Movie Discussion: Bringing Up Baby (1938) by Howard Hawks

Screwball sparks fly when Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn let loose in one of the fastest and funniest films ever made — a high-wire act of invention that took American screen comedy to new heights of absurdity. Hoping to procure a million-dollar endowment from a wealthy society matron for his museum, a hapless paleontologist (Grant) finds himself entangled with a flutter-brained heiress (Hepburn) as the manic misadventures and misunderstandings pile up — a missing dinosaur bone, a leopard on the loose, and plenty of gender-bending mayhem among them. Bringing Up Baby’s sophisticated dialogue, spontaneous performances, and giddy innuendo come together in a whirlwind of comic chaos captured with lightning-in-a-bottle brio by director Howard Hawks.

"Though it's almost impossible, try to sit back sometime and enjoy this masterpiece not only for its gags, but for the grace of its construction, the assurance of its style, and the richness of its themes." (Chicago Reader)

"The movie takes risks that Hollywood isn't even aware of anymore." (Time Out)

"Baby offers a rejection of how one should conduct oneself in supposed "regular" society, both in living lives with "dignity"... and how one persuasively woos a suitor... that the picture remains downright radical." (MUBI)

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Let's discuss the 1938 comedy Bringing Up Baby directed and produced by the American filmmaker Howard Hawks, recently voted the 108th greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of film critics and scholars. According to a biography of Hawks by Todd McCarthy, filming of the movie "was frequently delayed by Hepburn and Grant's uncontrollable laughing fits."

Please watch the movie in advance (102 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting.

You can stream it for free here (check the player settings to adjust quality) or rent it on Criterion or other streaming platforms (for best quality).

A preview.

Check out other movie discussions in the group every Friday and occasionally other days.