Happy 2010!!!

May your troubles and worries last as long as your New Years resolutions!

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Stars! They're just like us!

They enjoy drag!

They play horseshoes!

They wait for mail!

They stay active!

They teach table tennis!

They dress themselves!

Tonight on TCM!

Bogart in the fifties!

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Classic Cinema 2009: The list

As the close of 2009 quickly approaches and I look out across the blogsphere, I have noticed that making a list seems to be de rigueur. So, I thought I would reveal a list of my own. It's been my goal to watch all available films from 1930 to 1949- the best years, in my opinion, of classic cinema. A few months ago I compiled a list of all the major (and some minor) movie studios there were from the beginning of Hollywood cinema and then I went through their lists of movies produced to pick out what I had seen. Thus, the list contains the earliest movie I have seen right up to the last 1949 film I watched. Most of of which were viewed just this year for my blog journal. Looking at this compilation has proven one thing to me, I'm wonky for classics.

1. A Dog’s Life (1918)
2. Shoulder Arms (1918)
3. The Ace of Hearts (1921)
4. The Pilgrim (1923)
5. La Boheme (1926)
6. Our Dancing Daughters (1928)
7. Marianne (1929)
8. The Godless Girl (1929)
9. Their Own Desire (1929)
10. The Locked Door (1929)
11. Not So Dumb (1930)
12. The Divorcee (1930)
13. Our Blushing Brides (1930)
14. Ladies of Leisure (1930)
15. The Sins of the Children (1930)
16. The Cheat (1931)
17. The Miracle Woman (1931)
18. Strangers May Kiss (1931)
19. Sporting Blood (1931)
20. Monkey Business (1931)
21. The Public Enemy (1931)
22. Merrily We Go To Hell (1931)
23. The Cheat (1931)
24. Mata Hari (1931)
25. Faithless (1932)
26. Freaks (1932)
27. American Madness (1932)
28. Three Wise Girls (1932)
29. A Farewell to Arms (1932)
30. Blondie of the Follies (1932)
31. Red Dust (1932)
32. Payment Deferred (1932)
33. Merrily We Go To Hell (1932)
34. Frisco Jenny (1932)
35. Trouble In Paradise (1932)
36. Red Dust (1932)
37. Grand Hotel (1932)
38. Midnight Mary (1932)
39. Big City Blues (1932)
40. The Crash (1932)
41. The Sign of the Cross (1932)
42. When Ladies Meet (1933)
43. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
44. Ekstase (1933)
45. Ann Carver’s Profession (1933)
46. She Done Him Wrong (1933)
47. Hold Your Man (1933)
48. Our Betters (1933)
49. Double Harness (1933)
50. Morning Glory (1933)
51. Little Women (1933)
52. Midnight Mary (1933)
53. Dinner at Eight (1933)
54. Penthouse (1933)
55. Bombshell (1933)
56. A Man’s Castle (1933)
57. Dancing Lady (1933)
58. Footlight Parade (1933)
59. Riptide (1934)
60. It Happened One Night (1934)
61. Twentieth Century (1934)
62. The Westerner (1934)
63. He Was Her Man (1934)
64. Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
65. The Thin Man (1934)
66. We Live Again (1934)
67. Operator 13 (1934)
68. The Richest Girl in the World (1934)
69. Hide-Out (1934)
70. Forsaking All Others (1934)
71. Of Human Bondage (1934)
72. Fashions of 1934 (1934)
73. The Gay Divorcee (1934)
74. If Only You Could Cook (1935)
75. Alice Adams (1935)
76. Bordertown (1935)
77. Anna Karenina (1935)
78. The 39 Steps (1935)
79. Roberta (1935)
80. A Night at the Opera (1935)
81. Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
82. Alice Adams (1935)
83. Anthony Adverse (1936)
84. Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
85. Libeled Lady (1936)
86. Anthony Adverse (1936)
87. Bullets Or Ballots (1936)
88. Camille (1936)
89. After the Thin Man (1936)
90. Come and Get It (1936)
91. Craig’s Wife (1936)
92. Mary of Scotland (1936)
93. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
94. The Awful Truth (1937)
95. Topper (1937)
96. The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)
97. Personal Property (1937)
98. Night Must Fall (1937)
99. Dead End (1937)
100. A Star Is Born (1937)
101. Nothing Sacred (1937)
102. Stage Door (1937)
103. There’s Always a Woman (1938)
104. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
105. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
106. Boys Town (1938)
107. Having Wonderful Time (1938)
108. Vivacious Lady (1938)
109. There Goes My Heart (1938)
110. Holiday (1938)
111. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
112. The Saint Strikes Back (1939)
113. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
