Honestly, girls, I am telling you, every Saturday night when Monsieur and I happen to go to the theater, Channel 13 never fails to pull out a real gem to show. And, of course, most Saturdays, when we do stay in, they show crap!
Well, they ran true to form again, because, while we were at Theater For The New City, seeing "Judith Of Bethulia," Channel 13 was running my favorite comedy, the one film that can always be counted on to make me laugh--Howard Hawks' 1938 "Bringing Up Baby."
Which, come to think of it, was our last visit to the Film Forum, during the Hawks festival, when I got to see this gem on the screen. What a treat!!!!!!!!!!!!
Darlings, you have to see it; it is a hoot! Cary Grant plays David Huxley (no relation to Aldous of "Brave New World") a palaeontologist, who needs just one bone to complete his dinosaur skeleton. He is engaged to Alice Swallow, (Virginia Walker) who views their partnership as purely scientific, with no chance for amour. That is also because, from Alice's dress and demeanor, I would not be surprised, if, rather than clutching her purse, she is clutching a leather bound, first edition of "The Well Of Loneliness" by Radclyfffe Hall. You got it, girls!!!!!!! Everything about Alice screams REPRESSED LESBIAN!!!!!!!! No wonder Grant as David seems frustrated.
Enter into his life madcap society dame Susan Vance (Hepburn). No relation to Vivian Vance, darlings!!!!!!! Things start innocently, with a ball on the golf green, proceed to her riding on the side of his car, and before you know it they are in the Connecticut countryside, where her wealthy aunt lives, who is expecting a domesticated leopard named Baby!!!!!!! And that is just the beginning. The whole thing is like one gigantic comic snowball that keeps getting bigger and bigger, till everyone ends up in jail, with my favorite scene, where Hepburn breaks out of jail, under the moniker, "Swinging Door Susie."
The whole thing is so irresistible, and Hepburn is at her most engaging, endearing and ingenue-ish. Who would think that just a mere two decades later she would be playing scolds???? And some of her costumes are priceless. Like the sort of outer space dress she wears in the New York bar scene, where she is popping olives into her mouth!!!!!!!!!!
See this pic, dolls, and you will be coasting on a sea of bliss, while singing the old song, sung here, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby."
"Bringing Up Baby" will give you nothing but laughs. Susan is one of the great Kate's best roles. You just gotta love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And, for those girls who need it, take a lesson from her on how to trap a man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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