So how is "Bringing Up Baby" related to Sicily and more specifically, Messina? Well the roots of screwball comedy lie in Shakespeare, and the most known example would be "Much Ado About Nothing" which takes place in the port of Messina.
See...simple. If I was really SMRT, I would have known that without doing any research but, sadly, that's not the case. Screwball comedies are one of the most enduring forms of comedy for film and the AFI list has at least one example ("Some Like it Hot"), if not two, ("Tootsie"). Seems a lot of folks consider screwball comedies as being associated with the 30's and 40's but not much since. I disagree. The form is still vibrant and many romantic comedies pay homage to the screwball roots.
This is first screwball comedy I've written about for this blog and it's great. Cary Grant is probably my favorite comedic actor of that period. His delivery is iconic and he was a marvelous performer. His athleticism is highlighted in this movie by his many falls, trips, and other run-ins with stationary objects. For me, he was just always cool even when he was picking himself up from some slapstick. Look for the shot where he motions like he's going to strangle Hepburn. Very similar in timing and effect to the scene in "The General" when Annabelle Lee starts cleaning up the engine compartment. I missed that similarity to Keaton, but it was mentioned on Peter Bogdonovich's commentary.
Katharine was then, is now, and forever will be a treasure. At the time of this film's release she was "box office poison" and didn't leave that behind until a couple of years later with the release of the film version of "The Philadelphia Story" (which also made the list and also stars Grant). After that she never looked back. She is the star of three movies on the AFI list. While Cary didn't manage a win for best actor in his career, Katharine picked up no less than four with twelve nominations.
The film follows the extremely square zoologist Dr. David Huxly's (Grant) misadventures at the hands of Susan Vance (Hepburn) as she pursues his affections. Throw in a little humor from the leopard that shows up in Vance's apartment, a fossil buried by a dog, a dash of mistaken identity, a little cross dressing, trying to keep an identity secret and finally, what some argue is the first use of the term gay to describe homosexuality in popular culture and you have an entertaining couple of hours. Cary Grant wandering out of the bathroom in the negligee and his hop as he says "Because I just went gay all of a sudden!" is priceless. Whether the meaning was happy or homosexual is still up for debate. At this point we'll probably never know for sure.
Howard Hawkes said he made a mistake on the film because everyone was nuts. He wished there were more normal folks in the film but all of the characters were crazy. With later movies such as "His Girl Friday" as part of his more than 40 directorial credits, I think it's safe to say he learned his lesson. I also didn't know that Howard and Howard collaborated on the original "Scarface" in 1932 or that later he would direct Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe in "Monkey Business". He was a great director.
The supporting cast is marvelous with Charles Ruggles, Barry Fitzgerald and May Robinson. Whether it was Hepburn or the movie itself that hurt its box office performance isn't clear. Over the years the film has risen in the eyes of the public and the critics and climbed seven spots on the AFI list. A film made in 1938 that has my 17 year old son laughing out loud at places must have done something right.
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