There Are No Walls in the House of Jearl - Mystery DVD #152
[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]
|
10:03 am
[Link] |
Mystery DVD #152
The Philadelphia Story
My thought process after viewing The Philadelphia Story:
1. Man, that was awesome, how Tracy Lord totally ate the reporters alive in that scene. I shall make a LolHepburn.
2. Okay, done. Now to figure out how to express my unease with the Tracy-bashing by the first husband and the father and the marriage stuff at the end while still expressing my great appreciation for the dialogue and eyebrow work.
3. ... Dude, it is still a romantic comedy, what do I even say.
4. Okay, better watch it again.
Man, the little sister is a treasure too. RESIST URGE TO WIKIPEDIA THE ACTRESS JESUS IT HAS BEEN LIKE SIX WEEKS.
5. Well, I am inadequate to this task, but let's just get on with it.
Katherine Hepburn is Tracy, a woman too regal and pure for any marriage to contain. But marry she must, because she is a society lady. She has chosen stumpy but popular coal man George Kittredge (John Howard) to be her earthly tether. Her ex-husband Dexter (Cary Grant) arrives to sow chaos. Actually he is playing a delicate game with a newspaper publisher who has dispatched a reporter (Jimmy Stewart) and photographer (Ruth Hussey) to get The Story on Those Wacky Old-Money Types. Instead they all get wrapped up in some personal-actualization drama in which Tracy is knocked off her pedestal, the reporter and photographer choose art over employment, Cary Grant can't hear you over the sound of how much he rules, and the little sister makes her hungover uncle take a pony ride.
Okay so, it's lovely. The film is light as if a twin planet made of pure Awestonium is directly over the set, making everything brighter and smoother. This rare alloy is composed mostly of sharp dialogue and a respect for the intelligence of the viewer.
What made me uneasy is that there are two uncomfortable scenes of Tracy getting sternly criticized by her first husband and her father for being too perfect and distant. Don't get me wrong, the movie hinges on those and the story absolutely needs them, but I feel like whatever crimes of arrogance Tracy committed to deserve those lashes, the story never told me. I'm just out there hanging with Katharine Hepburn's crumbling facade of dignity wondering who spit in Dad's cornflakes today. SHE JUST WANTS A NICE WEDDING TO A BORING DUDE YOU ASSHOLES. And the rest of the story is so pleasing I feel like the problem is me. I know the problem is me for hating the tacked-on wedding at the end. Who really marries a dude you almost came to blows with the day before just because there are a lot of guests in your parlor? Do you really like all those people? Maybe you could have said some of their names or something. Okay, really, I do understand that it was Cary Grant and you pretty much have to marry that dude the moment you get an opening.
Anyway, check it out because Katharine Hepburn will kick your entire ass.
Tags: dvd review
|
|
| |
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/73476021/11838679) | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ladymajor |
|---|
| Date: | May 25th, 2009 09:29 pm (UTC) |
|---|
| | Fifteen rounds, no decision. Where's my wandering parakeet? | (Link) |
|
Aahaaahahahahahahahaaahhhhahaha! This is without a doubt my favorite movie of ALL TIME, and your summation is so spectacular I dub it spectacuLAHR. No to mention the innumerable amount of ass which your LOL Hepburn kicks. I must share it. I'm glad you enjoyed the film, and I totally agree with you on the Tracy Bash scenes. Although I wouldn't mind a bit if Cary Grant spent five minutes telling me what an asshole I am. He's probably right. And he's dreamy.
After many years, still one of my favorite movies.
It's been a while, but I think the key to the scenes where Dexter and Tracy's father are criticizing her is that they know her well and have known her for a long time. We're getting backstory there, with their assessment of Tracy being supported by the behavior we do see.
I adore Tracy, but she very definitely wants things her way, and it's also clear at the beginning of the story that she regards the failure of her marriage with Dexter as entirely his fault. Which it isn't -- it was both their faults, which is something they figure out over the course of the weekend.
And I don't think the wedding is tacked on -- it's the inevitable consequence of what the characters and society want. Tracy wants to get married, and she does. Dexter wants Tracy back, and he gets her back. And as you point out, the social order expects her to get married, and she does. It's just that like all good comedies, the resolution of events is not what any of the players really expected it to be.
(Love the lolspeak version of the scene, by the way.) |
|