114. Oklahoma Kid (1939)
115. Golden Boy (1939)
116. The Rains Came (1939)
117. Off the Record (1939)
118. Stagecoach (1939)
119. Idiot's Delight (1939)
120. Good Girls Go to Paris (1939)
121. Yes, My Darling Daughter (1939)
122. It's a Wonderful World (1939)
123. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
124. The Women (1939)
125. Dark Victory (1939)
126. The Return of Dr. X (1939)
127. Five Came Back (1939)
128. Another Thin Man (1939)
129. The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939)
130. Gone with the Wind (1939)
131. The Old Maid (1939)
132. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
133. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
134. The Westerner (1940)
135. Turnabout (1940)
136. The Great Dictator (1940)
137. Rebecca (1940)
138. Fantasia (1940)
139. All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
140. My Favorite Wife (1940)
141. His Girl Friday (1940)
142. I Love You Again (1940)
143. The Letter (1940)
144. Torrid Zone (1940)
145. Lady with Red Hair (1940)
146. Shop Around the Corner (1940)
147. The Bank Dick (1940)
148. The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
149. Meet John Dow (1941)
150. Two Faced Woman (1941)
151. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
152. Citizen Kane (1941)
153. Weekend for Three (1941)
154. Suspicion (1941)
155. The Lady Eve (1941)
156. Rage in Heaven (1941)
157. A Woman's Face (1941)
158. A Bedtime Story (1941)
159. Mrs. Parkington (1941)
160. Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
161. Sergeant York (1941)
162. Ball of Fire (1941)
163. Three Girls About Town (1941)
164. The Little Foxes (1941)
165. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)
166. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
167. The Great Lie (1941)
168. Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
169. Casablanca (1942)
170. Now, Voyager (1942)
171. Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942)
172. The Fleet’s In (1942)
173. Woman of the Year (1942)
174. Her Cardboard Lover (1942)
175. Reunion in France (1942)
176. The Gay Sisters (1942)
177. Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)
178. Holiday Inn (1942)
179. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
180. In This Our Life (1942)
181. Old Acquaintance (1943)
182. Mr. Lucky (1943)
183. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
184. Gaslight (1944)
185. The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
186. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
187. Blonde Fever (1944)
188. National Velvet (1944)
189. The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
190. Double Indemnity (1944)
191. Casanova Brown (1944)
192. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
193. Mr. Skeffington (1944)
194. Conflict (1945)
195. She Wouldn’t Say Yes (1945)
196. The Body Snatcher (1945)
197. Escape in the Fog (1945)
198. Mildred Pierce (1945)
199. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
200. The Spiral Staircase (1945)
201. They Were Expendable (1945)
202. The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
203. The Yearling (1946)
204. Undercurrent (1946)
205. Brief Encounter (1946)
206. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
207. Deception (1946)
208. Strange Woman (1946)
209. My Reputation (1946)
210. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
211. Out of the Past (1947)
212. Lady in the Lake (1947)
213. Always Together (1947)
214. Song of the Thin Man (1947)
215. The Unsuspected (1947)
216. The Bishop's Wife (1947)
217. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
218. Out of the Past (1947)
219. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
220. Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
221. The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
222. Possessed (1947)
223. Rope (1948)
224. Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
225. I Remember Mama (1948)
226. The Time of Your Life (1948)
227. Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
228. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
229. The Boy with Green Hair (1948)
230. Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)
231. White Heat (1949)
232. The Passionate Friends (1949)
233. Little Women (1949)
234. A Woman’s Secret (1949)
235. The Stratton Story (1949)
236. Tell It to the Judge (1949)
237. The Heiress (1949)


Ya got any favorites up in here?

