The Philadelphia Story (1940)
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The Philadelphia Story Movie Review
The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. It’s a highly overrated movie.
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“The time to make up your mind about people is never“
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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. Upon my second viewing of this famous film, now I am confident in my saying that it is too well regarded by the critics. There are many reasons why I find it to be not as great as others do, but the main reason is the plot itself. It’s your standard 30s and 40s comedy of remarriage, but there had been much better movies in this genre before, so this one felt tiresome.
It is a clichéd story of a woman leaving her husband, dating another man and then getting back with her previous husband in the end. However, this predictability actually isn’t the problem here. ‘It Happened One Night’ is also wildly predictable in plot, but that film had so much energy, enormous entertainment factor and incredible humor that this one just doesn’t possess.
There are some charming moments to be found here. The best one arrives in the middle of the movie where Stewart sneezed when sitting with Grant and the awkwardness of the two was captured on screen in a hilarious fashion. Cukor decided to not cut this natural moment, so it stayed in the movie for the better. There were also many wonderful moments with Hepburn who is here in her element as the physicality of the role made her a true shining star. The highlight was her jumping in the pool, which she herself did instead of a double.
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The actors are all wonderful of course. Ruth Hussey is quite charming in an awarded supporting turn while the three stars are, well, true stars. These three I absolutely adore, so them being paired together was a truly inspired choice that paid off at least in the characters’ department. Hepburn is very amusing as Tracy Lord. She’s magnetic and her charisma is undeniable. Cary Grant got the least showy role, but he’s reliably suave and charming.
As for James Stewart, he is fine, but hardly worthy of a freaking Oscar. The Academy gave it to him only to compensate for not awarding him the previous year for ‘Mr. Smith’. The role simply isn’t great, and I agree with Stewart himself that he was miscast. He’s good, but much less memorable than his co-stars this time around, and the whole triangle here wasn’t particularly interesting if you ask me.
The Philadelphia Story loses its steam pretty quickly. The first act is solid and some of the middle parts are wonderful, but the third act was fairly standard and quite disappointing in both storytelling and lack of humor. The humor overall was muted here, and rarely has it made me chuckle the same way as the other screwball comedies of the period did.
The acting nods for the film besides Stewart were earned, but not the Screenplay and Best Picture nominations. The dialogue is pretty good, but hardly as witty and as sophisticated as you would expect from this time period and this genre. Yes, everything here is just solid without ever reaching greatness.
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