Love Among The Ruins 1975

Love Among The Ruins was Katharine Hepburn‘s 40th Film and 2nd made for TV movie.
Plot: Jessica Medlicott (Hepburn) a famous British stage actress who’s husband of 40 years has passed away, is swept away in a romance with a man much much younger than she. After she realizes what she is doing she quickly breaks off the engagement. The young man and his mother sue Mrs. Medlicott for damages. She hires Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones (Sir. Lauernece Oliver), the best lawyer in town to defend her. Glanville-Jones, as it turns out, was one of Mrs. Medlicott’s suiters from years past and has never really gotten over her. Mrs. Medlicott doesn’t remember but by the end of the film it all comes back to her.
This was a delightful little movie. It is a romantic comedy. The court room offers some pretty funny scenes. I had never seen it before today but had always wanted to. It has never been released on DVD in the USA. I happened to find it on youtube last night and was able to watch it today for the first time. I loved it. I would highly recommend it to all. You can watch it by following the links below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

The Lion In Winter 1968

The Lion In Winter was Katharine Hepburn‘s 35th film. The movie is based on the play by James Goldman. I know I say it a lot but this film is one of my favorites by Hepburn.
Plot: King Henry II (Peter O’Toole) lets his Queen, Eleanor (Hepburn) out of jail and rounds up his sons and hold Christmas Court to name a successor to the throne. He invites Prince Phillip (Timothy Dalton) King of France as well to settle a dispute. It is a battle of wits as they try to out do each other. The movie also stars Anthony Hopkins.
It is a great case study of a dysfunctional family. This is a very moving film and I would recommend it to all. The movie was critically acclaimed and won 3 Oscars Including one for Katharine Hepburn for Best Actress. I recently read the play and the play was pretty much the script for the movie. Here is the movie trailer here.

Keeper of The Flame 1942

Keeper of the Flame is Katharine Hepburn‘s 18th film and the second film she did with Spencer Tracy. I hadn’t seen it until this year when it came out on DVD.
In this film journalist Steve O’Malley (Tracy) is writing the biography of a national hero, Robert Forest, who was running for the presidency when he died in a car accident. Steve tries to get in touch with Mrs. Forest (Hepburn) but keeps running into obstacles. He finally gets to meet her and she agrees to help him get the info to write his book. The more he learns and the more he interviews people, he discovers that something is just not right and there seems to be a cover up. O’Malley stops at nothing to uncover the truth.
The film was based on the then unpublished book by I.A.R. (Ida) Wylie. This film is more of a mystery drama. Kind of unusual for the typical Tracy/Hepburn films that they are so known for. It has become one of my favorite Hepburn films. I would highly recommend it to all. I recontly purchased a copy of the book and I can’t wait to read it.

Suddenly Last Summer 1959

Suddenly Last Summer was Katharine Hepburn‘s 32 Film. It is based off of the play by Tennessee Williams. It was the only film that she did with Elizabeth Taylor.
The plot: The only son of Mrs. Venable (Hepburn) dies while on vacation in Spain with is cousin Catharine (Taylor). Catharine comes home suffering from what signs of Tramatic Stress disorder. She is labeled insane and is put into an institution. Mrs. Venable (who is abscessed with her son) attempts to bribe a young psycho-surgan to preform a lobotomy on Catharine to cover up the truth and keep her from slandering her son’s image. As Dr. Cukorwicz (Montgomery Clift) spends time with Catharine trying to determine if she really is in need of the operation, soon realizes she isn’t insane but has been traumatized by what happened to her cousin. At the end he gathers her family together and giving Catharine a “truth serum” allowing to share what really happened.
This movie was box office hit and is one of my favorite Katharine Hepburn films. I would highly recommend this movie but it has adult themes and deals with some heavy issues so it should not be shown to kids. The play is believed to have some biographical aspects from Tennessee Williams own life. The gay themes in the play have been dulled down for the movie. Williams was vocal about his displeasure with the final film even though he was credited as helping to write the movie script. Watch the movie trailer here.