Spitfire 1934

Spitfire is Katharine Hepburn‘s fifth film. It didn’t do well in the box office and is the the film that most fans agree is her worst. Even Hepburn kept a photo of herself from this film framed in her house to remind herself that everyone can fail once in a while. This film was based off the play Trigger by Lula Vollmer.
This is the film takes place in a village in the Ozark Mountains. Trigger (Hepburn) is an out cast among the superstitous people of the village. She has to take in laundry to be able to survive. She gets a hold of prayer cards that she uses to talk to God and pray for others. Trigger is disillusioned when she falls for Stafford (Robert Young), who comes to the Ozarks to build a dam, and then learns that he lied to her about being married. Trigger ends up sealing a baby that was dying and nurse it back to health. Once the baby is returned to it’s parents it quickly dies and Trigger is blamed. Believed to be a witch, she is saved from the attack of the villagers by Fleetwood (Ralph Bellamy), Stafford’s boss. Trigger accepts the exile of the village but vows to return to Fleetwood whom she has fallen in love.
I expected to hate this movie but it was not bad. It is not her best but defiantly not her worst. It is an unusual film for Hepburn. This film was released on DVD through the Warner Archive Collection.

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