JSanicki

When Bringing Up Baby premiered in 1938, the film seemed to break all the rules. It combined Katherine Hepburn, who had never done an out and out comedy before, with Cary Grant, who was known for his debonair leading man roles. But director Howard Hawks struck casting gold in Hepburn and Grant, and set out to make Bringing Up Baby the screwiest comedy ever. The stars barely had time to catch their breath as they raced from wild situation to another.

When production was finished, RKO felt the film was too frenetic for audiences. In fact, the studio considered shelving it altogether. When RKO finally released Bringing Up Baby into theaters, the film lost over $300,000. Hawks was fired from his next scheduled film, Gunga Din and Hepburn bought out her RKO contract and returned to Broadway.

However, with the coming of television in the 1960's and VCR in the 1980's, Bringing Up Baby finally found its audience. The film quickly won a reputation as one of the funniest movies ever made and became known as the quintessential screwball comedy. In 1990, Bringing Up Baby was selected for the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as one of the most important films in American cinema history.

I could never understand what was so great about this film. I think that the acting is poor and the storyline is quite weak, if not believable. What is the big deal with this film? Maybe I just need to see it more...or maybe I've seen it enough. Who knows?

My rating: 1 and a half stars

When Bringing Up Baby premiered in 1938, the film seemed to break all the rules. It combined Katherine Hepburn, who had never done an

out-and-out comedy before, with Cary Grant, who was known for his debonair leading-man roles. But director Howard Hawks struck casting gold in Hepburn and Grant, and set out to make Bringing Up Baby the screwiest comedy ever. The stars barely had time to catch their breath as they raced from one wild situation to another.

When production was finished, RKO felt the film was too frenetic for audiences. In fact, the studio considered shelving it altogether. When RKO finally released Bringing Up Baby into theaters, the film lost over $300,000. Hawks was fired from his next scheduled film, Gunga Din and Hepburn bought out her RKO contract and returned to Broadway.

However, with the coming of television in the 1960's and VCR in the 1980's, Bringing Up Baby found its audience. The film quickly won a reputation as one of the funniest movies ever made, and became known as the quintessential screwball comedy. In 1990, Bringing Up Baby was selected for the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as one of the most important films in American cinema history.

However, I for one, never could understand what was so great about this film. I think the acting is poor and the storyline is very weak, if not believable. What is the big deal with this film? Maybe I just need to see it more...or maybe I've seen it enough. Who knows?

My rating: 1 and a half stars

In Summer 1933, Columbia Pictures paid $5000 for the rights to "Night Bus," a short story written by Samuel Hopkins Adams that appeared in the August version of Cosmopolitan. After completion of the film Lady for a Day, director Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin began work on the film adaptation; as several bus-related films had recently failed at the box office, they changed the title to It Happened One Night.

Columbia, a small studio with few stars under contract, made it a company policy to borrow expensive name-brand talent "as needed." So when Capra wanted MGM's Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy for It Happened One Night, Columbia's prsident, Harry Cohn, sent the script to their boss, Louis B. Mayer. Although both stars were unavailable, Mayer surprised Cohn when he insisted Columbia take MGM's top leading man, Clark Gable, instead.

With Gable confirmed, Capra turned to the casting of his female lead role. After Miriam Hopkins, Margaret Sullivan and Constance Bennett turned him down, Capra approached Paramount's Claudette Colbert, who didn't want to play the heiress role either. Instead of saying no, however, the actress made Capra an offer she was sure would be rejected: $50,000 for four weeks work. To Colbert's amazement, Cohn agreed to her terms.

Production of the $225,000 project began on November 13, 1933. Although Gable was intially reluctant to work on It Happened One Night, he soon warmed up to Capra and gave a charming performance, one that would forever cement his screen image as a breezy, good-natured man of the world. Colbert, however, was another story. Although she gave an Oscar-winning performance, the actress did not want to make the film and continued to give Capra a difficult time throughout production. After her scenes were completed, Colbert went on vacation to Sun Valley, where she told friends, "I've just finished the worst picture in the world."

It Happened One Night was released on February 23, 1934, to moderate to indifferent reviews. But audiences across the country adored the film and made it the sleeper hit of the year. The first screwball comedy (before Bringing Up Baby), It Happened One Night went on to sweep the Academy Awards, winning all five major Oscars that it had been nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. But it was Claudette Colbert who knew exactly who was resposible for the success of It Happened One Night when, after accepting her award, she graciously told the Academy. "I owe Frank Capra for this." So do we.

My rating: 3 and a half stars