ET 11: BRINGING UP BABY: THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES

Bringing up Baby

Directed by: Howard Hawks

 

   I would like to start of by saying that this was a beautifully written movie. The script was amazing and the puns were hilarious. Cary Grant, a.k.a Archibald Alexander Leach in his time, was the image of a handsome and successful man, the image EVERYMAN wanted to be. But, in this film, his role as Dr.David Huxley, was the total opposite. He had a boring 9 to 5 job, he had no sex life, he had no social life. His life, was his work. The life all men hate and despise. Having such a man play such a role makes people believe, and have faith, that anything is possible. I personally felt that this film might have been to embrace women's right in the recent 1920 women's movement. It removes the idea of men being the dominant gender and shows the side of men we never usually see in society. Katharine Hepburn on the other hand, shows the wild side of a woman, she shows that not all woman are as holy, sacred and pure as we think they are. She is practically an Id in this film and only acts with instincts. Many people my disagree, but I still think that she is very unintelligent. People may interpret that she is only doing such things to get the attention of Dr.Huxley, but I believe that her intentions to sway Dr.Huxley only came after/during the dinner event. 

   The other side characters in this film include Ms.Elizabeth Random(May Robson) and Constable Slocum(Walter Catlett). These two were portrayed as the constants in the film. I say constants, because the persona's of the characters were very sexist. The man, Constable Slocum, was the Alpha Male of the town and calls the shots. He decides who goes to jail, and who is wrong. The female on the other hand, Ms.Elizabeth Random, is portrayed as the humble, respectable, well-mannered woman of the town. These roles are almost a Victorian concept of society.

   The plot of this film is very nicely done. I especially love how the movie ended at the museum which is also where the movie began. The hidden messages of the the story incorporated well with the comedy. Trapped within a dead cage, a lifeless being. Then, a spark of life came, Susan. The person who destroyed his world, destroyed his life's work, ruined his life, but gave him freedom in return. It was a bitter sweet story. But as most of us know, all comedies end with happy endings. The fact that the leopard's name was Baby, showed an obvious sign that it represented a ,yes, you've guessed it, a baby. It shows how most movies work nowadays with the saying "we make a pretty good team". They worked together more like a family instead of parters, each with their priorities but still helping one another.

   The comedy in this movie was extremely entertaining. It was one joke after another, after another. It's funny now, and probably ten times funnier during it's time. The type of comedy they used was screwball comedy, but I enjoyed how the irony destroyed his world. The fact that all the misadventures David had with Susan to save the life he hated so much. The fact that the woman he was annoyed at was the source to achieving his objective. I love all of this. But what really kept me all the way through this movie, was the puns. Random puns, I'M GAY ! What a way to introduce yourself to someone who's name had Random in it.

    Probably one of my best experiences in FILM101, and plenty more to come.


IT'S HOLLYWOOD BABY !