BYU Honors List: BRINGING UP BABY

She's the kind of girl who laughs at you and not with you.

I would like to say that this movie is one of the reasons the name "Susan" is always used to portray psychopaths but I recently learned that Jane Austin wrote a book called Lady Susan, with the title character being an utterly hateful human being.  So, really, BRINGING UP BABY is just following tradition when Katherine Hepburn's character is named Susan.  What else would you name a manipulative compulsive liar who systematically ruins a man's life out of "love"?

Right. "Susan" is obviously the only option.



Why is this movie on the BYU Honors List?

BRINGING UP BABY is one of the original "screwball comedies" and its tight writing and fast pace are excellent examples of the genre.  This is also the second film Hepburn and Grant were in, though the first successful one.  They had both been in SYLVIA SCARLETT but that movie is so terrible that Hepburn offered to re-shoot the entire thing.  The head of the studio was so disgusted with everyone he decided he couldn't face four more weeks of shooting and just released a terrible movie.  Fortunately BRINGING UP BABY was made at a different studio and is much better.

"Perhaps I love her cause she lets me cross-dress"

Also, what I found interesting in this film is how Grant's character is supposed to love the indignity and destruction that this Susan causes in his life.  She ruins his wedding, his clothing, his reputation, his career, and four years of work and it's allegedly charming.  Perhaps this film is a classic because it reflects an extreme version of how relationships can be life changing - an utter upheaval of established perceptions and habits.  Or maybe they just loved wacky women in the 30's.









What I Liked

"Do I come in after the dog yip &  leopard howl, or is it just one dog yip?"

The best moment, for me, was toward the end when Grant and Hepburn are standing in a stranger's back yard with a dog and try to sing a leopard off of the roof.  It made me happy to hear Grant singing a neat little tenor part to Hepburn's melody but when the dog starts to sing and the leopard begins to howl...  I actually laughed out loud.