That's right people...another Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. I just can't help it! They are awesome. In this 1940 George Cukor comedy, Hepburn plays Tracy Lord, a society divorcee about to be married again. Grant plays C.K. Dexter Haven, her ex-husband. Jimmy Stewart and Ruth Hussey join the two as a writer, Mike Connor and photographer, Liz Imbrie, respectively. To support we have John Howard playing George Kittredge, Tracy's new fiance, and the great actors playing the rest of the Lord family. Make sure to watch for "Uncle Willie". He is a funny, dirty old man!
Tracy and Dexter open the movie in the disintegration portion of their marraige. We get to see exactly what their relationship is (Dexter shoving Tracy to the ground by her face). Fast forward a bit and we come to the present. Tracy is about to remarry to George, a "man of the people" who scoffs at the idea of an uppercrust. Ironic considering his fiance is the uppercrust. Tracy's mother and sister are helping Tracy prepare for the wedding, while her father is absent thanks to his philandering ways. Tracy has very definite ideas on the role of reporters and media in general, thinking a person's private life should be just that, not knowing that a certain tabloid is scheming for a way into her wedding. Actually Tracy has very definite ideas about everything. Anyway, there is a plot by the evil editor to use her father's indiscretions to blackmail Tracy into allowing a story to be printed on her wedding, with Dexter, Mike, and Liz as pawns. You can tell off the top that Mike and Liz are good people with good intentions being pressured by their boss to cover the wedding. Dexter is the "in" with the family. The usual Grant/Hepburn bantering is accounted for. He has a way of showing Tracy her inability to accept weakness in others, making her feel insecure. There is a more intellectual connection between Tracy and Mike that makes her feel better, while Liz waits patiently for the connection to disappear. You can see that Dexter is trying to fix a wedge between Tracy and George, although they do pretty well on their own. Big issues arise at the party the night before the wedding,not to mention seeing Uncle Willie makes passes at every young girl in the place. Segway...whoever thought it was a good idea to have parties the night before the wedding was sorely mistaken. This is shown when the majority of players wake up a little sickly the morning of the wedding. The whole thing blows up minutes before the wedding is to take place. Mike proposes to Tracy trying to fix the mess. Dexter still wants her back. It is a toss up who she will pick.
This is my tie with Holiday for favorite Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn movie. It is also one of my all-time favorites. I can watch it over and over. It is smart, funny, and hot Cary Grant. How can you go wrong? There was a remake of this film in 1956 starring Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby in the starring roles, with Frank Sinatra (love) and Celeste Holm in Mike and Liz's roles. It was nice to have some music (Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra) thrown in the mix. But it is definitely not the original.
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