Today, for the good-old-classic-movies column, I am recommending Bringing up Baby, a 1936 romcom with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn (no family ties with Audrey, I googled it).
Cary Grant portrays a clumsy head-in-the-clouds paleontologist who is to marry a frigid unromantic woman; she wants him to continue his important work with “no distractions and no domestic entanglements of any kind” (yep, I don’t like the sound of that either).
One day the paleontologist meets a scatterbrained hectic woman performed by Katharine Hepburn. She falls in love with him at first glance and will do everything to keep him by her side, including having him with a ‘friendly’ leopard (Baby) that her brother had sent her. This creates most of the nonsensical and innocently amusing scenes of the movie.
The best parts of the movie are the interactions between the two; while Cary Grant has a tentative and hesitant way of talking, he is constantly toppled by Katharine Hepburn’s resolute yet whimsical kind of chattiness. The actress interprets her character also with a hint of craftiness as she manipulates some of the situations to further pursue a possible relationship; this is also perceived by the close proximity of the actors as they deliver their fast-paced amusing dialogues.
The ending is not difficult to foresee, especially considering the simple principle of “opposites attract” that it follows; however, following the two protagonists throughout the comical scenes through which they get to know each other makes the movie worthwhile.
I would give this a 6 out of 10 “unharmed-leopards-during-this-production.