As one of the silver screen's most enduring and beloved actresses, Katharine Hepburn was a star whose career spanned seven decades and more than 50 films. Always insistent that she be herself and not just another cloned starlet, Hepburn garnered a record 12 Oscar nominations and won four of the coveted statues, including an unsurpassed four wins as Best Actress. Six of her lesser-known films make up this collection, issued In honor of the 100th anniversary of her birth.

{mosgoogle right} Movies Included in this Collection:

• Morning Glory with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Adolphe Menjou
• Without Love with Spencer Tracy, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn Dragon
  
• Seed with Walter Huston
  
• Undercurrent with Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum
  
• Sylvia Scarlett with Cary Grant and Brian Aherne
• The Corn is Green with Ian Synor
  

Morning Glory with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Adolphe Menjou (1933). Hepburn struck Oscar gold in her third feature film, winning her first Best Actress award for this portrayal of Eva Lovelace, a naive, aspiring stage actress who has a profound effect on all who meet her. Will she achieve the dramatic acclaim she so desperately seeks, or will she fade after a brief burst of success, like a morning glory? Sometimes a little overly dramatic, Hepburn shows moments of brilliance in her portrayal, her emotions playing across her face scene after scene. Although the story is textbook "small town girl comes to the big city", her performance in it is superb.

Without Love with Spencer Tracy, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn (1945). In one of the most successful partnerships in cinematic history, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy are charming in their third of nine films together. Their off-screen chemistry translates to this sweet story of love blossoming when it is least expected as both do their part for the war effort. While the film may not have the witty dialogue of Adam's Rib or Woman of the Year, it received good reviews for both the stars and supporting cast when initially released, and is great fun to watch.

Dragon Seed with Walter Huston. In this adaptation of Pearl S. Buck's best-seller, Kate plays a heroic Chinese peasant during WWII. By today's standards, this film is quite racist, poorly miscast, and not Hepburn's best work. That said, it is an excellent example of the type of propagandist films being churned out by the big Hollywood studios as their contribution to "the war effort". The actress herself was quoted later as saying the film "was an assignment and product of its time."

Undercurrent with Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum (1946). Vincent Minnelli directed this noir-style drama about a young bride (Hepburn) who begins to doubt her handsome-but-mysterious husband (Robert Taylor) who refuses to discuss the mysterious disappearance of his brother. Is her husband a murderer? Is she his next victim? As a change of pace for Kate: Hepburn as a naive, trusting wife, manipulated (and dressed!) by her husband? Very out of character, and a little jarring when framed with other characters of her career who more closely resemble the woman Hepburn was - strong, independent, and far from the wide-eyed innocent she plays here.

Sylvia Scarlett with Cary Grant and Brian Aherne (1936). Directed by George Cukor, another Hollywood legend with whom Kate established a successful professional relationship, this is also her first film with Cary Grant. Actually considered a flop in its day, this comedy casts Hepburn as a con artist passing as a young man, which allows her to literally wear the pants (and she was one of the first women in Hollywood to do so). You'll need to suspend your belief a bit, as Kate, even without much makeup, is just too beautiful to pass for a male, but if you can get past that little detail, the rest of the story is mostly fun. Cary Grant was not yet the major star he would soon become, which actually makes for a better movie as he effectively portrays a scoundrel throughout - Hepburn's character falls for Aherne instead. Although it feels like Cukor couldn't decide just quite what type of film this is (screwball comedy, comedic melodrama, risque slapstick?) it most likely tested the limits of both the censors and the audience of its time, with its many sexual innuendos...which of course seem quite tame by today's standards.

The Corn is Green with Ian Saynor. The only film of this collection presented in color and widescreen format, this 1978 television production is a remake of the 1945 classic which starred Bette Davis. Shot on location in Wales, it is a feast for the eyes, and was one of four made-for-TV movies Hepburn made in the 1970s. It is the story of a strong-willed teacher in an impoverished Welsh village who tries to make scholars out of child miners. Again directed by George Cukor, it is easy to see the skill and polish gained by both over years of filmmaking. Kate was nominated for an Emmy for this performance, and it's one of the best performances of her later years.

Special Features: Each disc (except The Corn is Green) contains vintage short subjects, classic cartoons and in some cases, theatrical trailers. The short subjects are truly a step back in time; for example, Sylvia Scarlett includes the MGM Traveltalk short "Los Angeles: Wonder City of the West" which is eight minutes of vistas celebrating a pre-smog LA. Without Love features an ominous-sounding "Purity Squad", which is a homage to the watchdog government forces trying to protect us from untested drugs. On the lighter side is Morning Glory's "Menu", complete with "trick" photography (very early special effects) and a complete, lighthearted lesson on preparing a duck dinner.

I was initially disappointed that the collection did not include such well-know classics as Bringing Up Baby, The African Queen, or The Philadelphia Story, but on further consideration, the selection of films in this compilation might actually be a better choice for true Hepburn fans.

The aforementioned films are readily available at libraries and video rental stores; the six films included in this collection are more obscure, making them all the more valuable to anyone who wants to chronicle the rise and fall and rise again of this amazing screen legend.

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tomzpurqkc   |2007-07-06 07:09:30 Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! jibipgazkf Reply 0   0

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