Movies to Study: Bringing Up Baby

I usually try to keep the Movies to Study column about films that are fairly recent. You can go almost anywhere and find essays on why Citizen Kane or The Godfather are perfect films. Tonight I was watching Bringing Up Baby and my sister came into the room. I paused the movie and said, "Do you know who that is?"

"No," she replied.

"Katherine Hepburn. Do you know who she is?"

"No."

Then I went forward a couple frames and did the same thing for Cary Grant. Same response. It's sad how most people in the young generation have no clue who these people are, yet they are icons and have been in more great films than almost any of the actors working today. So in order to champion my cause of pushing older classics, that is why Bringing Up Baby is the newest Movie to Study.

The heart of this film is a romantic comedy, and for a film made in 1938, the material is still fresh. A lot of these jokes and setups are still used in comedies today. There's some slapstick, some puns, some general turmoil, misunderstandings, crazy characters, cross-dressing, and leopards. All necessary elements for a successful comedy.

The main reason this film succeeds is simple: because of Katherine Hepburn. There are no two ways about it. The script is fantastic, and Cary Grant sells his part well, but Katherine Hepburn does her best work in this film. Not one film historian will agree with me on that, but damn them all. With so many great performances on her resume, I still love Susan Vance the best. In this film she is described as on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Is she really going a little crazy, or is it that being around Cary Grant makes her feel that way? She admits late in the film that nothing she did was ever thought through other than how it would keep him with her. In old movies like this there didn't have to be a crazy stalker agenda, or a strong sex drive, or relentless pursuing of another person. The only thing we feel is that Susan needs David (Cary Grant). It also helps that Kate Hepburn was quite young in this role and played a part dependent on another person, whereas in a lot of films (and in her life) she was controlling. Nothing wrong with that, but when her character is the other way around, it's more endearing.

The film digresses to calamity towards the end when everyone is in jail. It feels like a cut reel from a Marx Brothers film. My one gripe with the film is that the jail scene goes on a tad bit too long, but that is more than made up for when, in one of my favorite scenes from any movie, Susan returns to the jail dragging in 'Baby.' Oh. Baby is a leopard that has come into Susan's possession. It's one of the many trifles that tie her and David together, along with a dinosaur bone (he's a paleontologist [or, as Susan would wrongly call him, a zoologist]), a suit, a million dollar grant, and a stolen car.

The plot of the movie is sort of a roundabout of events, one piling on top of the other. Most comedies do do that. Fortunately, Bringing Up Baby manages to keep everything in line and is very subtle in the details it brings up. When Susan first gets the tame leopard from her brother Mark, she reads the letter: " 'He's three years old, gentle as a kitten, and likes dogs.' I wonder whether Mark means that he eats dogs or is fond of them?" When one person reads the letter, I'm sure they interpret that one way and one way only. Interesting that Susan would think both ways. Also, of course, they have a pet dog named George.

One problem with modern comedies is the predictability pattern. At least with bland comedies. Irony has become so commonplace that it almost never surprises anymore. If a character goes to a bar and says, "I hope Mike isn't here," every single time Mike is going to be there. Movies like Bringing Up Baby had it right. I don't want to ruin it, but there is a scene in the woods (when they are hunting the escaped leopard) where Susan mentions that something should not be a problem, and then immediately after, the characters fall and we see she was wrong. There is no time to really comprehend what happened, because the joke knows it doesn't have to linger. The film understands that the audience should not be given time to think--they must be forced to move with the film. Oh, and in that scene, Susan's justification for her error is also brilliant.

I haven't even addressed the issue of David's fiancee from the beginning and end of the film. What's also great here is that we get all of our exposition in, literally, the first 3 minutes of the film. We find out David is engaged to Alice, that they won't have a family of a honeymoon, but she wants to marry him because they share a career. Obviously he's unhappy with this. We also get that he's awaiting the delivery of the last bone to complete his brontosaurus (this bone is another plot device). Afterward, we can focus completely on David's relationship with Susan.

The film was a complete failure when it was originally released. Why? Who knows. We could possibly put it down for 'ahead of its time.' Since this was 1938, that's not too hard to imagine.

I promise that if you watch this film you will be entertained. It is better than 99% of the 'comedies' released these days. And if you don't like it, honestly, you have no appreciation for good humor and should go back to watching 'Meet the Spartans.' Bringing Up Baby is on par with the best.