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The Return of Dr. X (1939)

When reporter Walter Garrett (Wayne Morris) finds the dead body of actress Angela Merrova (Lya Lys) in her hotel room, he immediately alerts the newspaper he works for. However, by the authorities arrive, the body is missing, and Merrova is threatening to sue the paper. Confused and unemployed, Walt determines he really did see a dead body and proceeds to investigate. First he visits his friend Dr. Rhodes (Dennis Morgan), for some advice, and Rhodes refers the case to his associate, Dr. Francis Flegg (John Litel), a doctor renowned for his work in hematology. Flegg suggests that Walt stop drinking so much but Rhodes's interest is piqued when he is called in to identify the body of Rodgers, one of his patients, and Walt insists that this murder is identical to what he found at Merrova's apartment. A dead body drained of all its blood. That night, Rhodes visits Flegg to have him examine an odd blood sample he found at the scene of the crime. This is when he meets Flegg's sinister assistant Marshall Quesne (Humphrey Bogart). Walt secretly follows Rhodes to the doctor's house, and when he later sees Merrova enter the building, he convinces Rhodes to visit Merrova with him. The next day, they both call on the actress at her apartment, where she confirms Walt's story and promises to elaborate the following day. Their visit is interrupted by the arrival of Quesne who is there on behalf of Dr. Flegg. When Merrova mysteriously dies, before giving an explanation, Walt digs deeper, convinced he has seen Quesne somewhere before. While researching the newspaper files, Walt comes across a picture of Quesne that identifies him as Dr. Xavier, a killer executed for murdering a child via research. When Walt and Rhodes discover Xavier's empty grave, they confront Flegg, who confesses that he brought Xavier back to life as an experiment, hoping to create an artificial blood that would keep him alive. Until he does, Xavier takes matters into his own hands by killing for the rare blood he needs to remain alive. While Walt and Rhodes are confronted by police on Flegg’s front steps they hear a gun shot, Xavier has overheard Flegg’s confession and demands his blood donor book. When Flegg refused, he shot him. Xavier then kidnaps Joan Vance (Rosemary Lane), a nurse who has the rare blood type he needs, and takes her to his lab out in the woods with Walt, Rhodes and the police on his trail. They arrive just in time to shoot Xavier and save Joan from death.

Ok, synopsis aside, the real entertainment of this film is the fact that it's a B level horror film that features one Humphrey Bogart. Whaaa??? Though billed third in the credits, Bogart is the most memorable feature of the film with his odd appearance as a neurotic, half-dead lab experiment gone awry sporting bad hair. Unfortunately the rest of the film though not entirely bad, fades into the background due subpar acting, a insubstantial plot, and what seems to be a reluctant Bogart. That said, I didn't really dislike the film, I was mostly just bored whenever Bogart was not onscreen. I wonder how audiences of the thirties felt when they saw it.

I originally thought Bogart did this film as a hoax but upon further research learned that he was not quite the big name he would become a couple of years later after the successes of High Sierra (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942). I also read, but am not entirely sure if it's true, that Warner Brothers made him do the film as punishment for acting up in public with his then wife Mayo Methot, a woman who contributed to their popular moniker, "The Battling Bogarts".
Humphrey Bogart reviled the film and said: "This is one of the pictures that made me march in to Jack Warner and ask for more money again. You can't believe what this one was like. I had a part that somebody like Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff should have played. I was this doctor, brought back to life, and the only thing that nourished this poor bastard was blood. If it had been Jack Warner's blood, or Harry's, or Pop's, maybe I wouldn't have minded as much. The trouble was, they were drinking mine and I was making this stinking movie."


Today on TCM!
Sherlock Holmes!

