The Great Katharine Hepburn

[J. R.'s Piece]

Yes like @Snarky Oracle said, the 1950s had different morals/values so if a woman slept with a man she was also expected to get married to him.
I think I read in JC's book that the guy got her drunk and then after the deed was done her parents convinced him to get married to their daughter.
The marriage was a disaster.



Is that movie an earlier version of the Mr. and Mrs. Smith movie that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made or is it just the name that's the same?

It is a movie with the same name. A comedy directed by Alfred Hitchcock (I’ve heard that name before somewhere). Also starring Robert Montgomery. About a married loving but squabbling couple that find out that a technicality means that they aren’t married. And he sort of toys with the idea of romancing his wife again, not knowing that she had heard too and been expecting him to propose again . And things get out of control and a romantic triangle develops. It was the penultimate Lombard movie. It is reported that Carole Lombard supported Roosevelt and would repeatedly put Roosevelt stickers on Republican Party member Montgomery’s Rolls-Royce.

They had wanted Cary Grant to star in Mr and Mrs Smith but he wasn’t available. Carole Lombard had previously wanted Cary Grant for Hands Across The Table but Katharine Hepburn had requested him at Paramount for Sylvia Scarlett. So Fred MacMurray was cast to work with Carole Lombard. Carole worked with Cary Grant in In Name Only, which RKO had previously bought for Katharine Hepburn.

I’m due to watch Bringing Up Baby tomorrow.
Although I’m returning to Carole Lombard for a double bill with George Raft in Bolero and Rumba.

 

[Karin Schill]

Thanks for explaining. Wow! That's unusual for Hitchcock to direct a comedy. Most of his movies are thrillers or murder mysteries.

Also I was watching the clip but I don't guy why the guy was whistling all the time?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[ClassyCo]

I watched MORNING GLORY earlier today. It was my first viewing of the movie.

It was Hepburn's third movie, and a movie she fought to be apart of. RKO and producer Pandro S. Berman had originally sought to cast Constance Bennett in the lead, then the studio's biggest star, but Hepburn fumbled upon the script and persuaded the reluctant production team to cast her instead. Bennett was thereby reassigned to a movie called BED OF ROSES.

Hepburn stars as Eva Lovelace, a would-be actress with a goal to succeed on the legitimate stage. She wedges her way into befriending an aging actor named R.H. Hedges (C. Aubrey Smith), and eventually gets a contract with producer Louis Easton (Adolphe Menjou) and becomes the love interest for playwright Joseph Sheridan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.).

I won't summarize the plot any further, just in case some here might want to see it and don't want anything substantial spoiled for them.

MORNING GLORY runs around 70 minutes, and therefore the story progresses quickly -- which, isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially for those that have short attention spans and want their stories to get to the point.

Hepburn's performance is solid, although I find her a little fidgety and actressy and therefore not always as effective as she could've possibly been. Perhaps such a performance was given because of the staginess of early sound films and the restrictions of a short running time. Hepburn's character, Eva Lovelace, operates with a strong-willed determination that's quite admiral, although she possess a self-confidence that hasn't been earned. She's an amateur actress, and even if she's gotten good reviews in small-town productions, she's yet to prove herself legitimately.

The supporting cast (as this is truly Hepburn's time in the sun) is strong. Fairbanks and Menjou are probably the most recognizable of Hepburn's co-stars, although there are other good performers among them. C. Aubrey Smith is quite good as R.H. Hedges, an aging stage actor Eva Lovelace appoints as her mentor. Mary Duncan (an actress I don't believe I've seen in anything before) was also quite good as Rita Vernon, a successful stage actress whose temperament costs her in the end.

As many know, Hepburn received her first of four Oscars for her performance in MORNING GLORY. It's a little hard to judge if that win was warranted, especially considering this film is reaching its 90th birthday and film acting has transformed in the decades since. I'd argue that Hepburn's performance is solid and she definitely shows promise that she'd mature into a long and successful screen career (even though a deep "box office poison" valley would cloud her career in the mid-to-late-'30s).

MORNING GLORY is a good film. I've always enjoyed films about the theatre and even if this movie wasn't good (which it is), I'd enjoy it for that reason alone. Hepburn is always good playing upcoming stage actresses -- she would play another, Terry Randall, in STAGE DOOR four years down the road.

If you haven't seen this film, it's worth a look.

 

[ClassyCo]

I watched SUMMERTIME for the first time yesterday. This 1955 romantic comedy-drama was directed by David Lean and based on the play THE TIME OF THE CUCKOO by Arthur Laurents.

