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Bringing Up Baby
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Bringing Up Baby (1938) More at IMDbPro »

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Bringing Up Baby (1938) -- Open-ended Trailer from RKO Radio

Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   20,773 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 28% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Howard Hawks
Writers:
Dudley Nichols (screenplay) &
Hagar Wilde (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Bringing Up Baby on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
18 February 1938 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Romance more
Plot:
David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances... more | add synopsis
Awards:
1 win more
NewsDesk:
(9 articles)
Great Films: Bringing Up Baby
 (From SoundOnSight. 29 June 2009, 12:14 PM, PDT)

Meeting Mr. or Ms. Wrong
 (From IFC. 26 May 2009, 7:23 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Baby, Oh Where Can You Be? more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Katharine Hepburn ... Susan Vance

Cary Grant ... Dr. David Huxley
Charles Ruggles ... Maj. Horace Applegate (as Charlie Ruggles)
Walter Catlett ... Constable Slocum
Barry Fitzgerald ... Aloysius Gogarty
May Robson ... Aunt Elizabeth Random
Fritz Feld ... Dr. Fritz Lehman
Leona Roberts ... Hannah Gogarty

George Irving ... Alexander Peabody
Tala Birell ... Mrs. Lehman
Virginia Walker ... Alice Swallow
John Kelly ... Elmer
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Additional Details

Runtime:
102 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Victor System)
Certification:
UK:U | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:S | Germany:12 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #3752) | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/6 (DVD rating)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Howard Hawks said that he failed at making a good comedy here because of the characters were too "madcap", with no straight men/women to ground it. This comment may have resulted from his disappointment at the film's commercial failure at the time of its release, although many now consider it Hawks' best film. more
Goofs:
Miscellaneous: Gogarty and Maj. Horace Applegate come across the leopard, and Applegate says, "Personally, Gogarty, I think you're a liar!" They start to run away from the leopard, when suddenly part of the leopard's head is transparent. You can see right through to the wall. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Prof. LaTouche: Morning, Miss Alice. My watch is...
Alice Swallow: Shh. Dr. Huxley is thinking.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Andy Griffith Show: Bringing Up Opie (#1.32)" (1961) more
Soundtrack:
I Can't Give You Anything but Love more

FAQ

Any recommendations for other screwball comedies like "Bringing Up Baby"?
Is this movie based on a novel?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
more
18 out of 21 people found the following comment useful:-
Baby, Oh Where Can You Be?, 26 December 2005
9/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Casting Katharine Hepburn in the role she plays her would have been unthinkable years later when her image as a feminist icon was cast in bronze. But she's doing some serious poaching on a young version of the kind of roles Mary Boland or Billie Burke would play. Think of the parts these two women played and you can definitely see Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby if you imagine Boland and Burke years younger.

Bringing Up Baby is one of those beautiful films that really doesn't have a plot. Try to tell someone verbally the plot of this, it cannot be done. From the moment airheaded Kate gets into uptight Cary's car in that parking lot with him chasing her, it's just one madcap situation after another. Howard Hawks directs this film with the appropriate light touch the material requires.

Cary Grant is not the usual suave sophisticate you normally find him cast as either. He's an uptight paleontologist who's biggest thrill up to that point is the arrival of a brontosaurus vertebrae so that he can complete a skeleton. He's also getting married, but the woman he's engaged gives him hints that married life will not be any bed of roses for him. Whether he knows it or not he's ready for the romp Kate has in store for him.

Thirties audiences definitely loved seeing the rich at play. Bringing Up Baby is the definition of escapist entertainment. But one who hasn't the means shouldn't indulge it what Hepburn is doing. They've got a padded cell waiting for anyone who's not rich who indulges in this kind of behavior. Only the rich can afford to be eccentric.

Baby by the way is a tame leopard who Kate's brother sends up from South America. That would be a jaguar by the way, but that's just mere details. Anyway Baby escapes at the same time another leopard from the circus escapes and he's dangerous. I won't go into the confusion there, I couldn't describe it in any event.

May Robson and Charlie Ruggles lend good support. Ruggles who was normally cast against Mary Boland teams up well with May Robson. And my favorite in the supporting cast is Walter Catlett as the small town constable who doesn't know quite what he has on his hands, but is determined to bluff the situation through.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
The special effects in this film... marknyc
Not one kiss the entire movie...? stealthblue2001
comedy HKingkade
Why was the film not well-received? kahjraj
Leopard fight with dog deep1317
Car keys plot hole srb2001
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