Bringing Up Baby (1938) Watch along
Added 2024-11-22 18:30:02 +0000 UTCI LOVED THIS MOVIE!!!
#88 on the AFI list! This movie was so much fun—such a perfect pick-me-up! I was really hurting this week! LMAO! Self induced! There’s something really special about this movie, and I keep catching myself thinking about it days later. What a dynamic duo these two are! I totally get why they’re so beloved! You can't take your eyes OFF THEM! I’m obsessed with their chemistry, the physical comedy, all the clever gags, and honestly, Katharine Hepburn is the PERFECT match for Cary Grant. Screwball comedies might be my new favourite thing!
Let me know all your thoughts down below! Can't wait to hear it!
xx
ames
Comments
As I'm sure several people have aid, "What's Up, Doc?" (1972) is a wonderful homage to "Bringing Up Baby".
Ken Schneyer
2024-11-27 22:06:48 +0000 UTCYay!
Amalia Wolf
2024-11-22 23:41:10 +0000 UTCOne of my all-time favorites. Can't wait to watch it with you after I'm done working. What a treat!
RicoRay317
2024-11-22 23:09:31 +0000 UTCGreat recs, I also love Ball of Fire (1941). Barbara was on a roll in '41 !!
JM63
2024-11-22 23:05:42 +0000 UTCI also love Katharine Hepburn's late career "world's most loveable spinster" period, e.g. The African Queen and Rooster Cogburn. Summertime (1955) and The Lion in Winter (1968, in which she plays Eleanor of Aquitaine) are some other good ones. Not to get too "inside baseball"-y, but I find it easier to think of "presentational" and "representational" acting in terms of the performers' relationship with the audience. In presentational acting (most stage acting, Shakespeare, and classic cinema), the actors, to some degree, engage with and acknowledge the audience. In representational acting, the performers consciously ignore the audience and try to represent reality through a naturalistic performance (giving viewers a "fly on the wall," voyeuristic point of view). Obviously the representational, naturalistic style has tremendous advantages and completely (and rightly) dominates modern cinema, but I still prize the great examples of the pre-method, presentational style in classic films because it's so rare today, and when it really works it can bring about a special sense of magic (e.g. Casablanca). And IMO the stagey, presentational style can still work in modern (post-1970) films, either in part (James Earl Jones as Darth Vader, Doc Brown in Back to the Future) or in an entire film (Life is Beautiful). (Of course I also love the gritty realism of the '70s, for example; I enjoy seeing a variety of styles.) (The terminology is confusing, but a couple of books on film I've read follow the "presentational" = "theatrical", "representational" = "naturalistic" convention.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentational_and_representational_acting#The_actor%E2%80%93audience_relationship
JM63
2024-11-22 22:57:24 +0000 UTCI liked it. Funny. Had enough coherence for me, even though screwy toward the end. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are charismatic and impressive. I agree that she is up there with Cary Grant in this movie. "Don't be so grouchy." That line is also in The Shining. I've seen Katharine Hepburn in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967) (watched multiple times), "The African Queen" (1951), and "Rooster Cogburn" (1975). I remember Katharine Hepburn being in the news when "On Golden Pond" (1981) was released. The Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn movie "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) is on my watchlist. Wild that this movie is 86 years old. I typically don't watch pre-1950 movies. I generally like better the production and acting style of modern movies, and typically connect better with modern movies. I do like watching classics to better understand history -- and to see likable actors (e.g., Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn) in action. I am not a huge fan of the representational, theatricality type of acting (over the presentational, naturality, realism type of acting of today), though I can see why people like it. I like it ok in plays in person. I am watching classics to expand my horizon, especially if an AFI Top 100 movie. Apparently, the leopard was declawed. The leopard's trainer stood off-screen with a whip for all of its scenes.
