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Timeless entertainment from the glory days of the studio system, The Philadelphia Story set the standard for witty, adult romantic comedy. Main Line heiress Tracy Lord Dexter-Haven (Katharine Hepburn) is about to be married to a social-climbing businessman when her first husband (Cary Grant) crashes the festivities with a pair of reporters from a tabloid magazine (James Stewart and Ruth Hussy). Hepburn, hot off the success of Philip Barry's Holiday, commissioned the playwright to craft The Philadelphia Story as both a Broadway and a Hollywood vehicle in the hopes of reviving her sagging film career. Consequently, the role is perfectly tailored for her somewhat brittle and mannered style. As Hepburn battles with a typically charming Grant and flirts with an atypically confident Stewart, we see that the brittleness is a camouflage for long-denied passion and vulnerability. Stewart nabbed the Best Actor Oscar, and so-called "women's" director George Cukor gets delightful performances from the entire cast. Amy Robinson

All Movie Guide

We open on Philadelphia socialite C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) as he's being tossed out of his palatial home by his wife, Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn). Adding insult to injury, Tracy breaks one of C.K.'s precious golf clubs. He gallantly responds by knocking her down on her million-dollar keester. A couple of years after the breakup, Tracy is about to marry George Kittridge (John Howard), a wealthy stuffed shirt whose principal recommendation is that he's not a Philadelphia "mainliner," as C.K. was. Still holding a torch for Tracy, C.K. is galvanized into action when he learns that Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell), the publisher of Spy Magazine, plans to publish an exposé concerning Tracy's philandering father (John Halliday). To keep Kidd from spilling the beans, C.K. agrees to smuggle Spy reporter Macauley Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) into the exclusive Lord-Kittridge wedding ceremony. How could C.K. have foreseen that Connor would fall in love with Tracy, thereby nearly lousing up the nuptials? As it turns out, of course, it is C.K. himself who pulls the "louse-up," reclaiming Tracy as his bride. A consistently bright, bubbly, witty delight, The Philadelphia Story could just as well have been titled "The Revenge of Katharine Hepburn." Having been written off as "box-office poison" in 1938, Hepburn returned to Broadway in a vehicle tailor-made for her talents by playwright Philip Barry. That property, of course, was The Philadelphia Story; and when MGM bought the rights to this sure-fire box-office success, it had to take Hepburn along with the package -- and also her veto as to who her producer, director, and co-stars would be. Her strategy paid off: after the film's release, Hepburn was back on top of the Hollywood heap. While she didn't win the Oscar that many thought she richly deserved, the little gold statuette was bestowed upon her co-star Stewart, perhaps as compensation for his non-win for 1939's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Donald Ogden Stewart (no relation to Jimmy) also copped an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Philadelphia Story was remade in 1956 with a Cole Porter musical score as High Society. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 012569675322
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Aspect Ratio: Full Frame
• Editions: Remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled
• Time: 1:52:00
• Sales Rank: 17,910

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Romantic Comedies - TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection