Bringing Up Baby (1938)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: With Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant at their effervescent best, Bringing Up Baby is a seamlessly assembled comedy with enduring appeal.
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Cast
as Susan Vance
as David Huxley
as Maj. Horace Applegate
as Maj. Applegate
as Aunt Elizabeth
as Mr. Gogarty
as Slocum
as Roustabout
as Motorcycle Cop
as Doorman
as Elmer
as Peabody
as Mrs. Lehman
as Dr. Fritz Lehman
as Hannah Gogarty
as Alice Swallow
as Zoo Official
as Zoo Official
as Baby the Leopard
as Caddy
as Caddy
as Alice Swallow
as Maid
as Joe
as Mac
as George the Dog
as Circus Manager
as Circus Barker
as Caddy
as Dancer
as Deputy
as Mrs. Peabody
as Cigarette Girl
as Cigarette Girl
as Louis, Headwaiter
as Bartender
as Prof. La Touche
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Critic Reviews for Bringing Up Baby
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (2) | DVD (5)
The enduring fascination of this 1938 screwball comedy is due to much more than its uproarious gags.
A perfect example of why directors (and even us brilliant professional critics) can often be completely in the dark about what works.
There is little rhyme or reason to most of the action, but it's all highly palatable.
Though it's almost impossible, try to sit back sometime and enjoy this 1938 Howard Hawks masterpiece not only for its gags, but for the grace of its construction, the assurance of its style, and the richness of its themes.
One of the finest screwball comedies ever.
The speedy, 102-minute film is a total delight, and the performances are so invigorating that it can withstand many multiple viewings without losing its sparks.
Audience Reviews for Bringing Up Baby
Katharine Hepburn's performance alone is dynamic in this comedic classic. Bringing Up Baby is comedy gold with brilliance in its ensemble. The laughter is timeless, the dialogue is crisp and, once again, Hepburn and Grant formulate a charming duo. 4/5
Super Reviewer
It is ironic that this enjoyable film flopped when it was still original and now is highly regarded as a masterpiece when it is obviously outdated and full of silly gags for today's standards - and despite her great chemistry with Grant, Hepburn is more irritating than funny.
Super Reviewer
Cary Grant (in a pair of glasses) plays a milquetoast nerdy-nerd scientist who's been assembling pieces of a dinosaur skeleton for years. While schmoozing a rich lady's lawyer on the golf course, he runs into Katharine Hepburn, a scatter-brained (yet attractive) lunatic who brings trouble with her wherever she goes, especially to the scientist. For good measure, they throw a leopard named baby (whose favorite song is "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby") into the mix and you have what might be director Howard Hawks' screwiest screwball comedy, lighter-than-air and yet heartily amusing. If there can be any criticism (and really, it's hard to take too critical a glance at something so lightweight), it may be with Hepburn and her portrayal of Susan Vance. The character is willfully ignorant, is mainly used as a means of advancing the comedic situations. But in working so hard to achieve this ignorant arrogance, the film loses a little bit of it's momentum (and good will). It's only once the film really gets rolling that Hepburn's comedic inadequacies can be overlooked (in fact, the film is almost a tale of two performances from Hepburn, the overly affected and forced first half of the performance, and the more flowing feel the performance achieves by the end). It's an unusual film to say the least.
Super Reviewer
Bringing Up Baby Quotes
| David Huxley: | Now it isn't that I don't like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I'm strangely drawn toward you, but - well, there haven't been any quiet moments. |
| Susan Vance: | There *is* a leopard on your roof and it's my leopard and I have to get it and to get it I have to sing. |
| Aunt Elizabeth: | But why are you wearing 'these' clothes? |
| David Huxley: | Because I just went gay all of a sudden! |
| Aunt Elizabeth: | Now see here young man, stop this nonsense. What are you doing? |
| David Huxley: | [exasperated and wearing Susan's negligee] I'm standing in the middle of 42nd Street waiting for a bus! |
| David Huxley: | But Susan, you can't climb in a man's bedroom window! |
| Susan Vance: | I know, it's on the second floor! |
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