Philadelphia Story

A detailed Summary of Philadelphia Story

In George Cukor's The Philadelphia Story, a definite class struggle is carried out in the pursuit of Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn). George Kitteridge (John Howard), a "new-money" industrialist with political aspirations, is engaged to Tracy. Upon the eve of their marriage, Tracy's old husband and childhood friend C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) comes back in order to requite his love. A third suitor, a poetic writer named MaCauley Conner (James Stewart), also engages Tracey's heart. But the real twist of The Philadelphia Story is its subtle commentary on the three backgrounds and classes that each of Tracy's suitors comes from. In failing to take Tracy's hand, George does not prove that a man in America cannot rise from one class to another to join the ranks of The Lords, quite the contrary - he shows that in order to earn Tracy's love a suitor must be more than from the same class - he must understand what she truly wants.

While the question of Tracy's desire lingers throughout the movie, the question of her needs is addressed immediately. In the opening shot of the film, we see Tracy throw C.K out of her house, breaking a golf club of his over her knee in the process. She is obviously assertive, not to mention rich. He

Publicity comes up again, in that it serves to lay the boundaries of the various classes in this movie. In the office of Spy's publisher Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell), MacCauley (Mike) makes it clear that he despises being a "hunter of buckshot in the rear", but he still acts as the very agent of Spy's intrusion into the home of Tracy Lord. His dilemma of having to compromise one's own beliefs or dreams in order to simply to simply make ends meet can be seen as prototypically middle-class. It is in this same scene that we are introduced to C.K., as an anecdote of his honeymoon with Tracy is told. We learn that he took the liberty of smashing all the cameras that attempted to photograph him and his wife, an act that shows his reproach of Spy magazine is on the same level as Tracy. This reproach and isolation from publicity is what sets C.K. apart from Mike and George and establishes him as a social equal of Tracy.

The contrast between the feelings of C.K. and George towards Tracy is seen immediately in the next scene. When Tracy says to George "To get away, to be useful in the world," she is giving an indication of her desire to renounce her society life, her unimportant aristocracy . It is in George's reply to this cry for help that we truly see how he differs in mind and spirit from Tracy: "Useful? You Tracy? I'm gonna build you an ivory tower with my own two hands!" He fails to realize Tracy's desire to escape her idleness and instead offers her a life of simply more of the same. Upon her protest of the idea, he meekly asks, "You mean, you've been in one too long?" It is in this scene, the only one in which they are alone together in the whole movie, that George shows his inability to have an intimate understanding of Tracy. His views of her as a goddess are so firmly fixed that he cannot see her but from afar. "You're like some marvelous distant, well, queen I guess, so cool and fine, and always so much your own. There's a kind of beautiful purity about you Tracy, like a statue - it's Grand, it's what everybody feels about you, it's what I first worshiped you for." His idea of marriage to her is idolatry, to bring his worship "a little closer."

Mike sees Tracy on this same pedestal. While Mike

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Approximate Word count = 1504
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Movies