#73, 7/30 – Adam’s Rib (1949) (dvd)
I’m pretty sure I didn’t know that Ruth Gordon—or, rather, The Ruth Gordon of Rosemary’s Baby and Harold and Maude fame—wrote screenplays, too. But obviously she did, because she’s got a co-writing credit on this one.
And what did I think of the script? I was rather happy with it, because it didn’t seem very dated at all. And why’s that? Duh. Respect is timeless.
Yeah, I hate to repeat myself so soon, but it’s just dumb luck that I saw this movie a couple of days after I caught Some Like it Hot. This is a script which was probably handled more adroitly in 1949 than it would be handled now. (Although, to be fair, while Mr. and Mrs. Smith wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, it very suddenly came to mind as a pretty competent, somewhat goofy cousin of Adam’s Rib.)
Anyway, I definitely liked it. It’s got moments of pure Hepburn/Tracy chemistry which would be worth the time even if the movie were flat out terrible. And it certainly isn’t so that’s all the more reason to be happy about it.