A 1938 romantic comedy with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, Bringing Up Baby is a delightful film. Hepburn plays a charmingly manipulative woman, Susan, who will do anything to get her man and does get him in the end (as, of course, is fitting). And the film is all about leopards (including her pet leopard, Baby), and so appropriate for this blog.
One of the most wonderful lines occurs when Grant (David) realizes that Susan is chasing the dangerous leopard instead of the tame leopard (and cares about her for the first time): "Poor darling Susan. She's in danger and she's helpless without me!" This is followed immediately by a shot of Susan dragging in the unwilling and very violent leopard on a leash. Aha! Susan's act of appearing to be absolutely needy in order to get David is shattered in this moment. And the great powers of a woman (in being strong, when needed, and in teaching men to be strong, when they're present) shine through.
Susan pre-empts him, and she assumes things, but she does it all correctly and endearingly: "Oh David, can you ever forgive me? You can and you still love me! Oh David!"
In the end, we see that the title is purposefully ambiguous--who is the baby being brought up?
1 comment:
We watched this recently. I just thought she had a really severe case of ADD. My wife thought she was manipulative.
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