The Philadelphia Story | |
---|---|
Directed by | George Cukor |
Screenplay by | Donald Ogden Stewart |
Based on | The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry |
Produced by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
Starring | Cary Grant Katharine Hepburn James Stewart Ruth Hussey |
Cinematography | Joseph Ruttenberg |
Edited by | Frank Sullivan |
Music by | Franz Waxman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's, Inc. |
Release dates |
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Running time | 112 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $914,000[1] |
Box office | $3.3 million[1] |
The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 American romantic comedy film[2][3] starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey. Directed by George Cukor, the film is based on the 1939 Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry[4] about a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and a tabloid magazine journalist. The socialite, played by Hepburn in both productions, was inspired by Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (1904–1995), a Philadelphia heiress who had married Barry's friend.[5]
Written for the screen by Donald Ogden Stewart and an uncredited Waldo Salt, it is considered among the best examples of a comedy of remarriage, in which a couple divorce, flirt with outsiders and then remarry. The genre was popular in the 1930s and 1940s at a time when divorce was considered scandalous and the depiction of extramarital affairs was blocked by the Production Code.[6][7]
The film was Hepburn's first hit following several flops that caused her placement on a 1938 list of actors considered to be "box office poison" compiled by theater owner Harry Brandt.[8] Hepburn starred in the play and acquired the film rights, with the help of Howard Hughes,[9] to control it as a vehicle for her screen comeback.[10]
Nominated for six Academy Awards, including Outstanding Production (Best Picture), the film won two: Best Actor (Stewart) and Best Adapted Screenplay. MGM remade the film in 1956 as a musical retitled High Society, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra.[11]
The Philadelphia Story was produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1995.[12]