88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Running Time: 102 Minutes
Director: Howard Hawks
Date Watched: 2/05/2011 Medium: DVD

Summary (from imdb.com): "In this screwball comedy, heiress Susan (Katharine Hepburn) is determined to catch a stuffy paleontologist (Cary Grant) and uses her pet leopard, Baby, to help get his attention. The elements of this farce include a yappy terrier who steals and buries an irreplaceable fossilized bone, a pompous big game hunter, a rich old aunt, a jealous fiancée, and a case of mistaken identity involving a second, and vicious, leopard."

Molly: (4 out of 5 stars): "Hilarious movie. I love Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn and they had me in stitches the whole time. Very cute and fun movie."

Nick (4.5 out of 5 stars): "A fun, clean movie that was very enjoyable to watch. "

Random Movie Facts (from IMDb.com):

• This movie fared so badly at the box office that Howard Hawks was fired from his next production at RKO and Katharine Hepburn bought out her contract to avoid being cast in the film Mother Carey's Chickens(1938). Coincidentally, Hepburn was labeled "box office poison" on the same day her contract was dissolved.
• Katharine Hepburn was generally fearless around the young leopard 'Nissa (II)' who played "Baby" and even enjoyed petting it. Cary Grant was less fond of the big cat and a double was used in the scenes where his character and the leopard had to make contact.
• Katharine Hepburn had one very close call with the leopard. She was wearing a skirt that was lined with little metal pieces to make the skirt swing prettily. When Hepburn turned around abruptly, the leopard made a lunge for her back. Only the intervention of the trainer's whip saved Hepburn. The leopard was not allowed to roam around freely after that, and Hepburn was more careful around it from then on.