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The Philadelphia Story is a romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart, and directed by George Cukor. Based on a Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry, with screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart and an uncredited Waldo Salt, the film is about a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and an attractive journalist. It is considered one of the best examples of a comedy of remarriage, a genre popular in the 1930s and 1940s, in which a couple divorce, flirt with outsiders and then remarry – a useful story-telling ploy at a time when depicting extramarital affairs was banned in American film.
The play was Hepburn's first great triumph after several movie flops which had led to her being labeled "box office poison", and she purchased the film rights to the play in order to control it as a vehicle for her movie comeback.
Discussion
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Quotations
Broadway's howling year-run comedy hit of the snooty society beauty who slipped and fell — IN LOVE!
Champagne's funny stuff. I'm used to whiskey. Whiskey is a slap on the back, and champagne's heavy mist before my eyes.
I can tell there's something in the air because I'm being taken away.
I feel as though I'd lived through all of this before in another life.
I would sell my grandmother for a drink — and you know how I love my grandmother.
I'm testing the air. I like it but it doesn't like me.
Encyclopedia
The Philadelphia Story is a romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart, and directed by George Cukor. Based on a Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry, with screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart and an uncredited Waldo Salt, the film is about a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and an attractive journalist. It is considered one of the best examples of a comedy of remarriage, a genre popular in the 1930s and 1940s, in which a couple divorce, flirt with outsiders and then remarry – a useful story-telling ploy at a time when depicting extramarital affairs was banned in American film.
The play was Hepburn's first great triumph after several movie flops which had led to her being labeled "box office poison", and she purchased the film rights to the play in order to control it as a vehicle for her movie comeback. The film was a great success.
The Philadelphia Story was nominated for six Academy Awards, and won two: Stewart for Best Actor and Donald Ogden Stewart for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was adapted in 1956 as the musical High Society, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong.
In 1995, The Philadelphia Story film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Plot
Tracy Samantha Lord Haven (Hepburn) is a wealthy Main Line Philadelphia socialite who had divorced C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) and is about to marry nouveau riche "Man of the People" George Kittredge (John Howard). The situation is complicated when she is blackmailed by publisher Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) into granting exclusive coverage of the wedding to tabloid reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey). In exchange, Spy magazine agrees to refrain from exposing the antics of Tracy's philandering father, Seth (John Halliday). As the wedding nears, Tracy finds herself torn between her fiancé, her ex-husband, and the reporter. The challenging personalities of Mike and Dexter force the stolid Kittredge into the background.
The night before the wedding, Tracy gets drunk for only the second time in her life and takes an seemingly innocent swim with Mike, though they hint at something more. When George sees Mike carrying an intoxicated Tracy into the house afterwards (both of them wearing only bathrobes), he thinks the worst, that his bride-to-be has disgraced herself. The next day, he tells her that he was shocked and feels entitled to an explanation before going ahead with the wedding. Tracy takes exception to his lack of faith in her and breaks off the engagement. Then she realizes that all the guests have arrived and are waiting for the ceremony to begin. Mike volunteers to marry her (much to Liz's distress), but Tracy graciously declines. At this point, Dexter makes his successful bid for her hand.
Background
The character of "Tracy Lord" was inspired by Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (1904-1995), a Philadelphia socialite known for her hijinks, who married a friend of playwright Philip Barry.
Cast
Awards and honors
James Stewart received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart won for Best Adapted Screenplay. George Cukor (Best Director), Katharine Hepburn (Best Actress), Ruth Hussey (Best Supporting Actress), and producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz (Best Picture) received nominations.
Stewart was not expecting to win and was not planning to attend the awards ceremony. He was called and "advised" to show up in a dinner jacket. Stewart himself said he had voted for Henry Fonda for his performance in The Grapes of Wrath, and always felt the award had been given to him as compensation for not winning the Academy Award for his portrayal of Jeff Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Donald Ogden Stewart, on the other hand, declared upon winning his Oscar: "I have no one to thank but myself!"
Hepburn won a 1940 New York Film Critics Circle Award for her performance, and the film was named one of the ten best of the year by Film Daily.
In 1995, The Philadelphia Story film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
American Film Institute recognition
Adaptations
The stars of the film appeared on Lux Radio Theaters radio adaptation of Barry's play in 1942. Lux presented it again in 1943 with Robert Taylor, Loretta Young and Robert Young.
The film was adapted in 1956 as the MGM musical High Society, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, directed by Charles Walters.
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