Wednesday 15 June 2011

AFI 100 Movies #97 Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Another entry into the 100 list in the "Screwball Comedy" genre.

Cary Grant stars as David Huxley, a paleontologist, who has been trying for years to complete the construction of a dinosaur skeleton. He only needs one more vital bone to complete his prized Brontosaurus skeleton and finish his life's great work.

David is trying to get on good terms with a wealthy benefactor, Mrs Random, who is considering giving a substantial amount of money to his museum. Apart from funding problems, David is about to get married to Alice, a young lady with an austere personality.

The day before his wedding he meets Susan Vance, a rather haphazard quirky young woman, who unknown to David, is Mrs Random's niece.

Susan takes delivery of a tame leopard, a gift intended for her aunt from her brother Mark. She seems to be under the impression that David is a zoologist and goes out of her way to get him to come to her country estate in order to help her with "Baby" the leopard.

Susan introduces David to her aunt as "Mr Bone" and things start to sprial out of control. Susan's dog George makes off with the final bone that David needs to finish his dinosaur skeleton and buries it somewhere. During the chaos that ensues Baby goes missing along with George, and just when it couldn't get any more crazy, enter a second leopard that has been mistakenly released from its cage while on its way to be put down after it mauled a man to death at a circus and the action really gets going.

There is something quite comforting about watching classic old black and white movies.

Cary Grant has the ability to play someone who is essentially a nerd, but still remain suave and charming. Katherine Hepburn's character is quite frankly bonkers! in a very entertaining way.

The movie bombed when it was first released, but has subsequently achieved classic status as the years have passed by. Grant and Hepburn clearly have a chemistry which is probably why they were paired together in three other movies.

I certainly liked this enough to want to see the other films that they made together.

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