Product Description

Here comes the bride. And the ex-husband. And a gossip-rag columnist on assignment. The luminous tale of a fault-finding bride-to-be socialite who gets her comeuppance and an unexpected mr. Right. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 03/01/2005 Starring: James Stewart Katharine Hepburn Run time: 112 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9343 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2005-03-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 112 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Re-creating the role she originated in Philip Barry's wickedly witty Broadway play, Katharine Hepburn stars as the spoiled and snobby socialite Tracy Lord in this sparkling 1940 screen adaptation of The Philadelphia Story, one of the great romantic comedies from the golden age of MGM studios. Applying her impossibly high ideals to everyone but herself, Tracy is about to marry a stuffy executive when her congenial ex-husband (Cary Grant), arrives to protect his former father-in-law from a potentially scandalous tabloid exposé. In an Oscar-winning role, James Stewart is the scandal reporter who falls for Tracy as her wedding day arrives, throwing her into a dizzying state of premarital jitters. Who will join Tracy at the altar? Snappy dialogue flows like sparkling wine under the sophisticated direction of George Cukor in this film that turned the tide of Hepburn's career from "box-office poison" to glamorous Hollywood star. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Features
The two-disc edition of the classic comedy The Philadelphia Story provides a welcome look at the leading lady and the director in the two substantial documentaries anchoring the second disc. All About Me is pretty much what the title says: a 1993 feature written and narrated by Katharine Hepburn herself discussing her film career and private life with such famous paramours as Howard Hughes and Spencer Tracy. The George Cukor installment of The Men Who Made the Movies gives an hourlong overview of the director's work (but not his life) with generous clips. The first disc is accompanied by a commentary track by film historian Jeanine Basinger, who has a lot of information at her fingertips but is a little dry. The new transfer has removed most of the lines and damage from the picture compared to the original DVD release and is noticeably crisper. Last but not least, the two-disc edition comes in a standard amaray keepcase rather than the much-maligned cardboard snap case. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Great Fun
A must for every fan of Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. Funny, sad, touching, wonderful!

Actually Philadelphia Suburb Story
The Great Depression, some things never change. The rich are evil and the poor are sainted. Tracy Lord, the unfortunate name of a recent adult film star, she is kind of a glorious snot ; she'll marry a Nuevo-riche piker to get even with her suave but drunken ex-husband, Cary Grant.

Grant is Cary Grant, but Stewart, a newcomer, holds his own as the young writer skittish about rich folks and women. His long-suffering girlfriend, charming, Ruth Hussey, stands by demurely.

A little dated, but clearly courting mores were more distinct and perhaps safer way back then. Wonderful film!

Timless acting, devastating wit, and, um... the script still neeeds work
I just watched this again and I simply must advertise my opinion on the whole of it. It's just that it was "almost" there. The classic screwball pairings of Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant are legendary, but this one was in need of a good rewrite. If you are in a sentimental mood and you have recently viewed your entire collection of 1934-1944ish screwball comedies, then you can't go too far off of the path with this offering, but...

Okay, so let's start at the beginning (not the beginning of the story, that would be just silly--let's start with the cast): Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn reunite to match wits in a slightly more "mature" (they are older, and it shows in that "Haven't we done this before, but it was more fun then, but I suppose this is nice too" kind of way) version of Bringing Up Baby. Perhaps between BuB and this story they did get married after all, and had different parental units, and jobs, but the rest is pretty much the same. They are both fine actors with presence and sublime comedic timing that seems so natural it is ethereal and almost aloof to the rest of us mere mortals viewing this grand spectacle unfolding. And then there is Jimmy Stewart in his early days. A true master of American cinema, this man redefines "the common man" made popular by Dickens a century past. Roland Young (Topper) is magnificent as always, so much so that it is best to view his scenes, remote in hand, again and again to scrutinize his subtle comic inflections. The rest of the cast is well suited to this film, and the undiscovered gem is the too-little used and almost ignored Ruth Hussey, whose somber portrayal (I won't give too much away) is classic and understated to the point of being that of a beautiful wall decor one almost discerns in the tapestry of the film's rich ambiance.

But it's the lines themselves that jumble together, like egocentric starlets all vying for the prime screen time. They clash and toil angrily in ways that make George Cukor roll over in his grave, lamenting over the lost Oscar that should by all rights have been his. "Soylent Green is people!" Classic lines are easy to remember, and they really sell a film, but you can't just shove a bunch of them (like carrots, all bound together) in front of a camera and expect people to think to themselves that this is Shakespearean (...and don't I know this! But that is not the point!).

Watch it over wine, with a fire in the hearth, on a dark, stormy night with your spouse (someone who is already contractually obligated to stay once the movie is over). It has its flaws, but it is still charming in the ways that "the 50's" are to this day considered an age of innocence when compared to the decades that followed. But if you are trying to impress a date, go with Bringing Up Baby (if they are they type who love absurdity and live to laugh), or His Girl Friday (1940), if they are the cerebral type who thrive upon the sparring jab of wit so quick it has lashed and gone should you inadvertently turn your head untimely.

Ownable in deed, but best reserved for those times among close friends when one is more interested in dissecting "fine comedy dialogue 101" than a good night's comedy romp and shag following.

Thanks for reading.