Bringing Up Baby (1938)

This movie for years, and I finally found it on Amazon which nobody else has it even TMC

Love this movie, yes it ridiculous but not any more so than today's movie its way older than me but even the grandkids loved it, except that the littles ones keep trying to sound like the leopard that got old after a week . But lots of fun1

One of our families favorite movies...can watch it again and again!

A classic every person should watch

I have recently discovered the "screwball comedy" genre of older movies, and I wish I had discovered it earlier. They are very enjoyable and funny movies. The genre lasted through the 1930s, and into the 1940s in its prime. Bringing Up Baby is one of those movies. Screwball comedies liked to feature battles of the sexes, and conflict between the classes. Another element of the Screwball Comedy was fast-paced dialog, like in  His Girl Friday . It is actually the fast-paced dialog I like the most, it is very engaging, and makes the movie feel overly energetic and very boisterous -- similar to what Aaron Sorkin does with dialog today with TV shows like  The West Wing , Sports Night  and  The Newsroom .Anyway, Bringing Up Baby features two of my favorite classic Hollywood era actors: Cary Grant, and Katharine Hepburn. This is the first movie I have ever seen Katharine Hepburn being so silly in! It was delightful to watch her being so over-the-top. I have never seen her in anything other than very dignified roles. She was absolutely stunning in this movie. Cary Grant was his usual stolid self, and plays a perfect straight-man.The movie is basically a story (told at breakneck speed) of a scientist (they call him a Zoologist, but he is clearly a Paleontologist) who is trying to get a rich lady to donate money to his museum. He runs into a girl on the golf course who causes him all sorts of trouble, and then accidentally steals his car, and makes him ruin his chances of impressing the wealthy lady's lawyer. The girl is smitten with him and contrives to break up his engagement so she can have him, and does everything she can think of to make him stay near her, including saddling him with a "tame" leopard her brother sent her (the "Baby" of the title of the movie). The results are hilarious madcap antics, social faux paus, mistaken identities, and all sorts of the comedy staples of the 1930s and 1940s.The movie contains no crimes against women, no extreme violence, no sadism, no nudity, and no strong language. The worst thing that happens is that Carry Grant's character stomps on Katharine Hepburn character's foot, on purpose, because he is mad at her (amazing what society thought was acceptable behavior between men and women back then). I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and laughed out loud in many of the scenes.5 stars.

there is this funny young waitress who is good enough to really have an Act, and she would be doing "Katherine Hepburn", but I guess she did not know it, because one time she said something funny, and I said, now do it in your 'Katherine Hepburn'... she said "who?"... the Katherine Hepburn 'voice' has become such a part of our culture that the kids don't even realize half the time where it came from. Anyway, I told the waitress to rent on line "Bringing Up Baby". I went home and made sure she could do what I told her and for, what, 3 or 4 bucks I got to watch "Bringing Up Baby" on my computer. Oh my God. It must have been ten years since I saw it. I was laughing so hard, tears were coming out of my eyes and I couldn't keep my face dry. Grant and Hepburn's timing was by today's standards impossible -- Grant would be saying something, and Hepburn would cut him off and take some inappropriate meaning from his first phrase and run with, and Grant would break in and try again, and the same thing would happen, again and again and again... fast as lightening. You knew how good they were, because every once in a while the Director would try to do it with the supporting cast members, but the timing was simply not World Class like with Grant and Hepburn. Oh, and in those days the Studios did not like to do too many takes... they were REALLY on Schedule and Budget back then, so one imagines that Grant and Hepburn 'worked late', rehearsing these scenes over and over again, like some weird jazz songs, until they got them spot perfect. And then there is the Crazy Screen Play. Not one leopard in some New England Town but two! Oh, and I wanted the waitress to see how Hepburn really talked... talked at her best. Well, I caught myself trying to do Grant... he talks with an American Accent from the top back of his pallet with the sound squeezed over to the sides into his molars... that is why it is hard to do Grant... he was talking over and through his very unique teeth. Anyway, Great Movie. If you think you remember it, watch it again... and try to keep your face dry.

I can imagine that 'Bringing Up Baby' would not be for everyone. Its very fast paced, Katherine Hepburn hardly stops talking after her entrance at the golf club, there's a fair bit of slapstick and I don't believe there is a serious moment in the whole picture. To be honest, 'screwball' comedy isn't usually for me BUT I found that I loved this movie and that is almost entirely down to Hepburn who is simply a delight from start to finish. I'm amazed that this was supposedly her first attempt at comedy (and, in fact, I was sure that her 'Stage Door' which is also largely a comedy, came before this) because to me she seems to be a complete natural. Her portrayal of flaky Susan Vance is adorable is well as very funny, the lines delivered so naturally they seem like ad-libs. Hepburn's voice is very distinctive and I would say that if you don't like it then you won't like the movie. A friend of mine was appalled at the prospect of two hours listening to 'that drawl non-stop'.Initially I was less impressed with Cary Grant as the repressed zoologist. The performance seemed too forced and deliberate but he got better and came as close as possible to playing the 'straight man' opposite Hepburn. The rest of the cast prove to as ridiculous as the two leads, including Virginia Walker as Grant's chilly love interest. Charles Ruggles is the twitchy big game hunter and May Robson as the wealthy aunt of Hepburn and would-be patron of Grant. It is she who owns one of the two main animal stars of the film, the terrier George who at one point gets into a rather scary looking fight with the tame leopard Baby.I enjoyed this film a lot although I must admit that it is possibly half an hour too long and the final scenes set in the jail are almost too ridiculous (the only character I didn't like was the police chief) but even this scene is saved by Hepburn's turn as a gangster's moll! Overall - highly recommended.

Everyone seems to love this film and, finally, I understand why. I must be just about the last person to watch it, but I'm glad I finally bought a copy on DVD. It's exceptional! Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn never disappoint, and they work so well together. Their characters, David and Susan, are a delightful team. The pace is fast and furious, the laughs come thick and fast, and the action never lets up. This film is a prime example of a screwball comedy, and one of the funniest and most appealing films I've ever seen. I loved it!

Just watched this again - and enjoyed it just as much as ever. If I had to come up with a film to demonstrate Hollywood at its finest in the 1930's then "Bringing up Baby" would make the short list and may well win. Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn are at their impeccable best - a masterclass in the art of sophisticated comic timing. Add a superbly witty fast moving script and slick direction and you've got a classic - as good in 2010 as it was when released over seventy years ago.

It’s a brilliant example of a certain genre . The script is funny and the acting is brilliant . It’s not subtle in the plot development but who cares - it was good fun to watch.

This is without doubt one of the best comedies ever made.The scene where Grant and Hepburn are singing 'I can't give you anything but love, Baby' to a leopard, is priceless and unforgettable.The 'intercostal clavicle' is an ingenious fictitious bone created by the scriptwriters as the thread that runs through the film.You won't find much better than this!