The Philadelphia Story is a film about Tracy, a Philadelphian socialite and ex-divorce on the cusp of her second marriage. She is a private woman, and as a pair of reporters from Spy magazine are sent out to dig up her wedding story, hi-jinks ensue. This movie was based off a play, which in turn was based off of the life of Helen Hope Montgomery Scott. I watched this film a little while ago, but I’ve been so busy that I didn’t get around to digitizing the type until tonight (which is in itself, I admit, a rush job).

Spoiler alert! I really enjoyed The Philadelphia Story; it was a nice calm after the march of the insane Kubrick films. However, I was pretty dissatisfied with the resolution—that is, when Tracy remarries C.K. Dexter. I think everyone is rooting for the reporter-slash-little known-author, Mike Connor, and the plot would leave you to believe that Tracy will call it quits on her wedding to George Kittredge (yes folks, that’s three men) for his sake. Imagine my surprise when it’s C.K. Dexter walking her down the aisle in the end of the film. I’m pretty sure I yelled at the screen, “didn’t he hit you in the very beginning?!”

That said, a great film was soured by its all-too-neat ending. I felt that it was the stuff of daydreams from children of divorced parents. After watching The Philadelphia Story, I read on Wikipedia that remarriage films were popular in the 1930s and 1940s. It makes sense that the public would desire happy endings in a decade wracked by war and economic depression.

All in all, a good film as long as you take it with a grain of salt and a pinch of empathy for a war-torn generation.