaps as compensation for his non-win for 1939's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Donald Ogden Stewart (no relation to Jimmy) also copped an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Philadelphia Story was remade in 1956 with a Cole Porter musical score as High Society.

Advertising Editorial Reviews Barnes & Noble - Amy Robinson Timeless entertainment from the glory days of the studio system, The Philadelphia Story set the standard for witty, adult romantic comedy. Main Line heiress Tracy Lord Dexter-Haven ( Katharine Hepburn ) is about to be married to a social-climbing businessman when her first husband ( Cary Grant ) crashes the festivities with a pair of reporters from a tabloid magazine ( James Stewart and Ruth Hussy). Hepburn, hot off the success of Philip Barry's Holiday, commissioned the playwright to craft The Philadelphia Story as both a Broadway and a Hollywood vehicle in the hopes of reviving her sagging film career. Consequently, the role is perfectly tailored for her somewhat brittle and mannered style. As Hepburn battles with a typically charming Grant and flirts with an atypically confident Stewart, we see that the brittleness is a camouflage for long-denied passion and vulnerability. Stewart nabbed the Best Actor Oscar, and so-called "women's" director George Cukor gets delightful performances from the entire cast.

All Movie Guide - Dan Jardine Playwright Philip Barry reportedly based the central character of The Philadelphia Story on Katharine Hepburn's brittle public persona, so it should be little surprise that she plays the part so well. The film is a quick-witted translation of the play, essentially a parlor drama with witty, Oscar Wilde-like banter and glib repartee from nearly every actor. There are moments of rare beauty in the dialogue, even if director George Cukor rarely uses them to give the film more visual flair or energy. The story both spoofs and plays sly homage to Clifford Odets' earnest socialist dramas, in which kind-hearted socialites learn to love and admire the working poor -- except that, in The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn turns her back on the working-class hero and returns to her own kind, the aristocratic, debonair, completely irresistible Cary Grant (who does a wonderful job of being...Cary Grant). The aristocrats are well-skewered by the delightful screenplay, and James Stewart is excellent as the cynical but smitten reporter, in a performance that won him his only Academy Award. Donald Ogden Stewart's faithful adaptation of the Barry play was also recognized by the Academy.

High Society, the 1956 musical version of this story, was moderately successful, but not in the same classic league. A List of Classic Katharine Hepburn Movies The Philadelphia Story. MGM 3. The Philadelphia Story - 1940 Another pairing with Cary Grant, The Philadelphia Story , like Holiday was another vehicle written for Hepburn to play a stubborn society girl, and often considered one of her greatest movies. The two glittering stars are joined by Jimmy Stewart in an Oscar-winning role as a reporter smitten with the heiress, Ruth Hussey as his long-suffering photographer, and a strong supporting cast. As with many of her early movies, the attitudes toward wealth and privilege in The Philadelphia Story feel strangely dated today, but it’s still a beautiful, funny, passionate film. Holiday. Columbia 4. Holiday - 1938 Another pairing of Hepburn and Grant, but less well-known than Bringing Up Baby, Holiday is every bit as good and decidedly different. Grant plays an up-from-the-bootstraps young man who wants a job to live, not to make his job his life. He falls in love with a wealthy girl whose family seems to have other ideas.

A great supporting cast, a witty script, and easy, charming performances from the two stars make this a film more people should see. (Don't miss Grant showing off his real skill as a trained acrobat.) Little Women. RKO Radio Pictures 5. Little Women - 1933 In an early movie version of the beloved and oft-filmed classic novel, Hepburn gets the juiciest role in Little Women as Jo, the tomboy of the four March sisters in a genteelly impoverished family struggling with their father’s absence during the Civil War. Hepburn’s dominance all but crowds out a fine cast, the film is a little too sweet and can’t capture the complex character studies and scope of the book. Nevertheless, Little Women is a nice example of an idealistic, classic American book becoming a classic American movie. Morning Glory. RKO Radio Pictures 6. Morning Glory - 1933 In just her third film role, Hepburn won her first Oscar as aspiring actress Eva Lovelace, who comes to New York to be a Broadway star, sacrificing all for her goal.