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Conflict (1945)

Conflict is a tense thriller that finds Humphrey Bogart playing Richard Mason, a man who has fallen for his wife Kathryn’s (Rose Hobart) younger sister Evelyn (Alexis Smith). After a car accident breaks his leg, Mason uses his injury to develop a plot to kill his wife. However, performing the perfect crime isn’t so easy, and in Mason’s case it’s downright mind bending. Thinking the deed done Mason cooperates with the police to “find” his wife while he develops a closer relationship with Evelyn. Unfortunately, Kathryn keeps popping up everywhere. When some of her jewelry appears or when Mason smells her perfume or worse yet, he receives an addressed envelope to him with her handwriting, he begins to doubt that he really did kill her. He starts to depend on the police and a family friend Dr. Hamilton (Sydney Greenstreet), a doctor involved with psychoanalysis, to set the record straight and more importantly prove to Mason that he is not losing his mind.



I would rather not spoil the ending for anyone who has not seen this film. Suffice it to say that there is no such thing as the perfect crime and even the most minute slip up can be one’s downfall. That’s essentially the moral of this movie and it’s brilliantly done. As a viewer, I was in doubt the entire time as to whether the crime had been committed or whether Mason was insane.
Ironically, Bogart did not want to do this film and after a little research, I could see why he may have had issues playing the role. No longer put in the category of supporting role with the successes of High Sierra (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942) it was highly unusual for a studio to put their rising star into a role that portrayed him as a mentally disturbed killer with many weaknesses rather than his now more familiar role as the in-control tough guy with a heart. That being said, I really thought the movie was cleverly done and feel that Conflict is one of the more overlooked vehicles of Bogart’s career. I highly recommend this thriller which is also one of the first movies to have a plot depend mostly on the ideas and techniques of psychoanalysis.

Side note:

Producers pressed Bogart into doing Conflict by threatening to keep him out of his longed-for next picture, Passage to Marseille (1944), until he completed this one. Ironically, two years after Conflict, Bogart was once again a disturbed man plotting to kill his wife for the love of Alexis Smith in The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947).

Tonight on TCM!

Broadway Bill (1934) An heiress and her brother-in-law defy her father by going into horse racing. Cast: Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Walter Connolly, Helen Vinson Dir: Frank Capra

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The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)

Oil heiress Joan Winfield (Bette Davis) is eloping with bandleader Allen Brice (Jack Carson) whom she's known only four days. Pilot Steve Collins (James Cagney) is going to fly them to Nevada but makes a deal with her father to deliver her home unmarried in order to get enough money to pay off his plane. Collins flies off with Joan leaving Allen behind and when Joan tries to escapes using a defunct parachute, Steve crashes his plane in the desert to save her. In the next forty-eight hours Joan and Steven will experience some serious adventure and learn a thing or two about themselves.

I actually watched The Bride Came C.O.D. after watching She Wouldn't Say Yes. Therefore, I had a hard time not looking more critically at Davis' abilities to do a screwball comedy. When she's up against the likes of Rosalind Russell (who I think does perfect screwball comedy complete with pratfalls and funny faces) Davis doesn't hold a candle. However, that does not mean she did not do a competent and professional job in this movie. And the fact that she was willing to endure such indignities as having her bum used for target practice, tells me that she was a good sport to boot. Plus her hair looked fabulous! Cagney, who I wish did more comedy, was in his element. He's versatile enough to pull off comedy though I do love him in a good drama.
Despite wanting to do another film together after Jimmy the Gent, The Bride Came C.O.D. was all that Cagney and Davis were offered and would probably be lost in the annals of time if it wasn't so odd that two actors best known for their dramatic turns hadn't been paired up and asked to be funny. Overall, the movie was pretty good with a couple of laugh out loud moments. It was also ironic to see Eugene Pallette playing the part of Davis' father after seeing them as husband and wife in Bordertown.

Little piece of trivia for ya: Harry Davenport was in both The Bride Came C.O.D. and She Wouldn't Say Yes.

Sidenote: Cagney eventually had to say something to director William Keighley about the 108 degree weather conditions they were shooting under. Keighley's response was that at least it wasn't summer when the temperatures were around 120, 130 degrees. Looking at the behind-the-scenes shots is a further testament to the professionalism Davis possessed. Look at her wearing fur and gloves in that heat while her bare feet play in the sand!