Clay F
2024-11-22 21:55:01 +0000 UTCLMAOOOO! VIV I loved this write up!!! I am smiling ear to ear knowing they had a blast on this
Amalia Wolf
2024-11-22 21:51:45 +0000 UTCHoward Hawks perfected the screwball comedy with this film, one of my all time favorites. Glad to see an excellent reactor do this film, finally. I enjoyed her comments after and during, It is hard to catch one's breath during this movie. Ames is right, this movie is better than many that come out today. When one can watch movies like this, most of the new movies coming out leave me cold. I have no desire to watch Wicked or Gladiator 2, I want to watch TOP HAT (1935) with Astaire/Rogers and MY FAVORTITE WIFE (1940) with Cary Grant! I believe director Peter Bogdonovich tried to recreate the spirit of this film with WHAT'S UP DOC (1972). Certainly the characters and character dynamics between Ryan O'Neil and Barbara Streisand are based on the two leads from BRINGING UP BABY. More great screwball comedies with Cary Grant would be THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937), HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1939), HIS FAVORITE WIFE (1940). Other great screwballs would be THE LADY EVE (941) and THE PALM BEACH STORY (1942). Howard Hawks made many great movies, not just comedies, but movies in every genre: HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940 Cary Grant comedy), SEARGEANT YORK (1941 Gary Cooper World War I biography), TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944 Bogart/Bacall drama), THE BIG SLEEP (1946 Bogart noir detective), RED RIVER (1948 John Wayne western), THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951 sci fi monster movie that had a famous remake), GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953 Marilyn Monroe musical with THAT pink dress), RIO BRAVO (1959 John Wayne western that is Quentin Tarantino's favorite hang out movie). Come to think of it, a couple of these movies are on the AFI list. 😉
MikeLL
2024-11-22 21:15:09 +0000 UTCI'm SO pleased that Ames loved this that I'm as giddy as a middle aged straight dude can be (which is to say, measuredly delighted). Screwball comedies are such a delicate balance, but when they get it right, the results are just sublime. And I'm so happy to finally get Katharine Hepburn onto the channel, who, imo, is the greatest screen actress who's ever lived. Then you add Grant, the greatest movie star who's ever lived and Howard Hawks, arguably the greatest Hollywood director to ever live, something special was bound to happen, even if just by accident. The making of this picture is the stuff of legend, as there are stories of it running way over budget due to the cast cracking each other up into uncontrollable tears that set things back hours a day, supposedly mostly from some incredible ad libs by Grant. Nevertheless, BuB was a huge box office disaster upon release and further set back the already struggling Hepburn's career during her "box office poison" era, from which she didn't really escape until The Philadelphia Story, two years later. In fact, the wildly successful TPS actually helped bring about a reappraisal and retroactive admiration for BuB which has continued ever since. Really can't wait for The Philadelphia Story, possibly the greatest romcom ever and with Jimmy Stewart joining in the fun (and swapping out Hawks for Cukor), Ames might just need a fainting couch to watch!
VivendoBem
2024-11-22 20:50:31 +0000 UTCLove the dark humour and slapstick of it! It’s my jam! But cool to hear ur thoughts!
Amalia Wolf
2024-11-22 20:09:11 +0000 UTCI blame my 4 day hangover but LOVED THIS MOVIE
Amalia Wolf
2024-11-22 20:08:42 +0000 UTCScrewball comedies ARE your thing! I've always felt that way! They are so up your alley, and there are some great ones! The one I'm dying for you to see most is "His Girl Friday".....also with Cary Grant! Oh my god, that one has Ames written all over it. "It Happened One Night" is on AFI, psyched for that one too, some call that the first screwball comedy. There are lots! And some great screen comediennes: Carole Lombard, Rosalind Russell... Ok, blah blah blah. Watching now! See you on the other side! (and thanks!)
Toc
2024-11-22 19:20:21 +0000 UTCPutting on your reaction now. I like Cary Grant, but as for Arsenic and Old Lace, that was too slapstick for me. I did like this exchange below early in Arsenic and Old Lace (which I think may have been from the play): Elaine: "You're going to love me for my mind too?” Mortimer: "One thing at a time" Maybe not a good comparison, but I like North by Northwest better than Arsenic and Old Lace. Now I will see what I think about this movie Bringing Up Baby. I am curious to see a young Katharine Hepburn. I am streaming Bringing Up Baby on US Amazon Prime.
Clay F
2024-11-22 19:13:35 +0000 UTCJust for anyone looking for this streaming, it’s available on Tubi, a free streaming service….at least it is in the U.S…..they have a great selection
Catchermag
2024-11-22 19:07:09 +0000 UTCMadonna starred in 'Who's That Girl', an 80s screwball comedy also revolving around a big cat - worth checking out with great original songs
Witchfinder General
2024-11-22 19:00:48 +0000 UTCRight! I needed it
Amalia Wolf
2024-11-22 18:48:27 +0000 UTCPerfect Friday pick me up.
Catchermag
2024-11-22 18:38:11 +0000 UTC
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