MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 940 this week

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

8.0
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 8.0/10 from 33,032 users  
Reviews: 217 user | 99 critic

While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard "Baby."

Director:

Writers:

(screen play), (screen play), 1 more credit »
Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 2369 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 1269 titles created 6 months ago
 
a list of 1553 titles created 11 months ago
 
a list of 244 titles created 3 months ago
 
a list of 9 titles created 25 Jan 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Bringing Up Baby (1938) on IMDb 8/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Bringing Up Baby.
1 win. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

Director: George Cukor
Stars: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart
Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

A spoiled heiress, running away from her family, is helped by a man who's actually a reporter looking for a story.

Director: Frank Capra
Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly
Show People (1928)
Certificate: Passed Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A young lady from Georgia goes to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming an actress.

Director: King Vidor
Stars: Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderson
Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A young opera singer finds her career stalled because of her cold and passionless performances, until she finds romance with a handsome admirer.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Stars: Gloria Swanson, Melvyn Douglas, Alison Skipworth
The Red Mill (1927)
Certificate: Passed Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

A silent version of the Victor Herbert-Henry Blossom operetta

Director: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Stars: Marion Davies, Owen Moore, Louise Fazenda
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Longfellow Deeds, a simple-hearted Vermont tuba player, inherits a fortune and has to contend with opportunist city slickers.

Director: Frank Capra
Stars: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft
Romance | Comedy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

An inventor needs cash to develop his big idea. His wife, who loves him, decides to raise it for him by divorcing him and marrying a millionaire.

Director: Preston Sturges
Stars: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor
Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A flamboyant Broadway impresario who has fallen on hard times tries to get his former lover, now a Hollywood diva, to return and resurrect his failing career.

Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly
Romance | Comedy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler...but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.

Director: Gregory La Cava
Stars: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady
Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.

Director: Frank Capra
Stars: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart
Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other's attempts to find new romance.

Director: Leo McCarey
Stars: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy
Comedy | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

Marge is a capable secretary, but her bosses are more interested in her than her abilities. This causes her to be frequently unemployed. To get a job, she changes her look to make herself ... See full summary »

Director: Lloyd Bacon
Stars: Marion Davies, Robert Montgomery, Frank McHugh
Edit

Cast

Complete credited cast:
...
Susan
...
David
...
Major Applegate (as Charlie Ruggles)
Walter Catlett ...
Slocum
...
Mr. Gogarty
...
Aunt Elizabeth
Fritz Feld ...
Dr. Lehman
Leona Roberts ...
Mrs. Gogarty
...
Mr. Peabody
Tala Birell ...
Mrs. Lehman
Virginia Walker ...
Alice Swallow
John Kelly ...
Elmer
Edit

Storyline

Mild mannered zoology professor Dr. David Huxley is excited by the news that an intercostal clavicle bone has been found to complete his brontosaurus skeleton, a project four years in the construction. He is equally excited about his imminent marriage to his assistant, the officious Alice Swallow, who is interested in him more for his work than for him as a person. David needs the $1 million endowment of wealthy dowager Mrs. Carleton Random to complete the project. Her lawyer, Alexander Peabody, will make the decision on her behalf, so David needs to get in his favor. However, whenever David tries to make a good impression on Peabody, the same young woman always seems to do something to make him look bad. She is the flighty heiress Susan Vance. The more David wants Susan to go away, the more Susan seems not to want or be able to. But David eventually learns that Alexander Peabody is her good friend, who she calls Boopy, and Susan's Aunt Elizabeth, with whom David has also made a bad ... Written by Huggo

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

Certificate:

Approved | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

18 February 1938 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Leoparden küßt man nicht  »

Box Office

Budget:

$1,073,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(RCA Victor System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Screenwriters Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde fell in love as they were writing the screenplay. See more »

Goofs

When Applegate and Gogarty find the leopard, you can see the shadow of the leopard's trainer come into camera, for just a second, as the leopard moves forward. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Prof. LaTouche: Good morning, Miss Swallow.
Alice Swallow: Shh.
Prof. LaTouche: Why what's the matter ?
Alice Swallow: Doctor Huxley is thinking.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Arrested Development: Bringing Up Buster (2003) See more »

Soundtracks

"I Can't Give You Anything but Love"
(1928) (uncredited)
Words by Dorothy Fields
Music by Jimmy McHugh
Played as background music very often throughout the film
Sung a cappella by Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
The paleontologist and the socialite
19 January 2006 | by (New York) – See all my reviews

Howard Hawks, the director of "Bringing Up Baby", was not a name one associates with screwball comedy. Watching this perennial favorite the other night, one wishes Mr. Hawks would have made more comedies like this one because he shows a tremendous capacity for entertaining his audiences. The screen treatment, by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde, made this movie the classic it became to be after not being embraced by the public when it was originally released.

The pairing of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn paid off handsomely. Both actors were at their best in the film. Mr. Hawks got excellent performances of his two stars. Cary Grant's paleontologist, with his glasses, and nervous energy, matches perfectly the the socialite that has designs on him. There is a high level of energy in the film that was a requirement for a movie of this genre.

The supporting cast is also one of the things that make this film the fun it is. Charles Ruggles, May Robson, Barry Fitzgerald, George Irving, and the rest of the cast do a marvelous job in the roles they created. Even Asta, the Charles' dog, made a valuable contribution to the proceedings by appearing at key moments, even fighting Nyssa, the tamed leopard that is the "baby" of the title.

The best way to enjoy the film is to let the magic Howard Hawks created put its spell on you. It's one of the best films of this genre.


19 of 27 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
This movie was sooo annoying! DukeBryant
Once Again, the Usage of the Word 'Gay' acrylica
#249 in the IMDB user rating? ebab
Why was the film not well-received? kahjraj
Female Stereotype? FredandGinger
Leopard fight with dog deep1317
Discuss Bringing Up Baby (1938) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?