The Philadelphia Story & The Awful Truth [Paramount Summer Classics]

Tonight and tomorrow night, the Paramount Theater will be screening two classic favorites starring Cary Grant: 1940's The Philadelphia Story and 1937's The Awful Truth. Both films feature Grant as a wealthy divorcee and both are certain to make you laugh.

The Philadelphia Story's success is credited with helping Katherine Hepburn break away from the "box office poison" title some had given her at the time; her movies in the years before TPS had not fared well with audiences. In this film (showing tonight at 7pm and tomorrow night at 9:05pm), Hepburn plays Tracy Lord, a divorced heiress with high expectations. Ms. Lord divorced from CK Dexter Haven (Grant) not too long ago for reasons that are somewhat foggy at the beginning of the film and is about to marry a self-made man. Before the wedding takes place, her ex makes a deal with a tabloid (how timeless this aspect of the film is!) to bring a reporter (Jimmy Stewart) and photographer (the underrated Ruth Hussey) to document the wedding. And then the fun begins . . . when we last saw TPS at the Paramount, the audience was quite engaged, with some audience members even booing Tracy's father.

The Awful Truth (showing tonight at 9:25pm and tomorrow at 7pm) is somewhat lesser-known, and its comedy is definitely more of the screwball variety. Grant and Irene Dunne star as a well-off couple who get a divorce because of a misunderstanding. They have no children, but share custody of their dog, Mr. Smith. Ralph Bellamy features into their story, and if you know about Ralph Bellamy's roles throughout his career, you know that any love story involving him isn't going to have much of a future. The last few minutes of this film are priceless; director Leo McCarey (who won an Oscar for this film) seems to have gone as far as he could with a cuckoo clock, a shared door between two rooms and a breeze in the production code era.

Added trivia: In The Awful Truth, the couple's dog, Mr. Smith, plays a large role. This dog is the same legendary canine actor who played Asta in The Thin Man series and George in one of the best screwball comedies ever, Bringing Up Baby (which also stars Grant and Hepburn).

Note to Paramount newbies: Admission to the first film covers the admission of the next if you choose to stay for it. Double feature!