Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Bringing Up Baby(1938)




Bringing Up Baby is a 1938 Howard Hawk’s screwball comedy that can easily be defined as insanity. From start to finish, this movie brings forth an energy that hits you like a lightning bolt. I consider that to be a good thing…..and maybe something that is a little bit too much at times. This film, directed by the legendary Howard Hawks (Barbary Coast) and stars two of our acting greats; Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, is considered by many to be the greatest comedies ever made. Great comedy, yes! Greatest comedy ever made? Maybe in the eyes of some, but my eyes see this as a fine, serviceable comedy.

The biggest mystery of this review is how to make sense of the plot. As many critics say, this film is basically a giant ball of energy start to finish. Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant) is a paleontologist who has been working on the building of a brontosaurus structure for many years….and he is also about to be married to his assistant, Alice. On the day before the wedding, he receives notice that the final bone needed to complete his structure has been discovered. The museum he works at sends him to a meeting with a corporate lawyer at a golf course where he must ask him to donate to the exhibit. There he meets Susan Vance (Katherine Hepburn). Susan does everything she can to mess up David’s neat, organized life. Over the course of the day, David will experience everything from a woman’s dress to a pet leopard to a stint in prison. How will David react at the end of the day?

The movie features two of the greatest actors to have ever graced our big screen; Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. At this point in Hepburn’s career, she has been known as box office poison. None of her movies opened well (and this movie continues that trend), so Hepburn tried her hand at comedy for the first time. As the movie went on, she had to be coached by Hawks to fine tune her comedy skills. On the other hand, Cary Grant does a wonderful job. He was the serious character and given his personality next to the wacky personality of Hepburn’s character, Susan….well that made it all the more funny.

Screwball comedies are just not my type of tea, so I felt refreshed that I enjoyed this movie. While I did not outright laugh out loud many times, I kept a constant smile on my face. Nearly eighty years after the original release, I think the film remained fresh. People like fast-paced, zany comedies and this is one of them. When I researched the film, I came across a fact that surprised me. This film has one of the earliest known references of the term “gay” used as a word to describe homosexuals. How on earth did that pass the sensors? Who knows!

Overall, Bringing Up Baby is a fun, fast-paced comedy about two opposite personalities falling in love after a day of crazy events. I smiled often, although the scene with David Huxley failing to recognize the difference between a tame and wild leopard had me in stitches. This film was eventually remade in the form of 1972’s What’s Up, Doc which unfortunately I did not like as much. Even though I do not think highly of this film as others do, I definitely recommend you check out this movie.

My Grade: B+

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