Great Moments From Cinema - 42

Verbal Volleys
Movie: The Philadelphia Story (MGM-USA; 1940)
Director: George Cukor
Screenplay: Donald Ogden Stewart; Philip Barry (Play)
Major Cast: Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey

Film Synopsis: When a wealthy socialite (Hepburn) plans to re-marry, her ex-husband (Grant) returns with two tabloid reporters (Stewart and Hussey), which disrupts the wedding.

My Favorite Moment: The dialogue exchanges between the entire cast.

Why I Like It: “The prettiest sight in this fine pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges.” This dialogue by Stewart sets the tone for the movie which is one-upmanship between the ensemble cast. Hepburn and Grant are two stubborn characters who ended their marriage in acrimony and when she decides to re-marry he comes back to be, what she perceives as an irritation. However, even though she refuses to acknowledge it, as the movie progresses, she can’t help but realize that he brings out the best in her. Stewart plays a gentleman tabloid reporter who is sent to cover this wedding and ends up being enamored by Hepburn’s personality. Hussey is his colleague who loves him, but wants to wait till Stewart realizes that himself.

No cast member is superfluous and each one of them has lines which major actors in other films can only aspire for. The mother, the father, the sister or even the uncle of the bride to be is not there to make up the numbers. These are interesting people with delightful insights. The dialogue flows freely and sometimes it feels like everyone is trying to catch a runaway train and no one wants to be left behind. Stewart, Grant and Hepburn are no strangers to sharp one-liners, of which they have plenty, but what makes this movie remarkable is the importance given to the writing involving the supporting players. It is difficult to pick just one great piece of conversation and while seeing this movie, it becomes evident that acting doesn’t just mean evoking emotions, but it is process by which one can make the audience member feel like a fly on the wall, that has waltzed into the actors lives and is watching them in their usual surroundings.

The movie does no favors to the lazy audience member who wants to be a passive viewer. It asks us to meet it half way and if we do, then it becomes a truly rewarding experience. Dialogues are funny to only those who can appreciate adult writing. For example, the scene between Grant, Hepburn and Stewart at the swimming pool where,

Grant: “I thought all writers drank to excess and beat their wives. (Then looking at Hepburn) You know one time I secretly wanted to be a writer.”

Everyone at one point or another has the last-word. The tête-à-tête is more like tennis between players who give no inch to the opponent and pounce to hit a winner at first available moment. So when Hussey observes that the intercom at Hepburn’s residence has a button called ‘stables’, she promptly says, without batting an eyelid, “Perhaps it is for when they want to talk to the horses without inviting them in the house”. Well I say, really it can’t get much better than this!