Katharine Hepburn

  • George Cukor – Holiday [Criterion] (1938) (HD)

    USA1931-1940ComedyGeorge CukorRomanceScrewball Comedy

    Free-thinking Johnny Case finds himself betrothed to a millionaire’s daughter. When her family, with the exception of black-sheep Linda and drunken Ned, want Johnny to settle a career in finance, he rebels, wishing instead to spend the early years of his life on “holiday.” With the help of his friends Nick and Susan Potter, he makes up his mind as to which is the better course, and who he’d rather take the leap with.Read More »

  • ? – Women in Defense (1941)

    ?1941-1950DocumentaryShort FilmUSA

    Short documentary extolling the virtues and necessity for women to participate in America’s preparation for war, showing women working in scientific, industrial, and voluntary-services activities.Read More »

  • George Cukor – Love Among the Ruins (1975)

    Drama1971-1980ComedyGeorge CukorUnited Kingdom

    Love Among the Ruins tells the story of Jessica Medlicott (Hepburn), a wealthy, widowed actress who becomes romantically involved with a fortune-hunting young man named Alfred Pratt (Leigh Lawson). When the scheming Alfred sues Jessica for breach of promise (this means not honouring a proposal of marriage), she is forced to hire legendary barrister Sir Arthur Granville-Jones (Olivier) to defend her. Although Jessica doesn’t remember it, she and Sir Arthur had a brief love affair several decades ago, and the attorney has carried a torch for her ever since.Read More »

  • Vincente Minnelli – Undercurrent (1946)

    1941-1950DramaFilm NoirUSAVincente Minnelli

    from 55th New York Film Festival program
    A bit of an anomaly within Minnelli’s often more colorful and ebullient oeuvre, this black-and-white, paranoiac romantic thriller finds the master harnessing his consummate stylishness to spin a haunting, noirish tale. Timid Ann (Katharine Hepburn) marries the highly eligible Alan Garroway (Robert Taylor), whose wealth and good looks conceal an underlying and profound cruelty. Ann grows increasingly obsessed with learning the truth about what happened to Alan’s brother, Michael (Robert Mitchum), who has been missing for some time… This gripping movie casts Hepburn, Taylor, and Mitchum all against type.Read More »

  • George Cukor – The Philadelphia Story (1940) (HD)

    1931-1940ComedyGeorge CukorRomanceScrewball ComedyUSA

    Quote:
    With this furiously witty comedy of manners, Katharine Hepburn revitalized her career and cemented her status as the era’s most iconic leading lady—thanks in great part to her own shrewd orchestrations. While starring in the Philip Barry stage play The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn acquired the screen rights, handpicking her friend George Cukor to direct. The intoxicating screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart pits the formidable Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn, at her most luminous) against various romantic foils, chief among them her charismatic ex-husband (Cary Grant), who disrupts her imminent marriage by paying her family estate a visit, accompanied by a tabloid reporter on assignment to cover the wedding of the year (James Stewart, in his only Academy Award–winning performance). A fast-talking screwball comedy as well as a tale of regret and reconciliation, this convergence of golden-age talent is one of the greatest American films of all time.Read More »

  • George Cukor – Holiday (1938) (HD)

    USA1931-1940ComedyGeorge CukorRomanceScrewball Comedy

    Quote:
    Two years before stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and director George Cukor would collaborate on The Philadelphia Story, they brought their timeless talents to this delectable slice of 1930s romantic-comedy perfection, the second film adaptation of a hit 1928 play by Philip Barry. Grant is at his charismatic best as the acrobatically inclined free spirit who, following a whirlwind engagement, literally tumbles into the lives of his fiancée’s aristocratic family—setting up a clash of values with her staid father while firing the rebellious imagination of her brash, black-sheep sister (Hepburn). With a sparkling surface and an undercurrent of melancholy, Holiday is an enchanting ode to nonconformists and pie-in-the-sky dreamers everywhere, as well as a thoughtful reflection on what it truly means to live well.Read More »

  • Clarence Brown – Song of Love (1947)

    1941-1950Clarence BrownClassicsDramaUSA

    Quote:

    Undeniably one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses, Katharine Hepburn nonetheless only had one voice. She used it to massive effect but anything that really warranted an utterly different accent tended to make her look horribly miscast. Of all the great actors she was the one who seemed to be horribly miscast most often, whether it be as a Chinese peasant girl, a queen of Scotland or a backwoods hillbilly. Here, playing the nineteenth century pianist and composer Clara Schumann, I expected another horrible miscasting, but found that the film’s very human story utterly engaging regardless what accents are brought to bear.Read More »

  • Tony Richardson – A Delicate Balance (1973)

    1971-1980DramaTony RichardsonUSA

    The setting is the comfortable Connecticut home of a well-to-do family. Agnes is a determined, powerful woman who feels she must hold her husband together and present a brave face to the world. Her husband, Tobias, is both retired and retiring, a man who cannot quite face up to life. Living with the couple is Agnes’ sister, Claire, an alcoholic who sees through and scoffs at the insincerity and pretensions around her. Clare’s outrageous comments are meant as much to reflect her own bitterness as to shake Tobias out of his mute acceptance of Agnes’ dominance. They are soon joined by Harry and Edna, a married couple who are Agnes and Tobias’ best friends and Agnes and Tobias’ spoiled 36-year old daughter, Julia, who returns home from her fourth broken marriage.Read More »

  • George Cukor – A Bill of Divorcement (1932)

    1931-1940ClassicsDramaGeorge CukorUSA

    Synopsis:
    Meg Fairfield (Billie Burke) is set to marry Gray Meredith (Paul Cavanagh), pending a divorce from her first husband, Hilary (John Barrymore), who has spent nearly 20 years in an insane asylum. On Christmas morning, while Meg and Gray are attending church, Hilary returns home, having snapped out of his illness. He is met by his daughter, Sydney (Katharine Hepburn), who is worried she will inherit his mental problems. The Fairfields must decide how Hilary’s arrival will change their plans.Read More »

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