The Philadelphia Story (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

The Philadelphia Story has been a favorite film since I was a kid! I have a huge collection of dvds and blu rays, so, of course, having this amazing film on Criterion, was a no brainer, and it was 50% off!!! It is well worth full price, to have this Criterion print! I will watch it every year!

Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart in a romantic screwball comedy? What more could you ask for? Must-watch!

The image quality on this took my breath away. Like seeing this for the first time. Also...Hepburn's complete interview with Dick Cavett is included and is worth the price of the disc.

There is simply nothing comparable today to The Philadephia Story or to its lead trio, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Katherine Hepburn. The latter shines in this movie like no other. She never looked more beautiful, and although she gave many great performances in her career, none were better than this one. The Criterion restoration is fabulous. I had this on DVD, and always felt like I was missing half the details. I was. They're all here on this release. The extras are fun and interesting too. AND the booklet is quit nice. It's not very thick, but the text is good, explaining the background of the movie's history. Extra note: If you are a Jimmy Stewart fan, you will likely enjoy this movie, if only because of party scenes in which we see him having a drunkenly good time with Grant and Hepburn. In one scene with Grant, I swear the latter is doing everything he can not to burst out laughing. Stewart is so funny and so sweet. Treat yourself a fun classic movie!

I've never found Philip Barry's "Philadelphia Story" especially entertaining. With a couple of exceptions, most of its characters bore me and the story is as meaty as cotton candy. For me, it's a low-rent "Great Gatsby" played for comedy with lightweight characters. With that out of the way, there's no denying that "T.P.S.," directed by old pro George Cukor, is a bona fide classic of golden age Hollywood. (Heck, it was remade as an even lesser vehicle for Crosby, Sinatra, Grace Kelly, and Louis Armstrong: "High Society" [1956]. It's hard to drag that gang down, even harder to muck up Cole Porter songs, but I think that movie succeeded.) If you really care about Hollywood's take on how the rich lived in the 1940s and want to watch a pluperfect "comedy of remarriage" (Stanley Clavell), this is one to see. And if you really love this movie, Criterion's is the one to buy, The leads, as you probably know, are Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart. The latter won an Oscar: probably the Academy's apology for the one he should have received for "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Hepburn plays "Hepburn" as no one else could. The movie's saving grace is the comedic underplaying of Cary Grant, who, as always, made everyone else before and behind the camera look swell. This is a two-dic Criterion package that will surely tell you all, maybe more than you want to know: the background of Kate's Tracy Lord character, multiple documentaries and interviews, clips from Hepburn's quirky appearance on Dick Cavett's old late-night show, and a fine voiceover commentary by film scholar Jeannie Bassinger. As we have come to expect, the visual and audio elements have been remastered to a fare-thee-well.

I have this movie on DVD and streaming, but when I saw this BluRay edition, I got it to see how it looks on my 4k 85" TV. It is gorgeous! The grays are nuanced, each frame is clean of dust, cracks, fuzz, etc., each scene is sharp and in focus, and the sound is rich and free of static or crackling. It's like seeing it in the theater 82 years ago. In fact, it's probably better. I have nearly 100 old movies from the 30's and 40's, and this Criterion Collection version of The Philadelphia Story is hands down the best looking movie of all of them. There's a video in the extras section which shows how they went frame by frame cleaning up dust and removing jitter. Something I didn't know is that nearly all the old nitrate film stock for this movie burned up more than 50 years ago. The video talks about how they found one old film copy, some continuity film, and some dailies and used those to create what you see on the Bluray. I had no idea that this film was so close to disappearing all together. If you are a film history buff, buy this Bluray to help encourage everyone involved to keep on saving great old films from vanishing.

one of the great romantic comedies, which unfortunately Hollywood has forgotten how to make. In addition to being hilarious, and showcasing the four stars and their various talents, it also has something useful to say about the human condition. The print (?) is much better that the older edition I have, and the supplementary material is interesting. Mostly, though, it's just a great movie.

It’s not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just, by today’s standard that is, not an original concept. At the time, I’m sure people lapped it up, wondering if “this” is how the rich live? But nowadays you can’t turn YouTube on or Netflix without watching some show about people so insulated by money that they essentially never have to fully come to terms with who they really are and how their behavior is effecting the souls of everyone around them. It’s a very common modern theme, thus, while clearly a very special film at that time, it just feels so, been there done that seen for the first time now. Please understand I have zero hate for this Kathrine Hepburn project. It’s a wonderfully put together film, it just didn’t do it for me. James Stuart, arguably one of the best actors who ever lived is in a bit role here, that gets more plays for laughs and as a plot device then a fully realized character. Carry Grant plays the character he almost always plays (there are two, the hopeless playboy or the deadly serious agent). The film is and was a vehicle for her career, in her own words and well, you can tell. The whole film revolves around everyone’s fascination with her character, when in fact her character might be the most uninteresting character in the film. Once again, for me. You can tell the audience how special someone is but unless you show me (or us, it is a film after all) then it’s all lip service. The only reason I don’t give it a lower score is it has some truly witty dialogue, a stellar supporting cast and some sublime shots that tell more then their few share of stories. You’ve been given the run down. Make smart choices.