The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 Oscar winning movie directed by George Cukor and starring James Stewart, Cary Grant, and Katherine Hepburn. It is considered one of the greatest American movies ever made and it would have never been made were it not for the exploits of its female star. The Philadelphia Story is an adaptation of the stage production which also starred Katherine Hepburn and is based on the public backlash over her falling out with RKO Studios. The stage play was written to try and get Hepburn back to the stage and forget about movies for a little while and it worked. It also helped to repair her slightly damaged image as the full run of the stage production made nearly $2 million in box office receipts which is a fantastic total for those days and made the need for a movie seem even more obvious. So in 1940 director George Cukor was signed on to direct the Donald Ogden Stewart adaptation of the stage production. Donald Ogden Stewart was once quoted as saying that The Philadelphia Story was the easiest adaptation he has ever done because the stage production was so perfect.

The Philadelphia Story is about a rich heiress named Tracy Lord, played by Katherine Hepburn, who divorces her husband CK Dexter Haven, played by Cary Grant, and throws him out of her house. Two years later Lord is getting ready to remarry to George Kittredge but Haven shows up with a tabloid reporter named Macaulay Connor, played by James Stewart, to try and ruin her wedding. What follows is a series of fascinating dialogue that leads Lord to realize the heart she really has and how she really wants to live her life. The Philadelphia Story moves fast so you have to pay attention or you will miss something important. In the end she does not know where her heart really wants to go and she winds up doing a lot of soul searching before coming to any decision.

The Philadelphia Story was all about Katherine Hepburn on and off the screen. She had asked Clark Gable to appear in the film but Gable had fired Cukor from Gone With The Wind so the chances of those two working together again were none. Hepburn owned the film rights to the stage production and how she came about those rights is an interesting story in itself. While she was starring in the Broadway production of The Philadelphia Story eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes purchased the film rights to the stage production and then turned around and presented those film rights to Katherine Hepburn. Just another strange turn of events in the making of The Philadelphia Story and the life of Howard Hughes.

In the end The Philadelphia Story received both financial and critical acclaim. It was a huge hit at the box office and it was nominated for 6 Academy Awards. The irony is that, even though the movie was about her, Katherine Hepburn received only an Oscar nomination and did not win an Oscar for her performance. Donald Ogden Stewart won an Oscar for his adaptation of the stage production to a file and James Stewart won the Oscar for best male in a leading role. It just goes to show that sometimes it isn’t who you are but what others think of you.