Bringing Up Baby (1938)

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:

Howard Hawks

Writers:

Dudley Nichols (screen play), Hagar Wilde (screen play)

Stars:

Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles

2 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Katharine Hepburn	...	Susan Vance
Cary Grant	...	David Huxley
Charles Ruggles	...	Major Applegate (as Charlie Ruggles)
Walter Catlett	...	Slocum
Barry Fitzgerald	...	Mr. Gogarty
May Robson	...	Aunt Elizabeth
Fritz Feld	...	Dr. Lehman
Leona Roberts	...	Mrs. Gogarty
George Irving	...	Alexander Peabody
Tala Birell	...	Mrs. Lehman
Virginia Walker	...	Alice Swallow
John Kelly	...	Elmer

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 ...

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Plot Keywords:

leopard | mistaken identity | banter | scaffolding | infatuation | 

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Taglines:

Laugh getter Grand and hurricanic Hepburn run the gamut of commotion on the sizzling trail of a leopard on the loose! (print ad)

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was voted the 24th Greatest Film of All Time by Entertainment Weekly.

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Goofs

When Huxley's caddie is walking along with Huxley and Susan Vance; his sweater is unbuttoned. But on the next cut when Susan lines up her shot; the sweater is now partially buttoned. Then on a following cut after that the caddie's sweater is unbuttoned again.

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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.

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Alternate Versions

There are different prints used for videotapes, some better than others with less splices and less deletion of small scenes due to shrinkage.

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Connections

Referenced in Charlie Rose: Quentin Tarantino (1994)

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Soundtracks

Dixie
(uncredited)
Music by Daniel Decatur Emmett
[Heard in the background during the parade/butcher shop scene.]

User Reviews

top comedy

A great teaming in this classic screwball comedy: Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. She may have made more films, and had more chemistry, with Spencer Tracy, but the few films she made with Grant are excellent, haven't dated at all – ‘Bringing Up Baby' was 1938! – and are hugely enjoyable.

In this movie, directed by Howard Hawks, Hepburn plays ditzy Susan, who hits on stuffy professor David (more at home with his dinosaurs), and takes charge of a leopard, called Baby. From their early sequences, where their identical cars cause problems; to the brilliantly constructed ending, this film is a joy. This is probably one of Cary Grant's best roles – there are effective supporting players, too, including Charles Ruggles, Barry Fitzgerald, and May Robson, not to mention the leopard herself.

Hawks had already helmed a classic comedy of the early 1930s – ‘Twentieth Century' – and would go on to Bogart's first teaming with Bacall (‘To Have and Have Not') and Montgomery Clift's debut (‘Red River'). ‘Bringing Up Baby' is certainly one of the best.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 February 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bringing Up Baby

Filming Locations:

RKO Studios - 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,073,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$11,180

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1