Tuesday's Top Three...

I am a huge Katharine Hepburn fan. So, I have decided to dedicate my Tuesday posts to her and her films.

Here are the Top Three films for this week.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

When Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), a scatterbrained young woman, takes a shine to Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant), a sober palaeontologist, mayhem ensues. Dr. Huxley, engaged to be married and intensely interested in the arrival of the brontosaurus bone required to complete his project at the museum, is inextricably bound up with Susan's escapades when she finds herself responsible for Baby, a tame leopard shipped to her New York apartment and intended for Susan's aunt in Connecticut. The plot thickens when George the Terrier steals the priceless bone and buries it, Baby escapes, and an untamed leopard escapes from a circus convoy (resulting in a twist on the mistaken identity ploy). Will Susan's love for David be reciprocated? Will David get his bone back? Will Baby be brought up - or brought down?


This is a funny, light-hearted movie. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn have a wonderful chemistry that shines throughout the movie!

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Tracy Lord (Hepburn) is a wealthy Philadelphia socialite who had divorced C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) and is about to marry George Kittredge (John Howard). Wedding preparations are complicated when she is blackmailed by publisher Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) into granting an exclusive story to tabloid reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey). In exchange, Spy magazine agrees to refrain from exposing the antics of Tracy's philandering father Seth (John Halliday). Dexter has cooked up the scheme so he can try to derail the marriage--he still loves his ex-wife. As the wedding nears, Tracy finds herself torn between Mike, Dexter and George.

The night before the wedding, Tracy gets drunk for only the second time in her life and takes an impromptu, innocent swim with Mike. When George sees Mike carrying an intoxicated Tracy into the house afterwards (both of them wearing only bathrobes), he thinks the worst, that his bride-to-be has disgraced herself. The next day, Tracy takes exception to his lack of faith in her and breaks off the engagement. Then she realizes that all the guests have arrived and are waiting for the ceremony to begin. Mike volunteers to marry her (much to Elizabeth's distress), but Tracy graciously declines. At this point, Dexter makes his successful bid for her hand.

I hold this movie close to my heart. Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are at their best in this film!

Woman of the Year (1942)

The first film starring the legendary screen team of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, this savvy dramatic comedy from 1942 plays off the unlikely match of polar opposites--the brash sports reporter Sam Craig (Tracy) and the brilliant political commentator Tess Harding (Hepburn) from the New York Chronicle--whose marriage grabs front-page headlines. Balancing her flashy career with marital bliss turns out to be a complicated challenge for the worldly Tess, whose down-to-earth husband struggles to support her ambition while keeping their marriage from falling apart. Though some of its sexual politics are sure to seem outdated, this sparkling comedy is still relevant to today's demanding professional lifestyles, and the Hepburn-Tracy chemistry is a wonder to behold in some of their all-time favorite scenes.

This was the beginning of a love affair between Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn that lasted over 26 years. It's true magic!