Hepburn stars as Jane Hudson, an American secretary vacationing in Venice for the first time. She stays at this quite lovely little resort with some colorful characters: the owner Signora Fiorini (the beautiful Isa Miranda), and two married couples, the young and attractive Yaegers (Darren McGavin & Mari Aldon), and the older and slightly comical McIlhennys (Jane Rose & MacDonald Parke). Jane is an especially lonely woman, but a romance sparks with a local antique dealer Renato de Rossi (Rossano Brazzi), but, as luck would have it, the bliss is plagued with complications.

I won't spoil any more of the plot for any first-timers.

SUMMERTIME is a beautiful movie. Visually, it contains some fine Technicolor camerawork, capturing the beauty of Venice in all its raw glory. As for the story, it is equally beautiful. What might read as a simple thought, comes across strong with such fine performances, direction, and execution.

Hepburn is standout in the film, as one would imagine. Last night while watching SUMMERTIME, there were a few times I tried to imagine another actress "of a certain age" instead of Hepburn playing Jane Hudson. Bette Davis (who ended up with her own BABY JANE version of a Jane Hudson some seven years later) would've hammed it up too much, and Joan Crawford probably would've made the story too melodramatic and she wouldn't have looked "everyday" enough to fit the simplicity of the story. Perhaps Barbara Stanwyck would've been serviceable, but this role really seems to fit Hepburn well.

SUMMERTIME was an enjoyable little romp. The ending left me feeling equally sad and satisfied.

This one is definitely worth a look.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

And she obtained a permanent eye infection when she fell into the filthy sewer water of one of the channels. But it probably helped her tear up on cue for her future projects.

 

[Crimson]

I watched MORNING GLORY earlier today.

As much as I like Hepburn, I'm not wild about her work from the early 30s. There's something ... tightly wound & high-pitched about her performances from that era. In the mid-30s onward, she seemed more relaxed on screen.

 

[ClassyCo]

As much as I like Hepburn, I'm not wild about her work from the early 30s. There's something ... tightly wound & high-pitched about her performances from that era. In the mid-30s onward, she seemed more relaxed on screen.

MORNING GLORY is the earliest of her films that I've seen. She seems very actressy and high-pitched in the film.

 

[Crimson]

In fairness to Hepburn, a lot of acting in the early 30s was iffy. Actors were either fresh out of Silent films and hadn't yet toned down their theatrics, or fresh off the stage and thus rather stagey.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

In fairness to Hepburn, a lot of acting in the early 30s was iffy. Actors were either fresh out of Silent films and hadn't yet toned down their theatrics, or fresh off the stage and thus rather stagey.

And weirdly complicated by the hollow-sounding, almost music-free soundtrack in the early-'30s followed by the rambling excessive music in the late-'30s.

 

[ClassyCo]

 

[ginnyfan]

Summertime is a wonderful movie, one of my favorites and one of Hepburn's best imo. As already mentioned, it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role, Hepburn is perfect and just real enough to make it work. 1950s saw a lot of these, travelogue movies that take viewers to European travel destination but they were usually bland and empty when it came to actual characters and story (cough....... Three Coins in a Fountain .....cough......) . But Summertime, with David Lean in charge, has compelling characters and a love story that seems more real and touching than many other romantic movies with young, hot actors of the time.

That ending never fails to make me all teary eyed.....

 

[ClassyCo]

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

Descending in that home elevator and guiding Monte Clift through her carnivorous garden

Oh my, that looks very Bond villainess! Why didn't DYNASTY have one of those fabulous elevators (I would place it between Alexis' penthouse and her ColbyCo office and the board members - yeah, right - should attend Her Arrival every day).

 

[ClassyCo]

Happy 116th Birthday Katharine Hepburn!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Could have posted this on the "Elizabeth Taylor" threads, too, or maybe even grand dame guignol.

Monty Clift was probably miscasr...

 

[ClassyCo]

Could have posted this on the "Elizabeth Taylor" threads, too, or maybe even grand dame guignol.

Monty Clift was probably miscasr...

I've often wanted to watch SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, and now I just might get to.

 

[Popular Piggy Defying Gravity]

I've often wanted to watch SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, and now I just might get to.

Dont doubt it! Take a Valium and check in in the Suddenly Asylum!

 

[Treeviewer]

I've often wanted to watch SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, and now I just might get to.

I saw it on TV years ago when I was just a kid. I might understand it now.