Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Director:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

Dudley Nichols (screenplay) &
Hagar Wilde (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 February 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances...

Plot Keywords:

Bone | Leopard | Mistaken Identity | Museum | Screwball Comedy

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Katharine Hepburn	...	Susan Vance
Cary Grant	...	Dr. David Huxley
Charles Ruggles	...	Maj. Horace Applegate (as Charlie Ruggles)
Walter Catlett	...	Constable Slocum
Barry Fitzgerald	...	Aloysius Gogarty
May Robson	...	Aunt Elizabeth Random
Fritz Feld	...	Dr. Fritz Lehman
Leona Roberts	...	Hannah Gogarty
George Irving	...	Alexander Peabody
Tala Birell	...	Mrs. Lehman
Virginia Walker	...	Alice Swallow
John Kelly	...	Elmer

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

UK:U | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #3752) | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/6 (DVD rating)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Katharine Hepburn had never done any comedy before and had to be trained in gags and timing by Howard Hawks and several veteran vaudevillians he employed solely to train Hepburn. Cary Grant came to the film with his sense of comic timing already impeccably in place.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Katharine Hepburn generally didn't handle the leopard. One scene where this becomes obvious is when Susan has the wild leopard on a leash and is trying to pull him into the jail house. The angle of her end of the leash and the leash attached to the leopard are noticeably different, for they were shot at two different times with a matte.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Prof. LaTouche: Morning, Miss Alice. My watch is...
Alice Swallow: Shh. Dr. Huxley is thinking.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: America's Greatest Movies (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Can't Give You Anything but Love

Wild, crazy, hysterical, FUN!

Those people who don't like this movie seem to miss the point; IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE RIDICULOUS AND MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL! THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT FUNNY! Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I want to say that I really did have a laugh a minute. Both Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn are very adapt at this kind of comedy, in top form here, and work very well together. They have a great, very funny supporting cast, as well; though most are long dead and forgotten, many were well-known character actors in the 30's. They knew their craft, and are great at it here. Howard Hawks must have been some director to be able to fashion such a great movie out of a madcap pace and a script in which everyone talks at the same time and is always ad-libbing. (I've heard those were his trademarks, though.) One scene after another at breakneck pace, but never a dull moment. As soon as one laugh stops, another one begins. In case you haven't gotten the point, I highly suggest you see this movie. It may be 60 years old, but it's still hilarious.