Donâ€™t miss the real scene where a slightly tipsy Eva quotes Shakespeare at a party, wowing the jaded audience with her power. Adolphe Menjou and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. co-star. Morning Glory may be a touch melodramatic, but hey, it's about theater in New York in 1933. ‎High Society (1956) directed by Charles Walters • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd 8 Not fair to compare this one to The Philadelphia Story, since that's one of my all-time favorite movies. But impossible to avoid. Grace Kelly is for me perhaps the most beautiful woman ever to come out of Hollywood. But she's not quite there for this character's personality, compared to Kate Hepburn. Sometimes she's great, and other times she's just parroting Hepburn. Louis Armstrong isn't necessary for the story, but it reminded me that I am glad he started appearing in movies in the 1950-60's before he died. Hope he got paid well for it. I will give this one points for dropping the "Mike proposes to Tracy at the Wedding" ending scene. It flows better without that awkwardness.

Also, Frank and Der Bingle doing "What a Swell Party This Is" = divine. Review by Cogerson ★★★ Screen legends Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart get replaced by screen legends Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra in the remake of The Philadelphia Story. This time out they turn the movie into a musical.....High Society is a good movie....but nowhere near as good as the original. Highlight of the movie...Crosby and Sinatra singing, dancing and drinking at a rehearsal dinner. 1 Well, if you're going to remake The Philadelphia Story - especially with this title - then you've got to damn well do so with considerable class and MGM succeeded admirably by hiring Cole Porter to provide the memorable tunes and getting Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm and Louis Armstrong to sing them! The Ice Queen herself, Grace Kelly, also gets a chance to perform True Love with Bing and she is pleasing - and typecast - as the spoilt rich girl who via re-exposure to her ex-husband on the eve of her re-marriage, learns something about forgiveness and herself..

The result is a charming musical comedy - not a patch on the original, of course - which nevertheless coasts along rather nicely on the strength of its songs, the charm of its players and benefits from all of the considerable studio 'gloss' thrown at it! Review by Sam Van Hallgren ★★ Even Cole Porter, Grace Kelly and Louis Armstrong can't keep you from wishing you were watching The Philadelpia Story instead. Considering the star power, it's actually Celeste Holm who gives the most memorable performance. She's terrific. If you want a great song stuck in your head, though, go ahead and YouTube Sinatra and Crosby doing 'Well Did You Evah.' And then watch the video of Deborah Harry and Iggy Pop singing the same tune. Philadelphia Story (The) | Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia Library of Congress New York-based playwright Philip Barry wrote The Philadelphia Story in 1939. He based the leading lady, Tracy Lord, on Philadelphia socialite Helen Hope Montgomery Scott. Lord married the heir to the Pennsylvania Railroad fortune, Edgar Scott, whom Barry knew. Barry had his friend, actress Katharine Hepburn, in mind to play the character.

Though Hepburn's early career was successful, including an appearance as Jo in the 1933 film adaption of Little Women, she later starred in a string of box office flops. The success of The Philadelphia Story is credited with reviving her flagging career. Library of Congress James Stewart won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1940 film adaption of The Philadelphia Story, the one time he received the award out of five nominations. Stewart portrayed Macaulay “Mike” Conner, a fast-talking and invasive newspaper reporter and one of the three love interests of Katharine Hepburn's Tracy Lord character. Stewart was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and made his film debut in 1935's The Murder Man. He remained prolific in the film industry, starring in a number of widely successful films until 1941, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. When World War II ended, Stewart returned to his acting career with arguably his most famous film, Frank Capra's 1946 drama It's a Wonderful Life. He remained active in theater and film until 1991.

Library of Congress The Philadelphia Story was deemed “un-revivable” by some critics. Nonetheless, it was successfully revived a number of times, including a 1980 run at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. The center, constructed between 1955 and 1969, houses a number of prestigious organizations including the New York Philharmonic and the New York Ballet. The Philadelphia Story ran at the center's Vivian Beaumont Theater, which had been dark for three years prior to the play's opening. The revival was successful and received positive reviews from theater critics. Library of Congress In 1956, The Philadelphia Story was adapted into a film musical titled High Society. Starring real-life Philadelphia socialite Grace Kelly as Tracy Lord along with Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, High Society was one of the most successful films of that year, though critics often negatively compared it to The Philadelphia Story. Kelly was born in Philadelphia to Margaret Katherine Majer and John B. Kelly Sr., three-time Olympic gold medalist and owner of a successful brick-making firm. She starred in a string of successful films through the 1950s including High Noon and Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

High Society was her final film performance. Shortly after filming wrapped she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco, who proposed three days after meeting her. They remained married until Kelly's death in 1982 following a stroke while driving that led to a serious car accident.

Question: The film, "High Society" was a musical version of which 1939 comedy film, starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant?
Answer: THE PHILADELPHIA STORY