Bringing up Baby: The Dizzying Peak of Screwball Comedy

Katharine Hepburn is best remembered for her on-screen pairing with off-screen partner Spencer Tracy. But before Tracy, Hepburn shined with another leading man we all know and love, Cary Grant. Of their four films together, Howard Hawk’s Bringing Up Baby best shows off their rollicking dynamic with slapstick comedy at its finest.

Released at the height of screwball comedies in 1938, the film has quite a simple plot: Girl meets boy. Girls chases after boy. They live happily ever after. But it’s done in a highly comical and improbable fashion that will have you laughing so hard, your cheeks will hurt.

In the film, Hepburn plays frenetic and irrepressible heiress Susan. Following a scatterbrained sense of logic, she relentlessly pursues harried and mild-manned paleontologist David (Grant). David is conscientiously trying to secure a prestigious scientific grant. Once he meets Susan, he winds up on a whirlwind journey of zany predicaments with a domesticated leopard named Baby. That’s right—a domesticated leopard. There is no rhyme or reason to the marvelous malfunctions that make up this plot, but somehow it all works seamlessly.

Hepburn is sensational in the film, delivering the best comedic performance of her career. She takes the role of a woman whose heart is a-flutter to a new level. It’s astounding how she turns nonsense into sensible, witty dialogue, and spits it as effortlessly as Grant oozes charm.

Not to be outdone, Grant puts his pre-film vaudeville training to good use, flipping and falling through Hepburn’s schemes. In fact, some of the most famous scenes were Grant’s ideas, including the clever torn dress bit. This scene was recreated almost 40 years later in Peter Bogdonavich’s loose remake of the film, What’s Up Doc?

Together, Hepburn and Grant take you on an invigorating and unforgettable roller coaster of hilarity. It’s as crisp and charming as the dialogue that sparkles throughout the film. Bringing up Baby is as good as classic comedy gets.

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