Bringing Up Baby – 1938 – English

Bringing Up Baby – 1938 – English – Comedy – Romance

Bringing Up Baby – 1938 – English

Comedy film directed in 1938 by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, May Robson, Walter Catlett, Barry Fitzgerald, Fritz Feld, Leona Roberts, Ward Bond…

Synopsis: Moderate mannered zoology professor Dr. David Huxley is excited to hear that an intercostal clavicle bone has been found to complete his brontosaurus skeleton, a four-year construction project. He is equally excited about his impending marriage to his assistant, Officer Alice Swallow, who is interested in him more for his work than for him as a person.

David needs a million dollar endowment from the wealthy widow Mrs. Carleton Random to complete the project. Her attorney, Alexander Peabody, will make the decision for her, so David needs to get on her side. However, whenever David tries to make a good impression on Peabody, the same young woman always seems to do something to make her look bad. She is the fleeting heir Susan Vance. The more David wants Susan to leave, the more Susan seems to be unwilling or unable. But David eventually learns that Alexander Peabody is his good friend, whom he calls Boopy, and Susan’s Aunt Elizabeth, with whom David has also done a wrong …

Review: It’s not just a classic, it’s timeless! Katharine Hepburn (by her own account) had two opinions about playing screwed comedy. But she achieves the characterization of the craziest heroine / heiress ever portrayed in the film.

It’s Kate brilliantly breaking out of her 1930s typeface. The pace is fast, Cary Grant is brilliant as teacher Kate harasses / helps / falls in love with everything.

And what about Susan’s aunt and elder? Priceless! Congratulations to Baby, too. I think some critics may have taken the humor to see European comedies from the 1930s. Unless you’re watching all kinds of vaudeville or cabaret transpositions you’re watching, I wouldn’t recommend that this is your standard for judging Bringing Up Baby. Worse still if you judge by 21st century American / European standards. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying you can’t compare this to practically any of that, just enjoy the ride.