Production Company(ies)

 
Distributor
RKO Radio Pictures
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
Arthur Ranch, Malibu, California, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Passed
 
Year of Release
1938
 

 
Genre(s)
Comedy
 
Keyword(s)
Comedy, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Howard Hawks, Hagar Wilde, Dudley Nichols, May Robson, RKO Radio Pictures, box office, budget, reviewed by Norbert Lusk, Richard Brody, Joshua Rothkopf, Nell Minow, Dave Kehr, Jason Best, Mattie Lucas, Danielle Solzman, MPAA rating, Harried paleontologist, society matron, madcap adventuress, missing dinosaur bone, pet leopard, enduring appeal, screwball comedy, original language, producer Howard Hawks, release date, distributor RKO Radio Pictures, sound mix Mono, Charlie Ruggles, Major Horace Applegate, Barry Fitzgerald, Mr Gogarty, Walter Catlett, Constable Slocum
 

Cast & Crew

Katharine Hepburn

Susan Vance

Cary Grant

Dr. David Huxley

Charlie Ruggles

Susan Vance

Dr. David Huxley

Major Horace Applegate

Aunt Elizabeth Random

Mr. Gogarty

Katharine Hepburn – Susan Vance
Cary Grant – Dr. David Huxley
Charlie Ruggles – Major Horace Applegate
May Robson – Aunt Elizabeth Random
Barry Fitzgerald – Mr. Gogarty
Walter Catlett – Constable Slocum

 

Howard Hawks

Hagar Wilde

Howard Hawks

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Howard Hawks
 
Writer(s)
Hagar Wilde, Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde
 
Producer(s)
Howard Hawks

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
2 wins
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Norbert Lusk

Richard Brody

Joshua Rothkopf

Nell Minow

Variety Staff

Los Angeles Times

New Yorker

Time Out

Common Sense Media

Variety

BRINGING UP BABY
  All Critics (51) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (3)
  It seems that almost any star, including Irene Dunne, Carole Lombard and Myrna Loy, may attempt antic comedy and make a go of it, but that medium is not for Miss Hepburn in the theater where she is accepted as an important dramatic actress.
 
  April 20, 2019
 
  Norbert Lusk
  Los Angeles Times
  TOP CRITIC
  The enduring fascination of this 1938 screwball comedy is due to much more than its uproarious gags.
 
  September 23, 2013
 
  Richard Brody
  New Yorker
  TOP CRITIC
  A perfect example of why directors (and even us brilliant professional critics) can often be completely in the dark about what works.
 
  June 15, 2011 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Joshua Rothkopf
  Time Out
  TOP CRITIC
  Classic screwball comedy stars Hepburn, Grant.
 
  December 22, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Nell Minow
  Common Sense Media
  TOP CRITIC
  There is little rhyme or reason to most of the action, but it’s all highly palatable.
 
  April 2, 2008
 
  Variety Staff
  Variety
  TOP CRITIC
  Though it’s almost impossible, try to sit back sometime and enjoy this 1938 Howard Hawks masterpiece not only for its gags, but for the grace of its construction, the assurance of its style, and the richness of its themes.
 
  June 26, 2007
 
  Dave Kehr
  Chicago Reader
  TOP CRITIC
  Grant… sails through the film’s slapstick with breathtaking panache – only a supremely graceful actor could perform clumsiness so skilfully or amusingly.
 
  September 1, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Jason Best
  Movie Talk
  It is, to put it bluntly, the perfect screwball comedy, a rapid-fire barrage of ludicrous mayhem whose absurdity only gets funnier as it goes along, thanks in huge part to the game dedication of its cast.
 
  August 26, 2021 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Mattie Lucas
  From the Front Row
  Thanks to the efforts of both Hepburn and Grant, Bringing Up Baby is one of the best screwball comedies of all time.
 
  August 20, 2021
 
  Danielle Solzman
  Solzy at the Movies
  One of those movies that seems to improve upon repeat viewings.
 
  July 24, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/4
 
  Matt Brunson
  Film Frenzy
  Indeed, it’s her chemistry with Grant which makes for such a wonderful spectacle. Hawks ensures that the pair lurch from one debacle to another.
 
  July 23, 2021
 
  Rob Aldam
  Backseat Mafia
  The story is twisty and plenty silly, but the comic chemistry, between the leads, and also the side players, many of whom from the Vaudeville circuit, makes even the most tumultuous encounters run smooth as a gear box.
 
  July 16, 2021
 
  Piers Marchant
  Arkansas Democrat-Gazette…

 

Plot
Mild mannered paleontology professor Dr. David Huxley is excited by the news that an intercostal clavicle bone has been found to complete his brontosaurus skeleton, a project four years in the construction. He is equally excited about his imminent marriage to his assistant, the officious Alice Swallow, who is interested in him more for his work than for him as a person. David needs the $1 million endowment of wealthy dowager Mrs. Carleton Random to complete the project. Her lawyer, Alexander Peabody, will make the decision on her behalf, so David needs to get in his favor. However, whenever David tries to make a good impression on Peabody, the same young woman always seems to do something to make him look bad. She is the flighty heiress Susan Vance. The more David wants Susan to go away, the more Susan seems not to want or be able to. But David eventually learns that Alexander Peabody is her good friend, who she calls Boopy, and Susan’s Aunt Elizabeth, with whom David has also made a bad impression without her knowing who he is, is Mrs. Carleton Random. However getting in Aunt Elizabeth and Boopy’s good graces is not as easy as Susan smoothing the waters with them. Throw into the mix a tame pet leopard named Baby that Susan’s brother Mark inexplicably sends her from Brazil, Aunt Elizabeth’s big game hunting friend Major Horace Applegate, Aunt Elizabeth’s pet terrier George who has a penchant for burying bones and other things, and a traveling circus passing through town and David may never be able to finish his project or make it to his wedding. But David may come to the realization that there is something more important in his life.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast of Bringing Up Baby includes a pet leopard, who adds to the chaos and hilarity of the film.
 

 
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