The Philadelphia Story

Days before her second wedding, Tracy Lord ends up in the same house as her first husband and two journalists. The engine of the comedy is not that triangle but the collapse of her opinion of herself. Behind the film is Katharine Hepburn rescuing her own career. After a run of flops she had been branded box office poison. She played the part on Broadway in Philip Barry's play and, with Howard Hughes's help, bought the film rights. She sold them to Louis B. Mayer at MGM for 250,000 dollars, but the money was not the point. She kept final approval over producer, director, screenwriter and cast, choosing George Cukor to direct and Donald Ogden Stewart to write. Her first choices were Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, both unavailable. Cary Grant agreed on two conditions: top billing and 137,000 dollars. He donated the entire fee to the British War Relief Society. James Stewart won Best Actor and said he had not expected to, believing it was compensation for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington the year before. He kept the statue on display in his father's hardware store in Indiana for years. Made for 914,000 dollars, it grossed 3.3 million. Who it is for: fans of fast classic comedy who want three stars in one frame. Who it is not for: viewers who will bristle at what the woman is finally taught to learn.