Tonight on TCM! If you haven't seen it, do. It's wonderful!!
Bedtime Story (1942) A stage star's dreams of retirement conflict with her playwright husband's need for a hit -- with her starring. Cast: Fredric March, Loretta Young, Robert Benchley, Allyn Joslyn Dir: Alexander Hall

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Merry Christmas!

From Bette and me!

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Christmas is coming...

Gloria's dropping by!

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Christmas is coming...

Got your list?

Virginia does.

Apparently Virginia didn't really believe there was a Santa Claus and so took things into her own hands.

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Random Harvest (1942)

In 1918, "Smith," an amnesiac, shell-shocked officer, who has lived in a county asylum in Melbridge, England for many months, wanders into town for the first time and is surrounded by people celebrating the end of WWI. To escapes the noise he ducks into a tobacconist's shop but his hesitant speech alerts the owner that he is from the asylum. As she goes to call them, a kindly entertainer, who goes by the name Paula Ridgeway, advises he should leave. When she sees how overwhelmed he is she invites him to a pub and then her show where Smithy (her nickname for him) becomes ill and in need of care. Paula nurses him back to health but the asylum is on the look out for him and she is convinced he simply needs to live life to get better not stay at an asylum. She takes him to a small town in Devon where they stay at a local inn until both are employed- Paula as a typist and Smithy as a writer. Soon they are married, have a place of their own, and a newborn son. Smithy is called off to Liverpool by the Mercury paper for a possible permanent position. Worried for him to be out on his own but happy that Smithy has somewhat recovered even though he remembers nothing before the war, Paula lets him go to Liverpool on his own. After checking into his hotel, Smithy walks toward the Mercury office but is hit by a car and knocked unconscious. When he comes to, he has no memory of the past three years and recalls only his life as aristocrat Charles Rainier and his life up to being shell-shocked in the war.
Confused as to how he ended up in Liverpool three years after the war has ended and haunted by the latchkey he finds in his pocket, Charles returns home, where he finds that his father has died and his siblings are anticipating their inheritance. He also meets Kitty, the teenaged daughter of his sister's new husband. He resumes life as usual and instead of writing, puts his efforts into expanding the family fortune. By 1932, Charles has become known as "the industrial prince of England" for being such a successful businessman, but he still feels there is something missing in his life and he thinks it’s tied up in those three missing years.
Meanwhile, Charles has been loyally served for two years by his private secretary, Margaret Hanson, who is really Paula though Charles does not recognize her as Paula. Their son died in infancy and Paula has been anxiously waiting for Charles to regain some memory of her. When he informs her that he intends to marry Kitty, Paula struggles with the idea of telling him everything but is made to realize that Charles must discover his past on his own. She legally claims her husband dead so that Charles will not be breaking the law.
On the day that Kitty and Charles are selecting music for their wedding, one melody inexplicably reminds him of his past and he momentarily looks at Kitty as if she were a stranger. Realizing that she cannot compete with a ghost from his past, Kitty tells him that they cannot go through with the wedding. This leads Charles to research his past and Paula follows him to Liverpool and tries to lead him to the proper clues but nothing jars his memory.
Back at home Charles is elected to Parliament and confesses to Paula that from time to time he has had the feeling that he knew her in the past. He then proposes that they marry in a kind of "merger" in which she would help him in his political life and he can offer friendship. Paula agrees but after three years of marriage and despite Charles' affection and friendship, she yearns for the love she shared with Smithy and decides that she needs to get away from her life for a while. As Charles uneasily sees her off on the train, he receives word that there is labor unrest in his cableworks in Melbridge. He soon settles the dispute, and as he goes through the town, he surprises his assistant by going right to the tobacconist's shop even though he stated he had never been in Melbridge before. This stirs something in his memory and the next day, Paula, who had been staying at the old Devon inn, learns from the proprietress that a man has just been by asking for the former owner and inquiring about a nearby cottage. At the cottage, Charles's memories begin to flood back as his latchkey opens the front door. When Paula arrives and calls him "Smithy," he finally recognizes who she really is and the two happily embrace.

