A Month of Katharine Hepburn
What a month! It was busy, work-wise, but I still managed to squeeze in quite a few new-to-me Katharine Hepburn flicks.
Katharine was Star of the Month on TCM and I relished the chance to see some of her 'box office poison' films as well as a middle-career turn. I adore Katharine's output in the '40s and beyond; she's such a dynamic and engaging actress, so I was especially excited to see some of her earlier foundational films this month.
Katharine, like Audrey Hepburn, was one of the earliest old Hollywood stars I was introduced to. When she died in 2003, it was all over the news, and learning about her from the remembrances on CNN made me want to read more. That now-questionable biography by A. Scott Berg, Kate Remembered, became available at my local library pretty quickly and I devoured it.
Here was the coolest woman I'd ever heard of!
She wore pants and made her husband change his name so she wouldn't have to take his generic surname and lose her individuality. She did it how she wanted to do it. Here was a hero for a teenager who grew up seeing women staying home, getting married and having babies, and who knew she didn't want that for herself.
Katharine Hepburn was revolutionary.
So in her honour, here are my thoughts on all the new-to-me Katharine Hepburn movies I watched this month.
Quality Street (1937)
These madcap movies where the main characters just straight up pretend to be someone else will always be my jam. Can't imagine wasting this energy on Franchot Tone, though...
Break of Hearts (1935)
I had to Google this one a few times to remember the plot because Break of Hearts is such a random title for a movie about two musical composers who fall in love and out of it then back in it again. Katharine's paired with Charles Boyer here and they're great against each other.
Spitfire (1934)
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I was fascinated by Katharine's accent in this movie. I think it's supposed to just be 'mountain hick' but it sounds like some of the accents I heard around home when I was growing up (but also could be Appalachian or other regional affects based on how you hear it).
The Little Minister (1934)
Yawn. Katharine's gorgeous in this, though.
Mary of Scotland (1936)
Listen, for someone who enjoys royal watching and knows quite a bit about English history, I've never been a fan of Mary, Queen of Scots. Her story bores me.
A Woman Rebels (1936)
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Katharine runs the emotional gamut in this movie, where she plays a Victorian woman who has a child out of wedlock but works to gain financial independence before she'll commit to marriage.
Song of Love (1947)
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Katharine's heartbreaking in this, where she plays Clara Schumann, the wife of famous, if troubled composer Robert Schumann. This traces her life from classically trained, world-class pianist in her own right, to wife and mother, and keeper of her husband's legacy and she's captivating.
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