Stage Door 1937

Stage Door was Katharine Hepburn‘s 13th film. It has an all star cast with Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Monjou, Lucille Ball and many others.
It is a story that takes place at the Footlights Club, a theatrical boarding house for women. Everyone living at the club arel trying to make it on the stage or in some form of show business. Terry Randell (Hepburn) comes to the club to try her hand in acting. Jean Maitland (Rogers), her fast talking, wise cracking roommate and her don’t get a long right away. Terry lands the lead in Enchanted April, the new play that Anthony Powell (Monjou) is producing. Terry goes into rehearsals with the thought that acting is just common sense. She soon discovers it takes more than that to be a great actor. It isn’t till Kaye (Andrea Leads), one of the other girls living in the Footlights Club, commits suicide, that Terry is able to rise to the emotional level required to play the part.
This film is hilarious. The wise cracks & one liners among the girls make it totally worth watching if for no other reason. This film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards. I have been a fan of this movie since I was in Jr. High School and is my second favorite Hepburn film. I purchased the play by Edna Ferber & George Kaufman hoping to get all the dialog from the film. A lot of the movies that Katharine Hepburn played in that were based off of plays, use the dialog almost word for word. I was disappointed to discover that the play is almost a completely different story. There is very little that is the same between the play and film. I didn’t enjoy the play because of my love for the film. It is a better story and much funnier. If you, like me, are looking for the dialog found in the film, do not read the play. Read the screenplay. I would highly recommend this film to all. Watch the movie trailer here. Listen to the Radio show here.

This Can’t Be Love 1994

This Can’t Be Love was Katharine Hepburn‘s 49th Film and her 7th made for TV film. This was her 3rd to last film and her last major role. She only did cameo’s in her last two films.

In this film Hepburn plays Marion Bennett, a retired actress who spends her days doing the things she enjoys best. Her chauffeur, Grant (Jason Bateman probably best known as Michael Bluth from the TV Show Arrested Development), ends up running into Sarah (Jami Gertz best known as Judy Miller from the TV Show Still Standing) who pretends to be a big fan of his employer. She ends up being the writing agent of Michael Reyman (Anthony Quinn) who is writing his biography and was once married to Marion. Sarah reconnects them which at first looks like a big mistake. After all the hurt and angry starts to settle they find they are still in love.

This was a very charming film and I really enjoyed it. Hepburn largely plays herself so I’m sure it was an easy film for her to make. They even have a slide show of photos from her real movies & plays during the opening credits. This is a delightful movie and I would recommend it to all. This movie was only released on DVD in box set with two other movies, The Last Dance starring Maureen O’Hara & Family Secrets starring Melissa Gilbert, on Granada International (See Photo).