I loved both Colman and Greer in this film. Colman does such a fantastic job of eliciting sympathy from the viewer as Smithy and Garson is angelic as the patient and loving lost wife. I am not sure if Garson was really singing but her "She's Ma Daisy" number alone was well worth seeing the film. It's a bit frustrating in how long it takes Charles to discover Smithy again but well worth it when the final seen does come. When Garson whispers Smithy and he turns to her and recognizes her for the first time in years- it's a tear jerker. Literally. Och! That was sooooo well done. And to think, it may have been different is Garson had gotten her way.


Side note:
Thanks to Ms. Greer Garson

GREER: You know, Mervyn dear, I had some thoughts on how we might improve the ending.
MERVYN LeROY: No, Greer, we already have too much as it is. It'll be hard enough just getting it down to two hours.
GREER: I always thought it was odd that Ronnie should just walk up to that little cottage and open the front door. Isn't that breaking and entering?
LeROY: No one will care.
GREER: And would the key still work after all those years?
LeROY: The audience will love this ending, Greer.
GREER: Oh wait, I know. What if Ronnie knocks on the door and finds that the old vicar is living there?
LeROY: And then what?
GREER: Oh, I don't know. The vicar could recognize him and ask "How's the wife?"
LeROY: No, we can't get Ivan back at this late date.
GREER: I'm just trying to stretch the ending out a bit longer.
LeROY: Believe me, Greer, after you leave Miss Barnes at the inn and Ron has started to remember, the audience will be dying for a resolution.
GREER: Well then, what about this. When Ronnie opens the cottage door at the end, I could be standing there inside the house waiting for him.
LeROY: Enough already. Go have Sydney fix your hair.


Tonight on TCM!
To Have And Have Not (1944) A skipper-for-hire's romance with a beautiful drifter is complicated by his growing involvement with the French resistance.Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Moran Dir: Howard Hawks

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Vivacious Lady (1938)

Vivacious Lady is a comedic love story involving a young botany professor named Peter Morgan Jr. (Stewart) and a nightclub singer named Francey (Rogers). After falling in love at first sight the two are quickly married and return to Peter’s home town of Old Sharon where his father Peter Morgan Sr. (Charles Coburn) anxiously awaits his arrival.
The film consists of Peter Jr. making a series of attempts to tell his family that he married a girl they probably won’t approve of. Throw in a jealous intended (chosen by Peter Sr.), a mother faking heart problems to deter rows between father and son, and a drunken cousin who got Peter into this mess in the first place, and you have a tidy little comedy.

Though I would classify Vivacious Lady under a “quickie” film, some of the scenes between Stewart and Rogers are priceless, and Rogers just gets better in every movie I see her in. The best scene in the film though is below. Thanks to Tom over at Motion Picture Gems for pointing me in the direction of the video!!

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Christmas is coming...

Are you ready?

Clara isn't.

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The Hepburn-Tracy's: Woman of the Year (1942)

Woman of the Year is the first of nine films to feature Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn and the chemistry between these two on this film practically jumps off the screen. It has been noted that the characters they play in the movie are very similar to the actors in real life with Tracy being the more laid back man's man and Hepburn the more egotistical and strong-willed but tender-hearted. Indeed, she had such strength to obtain the rights to Woman of the Year as well as pick the director, leading man, and her own salary.
George Cukor was a natural choice to direct as he was a close friend of Hepburn's and had directed her often. However, Hepburn wanted Tracy to be as comfortable as possible and so she hired George Stevens, who had directed her in Alice Adams (1935). As Hepburn said, "I just thought he (Tracy) should have a big, manly man on his team - someone who could talk about baseball." That "manliness" led to a different ending and the character of Tess Harding getting her just desserts.
"The original ending of the Lardner-Kanin script had Tess Harding take an honest interest in baseball (her husband's passion) and become more enthusiastic than he at the game, which implied not compromise but growth and love. But Mankiewicz and Stevens were concerned that 'the average American housewife, seated next to her husband, staring for two hours at this paragon of beauty, intelligence, wit, accomplishment, and everything else, (could not) help but wonder if her husband (wasn't) comparing her very unfavorably with this goddess he sees on the screen.' Stevens, who for all his charm was a dedicated male chauvinist, decided with Mankiewicz that Tess Harding had to have her comeuppance."
As for Hepburn and Tracy's first meeting, it has become legend. Joseph Mankiewicz, was the producer of the movie, and introduced the actors to one another in the MGM commissary where Hepburn is quoted as saying, "I'm afraid I'm a little tall for you, Mr. Tracy." To which Tracy replied, "Don't worry, Miss Hepburn, I'll cut you down to my size." - Thanks to TCM for some of the facts.

