The Philadelphia Story

Released: December 1, 1940

Studio: MGM

Genre: comedy/romance

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 0.4 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 215.10 Worldwide: ?

Directing: George Cukor

Screenwriting: Donald Ogden Stewart

Starring: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard

“George Cukor’s classic, witty romantic comedy” ^FS is “a delight from start to finish.” ^T95 It “sophisticated and screwball at once.” ^A07 The movie is based on a hit play by Philip Barry that was “a sophisticated romantic farce about a socialite wedding.” ^FS It “effortlessly transcending its stage origins.” ^T95 It would later be remade again in 1956 as the musical High Society.

The movie had “a sublime” ^RS Katharine Hepburn reprise “her stage role as a haughty heiress who is about to wed a pompous self-made man” ^A98 (Howard). “Goofy reporter” ^VD Macauley Connor (Stewart) “is present to cover the wedding with a photographer Liz Imbrie (Hussey).” ^FS He “helps her down from her pedestal and into the arms” ^A98 of “her irresponsible” ^FS but “suave ex-husband (Grant).” ^VD

“The film is a marvel of timing and understated performances.” ^T95 Hepburn “gives one of the performances of her life, while Grant and Stewart keep pace.” ^TV Stewart won an Oscar for his performance, but thought he was miscast and voted for Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath instead of himself. ^MSN