The Philadelphia Story -- 1940

Not to be confused with the movie Philadelphia from the 90's about AIDS, this one is about a love triangle (square?) and ranks as one of film history's best. In top billing, we have Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart (in his one and only Oscar winning role), and Katherine Hepburn. Completing the list of three lovers for Miss Hepburn is a guy named John Howard. Let me tell you something suspicious about Mr. Howard: he looks just like Clark Gable in this movie! If you don't know better, you'd swear they got themselves a heck of a star lineup, but not so. I can only guess that they couldn't afford Clark after his Gone With The Wind stint, so they got a look alike to fill in. Click here for pictures from the movie see if he doesn't look like Gable. 

Anyway, the story involves a reporter and photographer invited to the wedding of a socialite by her ex-husband who wants her plastered all over the papers (the rag in question is similar to our Star or People magazines). The Ex claims they're friends of a friend of the family who couldn't come, but the family doesn't buy it for a minute. Through the course of the story and a lot of misadventures and misunderstandings, the girl is left to choose the ex, the reporter (who is really in love with the photographer), or the fiancee. Who will win? We shall see.

Now, the movie is based on a stage play, and as such, the characters are amazing. The plot is delivered via the dialogue, and I read it was even edited some to fit the code of the time. Each of the three primary leads (sorry, Gable look alike, you don't count) are perfect. Prior to this film, Katherine Hepburn was box office poison; no more after this. The film delivers laughs and emotion and finally, a satisfying ending.

Now, I will admit, it runs a bit slow here and there when you want it move along, but it's not that bad. The pacing keeps up for the most part from one scene to another, and it all makes sense.

So, we have a good movie in this one. Just confirming what I'd read and others have said. This film is worth watching, so turn off Scary Movie 2, for crying out loud, and watch it!