A paleontologist finds himself being pursued
by a peculiar heiress and her pet leopard. COMEDY
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Bringing Up Baby (1938)Directed by Howard Hawks
Written by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde Starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Charles Ruggles, May Robson, Fritz Feld, George Irving |
Bringing Up Baby is an enjoyable screwball comedy featuring the remarkable talents of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. The characters are quirky, the dialogue is snappy, and the real live leopard is actually quite cute. My only real problem with this film is the muddled plot, which makes this seem like two films stitched together.
As I said, Grant and Hepburn are terrific. Their chemistry is perfect, even though I can't really tell if their characters are in love or if Grant's character actually hates Hepburn's character. The film is easy to enjoy without focusing on this too much, but I couldn't help it. As I also said, the plot becomes awfully muddled once a second leopard is introduced. After that, it stops being a realistic comedy romance and turns into full-fledged screwball. The whole scene in the jail near the end of the film is just simply irritating, as is the way nearly every character talks on top of another, making it very difficult to understand anybody. These problems do not make Bringing Up Baby a bad film. They just make it harder for me to immerse myself into the film. Still, it's plain to see how this film became a classic, what with the lead actors' chemistry and the use of a live leopard. I only wish they'd focused less on quirky antics and more on character development. |