The Philadelphia story
(2017, original release: 1940)

Fiction

Blu-ray

Call Numbers:
BLU-RAY/COMEDY/PHILADELPHIA

Availability

Locations Call Number Status
Movies BLU-RAY/COMEDY/PHILADELPHIA Available

Details

PUBLISHED
[New York, N.Y.] : The Criterion Collection, [2017]
EDITION
Blu-ray special edition
DESCRIPTION

1 videodisc (112 min.) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet

ISBN/ISSN
9781681433721 CC2822BD, 1681433729 :, 1681433729, 0715515205719, 9781681433721, 715515205719
LANGUAGE
English
NOTES

Title from screen credits

"With this furiously witty comedy of manners, Katharine Hepburn revitalized her career and cemented her status as the era's most iconic leading lady--thanks in great part to her own shrewd orchestrations. While starring in the Philip Barry stage play The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn acquired the screen rights, handpicking her friend George Cukor to direct. The intoxicating screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart pits the formidable Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn, at her most luminous) against various romantic foils, chief among them her charismatic ex-husband (Cary Grant) who disrupts her imminent marriage by paying her family estate a visit, accompanied by a tabloid reporter on assignment to cover the wedding of the year (James Stewart, in his only Academy Award-winning performance). A fast-talking screwball comedy as well as a a tale of regret and reconciliation, this convergence of golden-age talent is one of the greatest American films of all time"--Container

1.37:1 aspect ratio

Based on the play by Philip Barry

Features: New 4K digital restoration; Audio commentary from 2005 featuring film scholar Jeanine Basinger; In Search of Tracy Lord, a new documentary about the origin of the character and her social milieu; New piece about actor Katharine Hepburn's role in the development of the film; Two full episodes of the Dick Cavett show from 1973, featuring rare interviews with Hepburn, plus an excerpt of a 1978 interview from that show with director George Cukor; Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1943, featuring an introduction by filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille; Restoration demonstration; Trailer; An essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme

Director of photography, Joseph Ruttenberg ; editor, Frank Sullivan ; music, Franz Waxman

Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard, Roland Young, John Halliday, Mary Nash, Virginia Weidler

MPAA rating: Not rated

Blu-ray, region A; full screen (1.37:1 aspect ratio); uncompressed monaural

English dialogue with optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH)

Additional Credits

Additional Titles