“Now it isn't that I don't like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I'm strangely drawn toward you, but - well, there haven't been any quiet moments.”
- David Huxley (Cary Grant)
Howard Hawks’ fast-paced and quick-witted screwball comedy “Bringing Up Baby” (1938) is easily one of the treasures of early Hollywood filmmaking. Upon its initial release, however, audiences were not fond of the film and unfortunately for its stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, the film lost money due to marketing costs and a longer production than was scheduled for. In the weeks following its release, Hepburn had incurred a vicious new title; having been labeled “box office poison,” Hepburn's career briefly seemed doomed. Hawks emerged from the disappointment resilient and eventually directed the equally entertaining comedy classic “His Girl Friday” (1940), which is a remake of “The Front Page” (1931). Cary Grant also escaped the ordeal with little distress to his own career only to be reunited with Hepburn a few months later in George Cukor’s sophisticated comedy “Holiday” (1938), which, needless to say, did better at the box office.
Grant and Hepburn have rarely been as lovable as they are in “Bringing Up Baby” and it’s a credit to Hawks’ skill as director that they appear so. For Hawks, who is about as versatile a director as they come (given his willingness to venture into almost any genre and succeed in doing so), “Bringing Up Baby” may very well be the crowning achievement of his forays into screwball comedy. Certainly the film’s humor is timeless in its successful hybrid of wit and slapstick. The supporting cast capably offers the film additional moments of humor, but it’s the two leads that carry the film with their natural onscreen chemistry and superb comedic timing. The fearless pace will have your mind racing to keep up, but on repeated viewings, you can expect plenty of new and pleasant discoveries.
The theatrical trailer can be found at the following link.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0029947/trailers-screenplay-E29143-10-2
-Kurtis Beard
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