Woman of the Year is a love story between two journalists Sam Craig (Tracy) and Tess Harding (Hepburn). Craig is a sportswriter and Harding a political affairs columnist. After the two have a feud in their columns over the necessity of the American sport baseball, they meet meet one another and it's love at first sight for Craig. Harding leads him on for awhile but the sparks are there. Craig introduces Harding to baseball and before the game is over she is an avid fan. Harding introduces Craig into her world and he discovers she is a polyglot educated in various prestigious European universities and as an ambassadors daughter, has traveled the world. Despite their differences in background their romance leads to marriage only to be confronted by one conflict after another. Though Craig knew Harding was a busy woman, he apparently thought that marriage would change her, make her settle down. Harding understandably is confused by his attitude and finds ways to avoid the conflict by making love to him. It takes Craig's leaving her and the marriage vows she hears at her father's wedding to realize that she wants Craig more than she wants her career. To prove she is committed to her husband, she sneaks into his house and tries to prepare him breakfast, only to fail. Craig berates her for always going to extremes, telling her he doesn't want Tess Harding or Mrs Craig, but can't she be Mrs Tess Harding-Craig? To which Tess happily agrees that she can.

Though the premise of the film is obviously chauvinistic, making Harding an insensitive woman because she has a successful career, I have to consider the era and look beyond that. Woman of the Year makes this easy as it is wonderfully directed. As noted before, Hepburn can be annoying especially when it comes to some of her mannerisms. However, they were completely absent in this film, she was also more gorgeous than I have ever seen her and her witty banter with Tracy was infectious. Tracy, in turn, came off less brutish than other films I have seen him. He was very laid back in this film considering all the indignities he had to endure, like being called Mr. Harding. As mentioned before, the chemistry between Tracy and Hepburn is so apparent that it makes the film all the more believable. Thus far, this is my favorite of the Hepburn-Tracy pairings.

Side note:

When Hepburn questions Tracy on how the rules of baseball are played in Woman of the Year, I am reminded of a story that James Stewart once told Peter Bogdanovich which he put into his book, Who the Hell’s in It.
“The story was about the only time he had taken Katharine Hepburn flying. She had come over to him on the set of The Philadelphia Story and said, in her evidently typical terse way, ‘You fly.’ Telling it, Jimmy did a take as though startled, and then looked around, glanced down and back up before he said, ‘Yeah…’ With the same kind of military dispatch, Hepburn then told him that she would meet him the next morning, seven-thirty a.m. at the Santa Monica Airport (where Stewart used to keep his small plane). The Hepburn tale continued with Kate arriving punctually, and then, while airborne, leaning forward over his shoulder and asking him peremptorily why he did every single thing he did. ‘Why did you do that!?’ Patiently, he would try to explain. ‘Why!?’ More patient explaining. He flicked a switch. ‘Why did you do that!?’ Further polite explanations, funnier each time. Eventually, they land, she exits, says thanks, and never even mentions flying to him ever again. ‘Course, she did a lawta flying with Howard Hughes,’ he concluded, with the self-deprecating, slyly sexual, implication that Stewart obviously couldn’t match up to Hughes."

Tonight on TCM! Well look at that! Another Hepburn-Tracy pairing!

State Of The Union (1948) A presidential candidate fights to keep his integrity and his wife during a grueling campaign.Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury Dir: Frank Capra

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