Recently, I’ve been reviewing an array of films that occupy a range of genres, stating that while they may all be admirable efforts, they’re not the definitive texts on either their subject matter, or the genre they’re operating in. However, today the discussion will be on a film that very much a defining work, and one of the most iconic films of its era. Bringing Up Baby didn’t just follow the conventions of the classic screwball comedy, it almost single-handedly wrote the book. While not being the first film of its kind, nor the best (the candidates for these two positions are still open for debate, depending on the specific criteria one uses to define a screwball comedy), Howard Hawks’ classic film is a potent reminder of the magnetic nature of the Golden Age of Hollywood, where the most inane and off-the-wall premises could go from the page to the screen without much difficulty, granted that there were precautions in the form of individuals who knew exactly how to extract the humour and pathos out of the story. There is a reason why this film so regularly comes up in discussions, persisting as an almost omnipotent force when it comes to looking at classic comedy. However, the exact reason is what we’re going to go in search for – at this point, it’s almost redundant to praise Bringing Up Baby as a great film, since its essentially an unimpeachable fact that Hawks made something utterly delightful. Instead, what is more interesting is trying to find what it is that made this such a compelling film, one that wasn’t appreciated at the time of its release, but gradually found its status rising in the subsequent decades, which persists to the present day, where it still remains one of the most beloved and inspiring works in the comedy genre, and one that makes revisiting this world for the umpteenth time just as delightful as the first.

The first step towards understanding the appeal of Bringing Up Baby probably comes in the partnering of Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. At this point, they weren’t necessarily newcomers (both having made considerable strides in the industry over the past few years), but were still relatively young, dynamic performers that Hollywood was still having slight trouble knowing exactly what to do with. Hepburn in particular was in the thick of being branded as “box office poison”, and the commercial disappointment that befell this film certainly didn’t help change how she was perceived from a purely economic level (which we know often tends to be the guidepost for the majority of the industry’s bizarre machinations). However, when looking retrospectively, it’s entirely obvious why Bringing Up Baby was such an enormous boost to the two leads’ reputations, particularly in later years, where they were consolidated as some of the finest to ever work in the medium. Their impeccable screen presence and ability to be effortlessly charming when appearing before a camera, combined with their dynamic chemistry, made them two profoundly impactful performers who could command our attention like very few other screen pairings could. Coming in the same year as another tremendous coupling of the two actors in Holiday (an equally warm and funny film, but one that’s working with an entirely different set of tools), Bringing Up Baby extracts the best in Grant and Hepburn, both of which are doing some of their most effective comedic work – and whether it be through interpreting the script (the incredible dialogue gaining so much depth when filtered through these actors), or just finding the nuance in the smallest, most insignificant moments, both are doing exceptional work that is quite rightly iconic and amongst their most cherished performances in their long and prolific careers.

Yet, it can’t simply be the pairing of its two charismatic stars that makes Bringing Up Baby so special – they had worked together in the past, and they’d collaborate again in a few short years (in what is probably the best work either did, The Philadelphia Story, which is at least at the very peak of their careers) – Grant and Hepburn worked well together, but it wasn’t only the performances they were giving that were fascinating, but the characters they were playing, and what they represented, that keep us so enthralled. Bringing Up Baby is a scathing social satire disguised as a lovable screwball romp – there is a depth to every scene, even those that seem to exist for the sole purpose of eliciting laughter. We find nuance in some of the most unexpected places, with Hawks and the gaggle of screenwriters that lent their talents to this film using the space to comment critically on society, without becoming anything close to overwrought or heavy-handed in commentary. As we’ve seen in some other classics of the genre (such as My Man Godfrey and It Happened One Night, both forerunners of this film), there are many instances of filmmakers using the basic structure of a screwball comedy – its eccentric characters, exuberant tone and potential to facilitate some incredibly irreverent situations – as a place to critique without becoming very direct in how it gives commentary on certain social and cultural issues. Giving too much weight to these aspects of such films does tend to rob them of their effervescence since it brings it too close to reality – but when you have a film that takes something as universally-recognized as the class system, and filters it through endlessly entertaining comedy, we’re going to find ourselves being drawn to the smaller details, especially on multiple viewings.

However, as much as it would be easy to explain the brilliance of this film through a deep analysis of its social and cultural critiques, perhaps the most obvious reason that this film has persisted so long comes with the most simple explanation – Bringing Up Baby is just an incredibly funny film, and one pushes beyond traditional structures in an effort to deliver nothing but good cheer and an endless stream of laughter. The sheer number of gags that occur throughout the film is unprecedented – there isn’t a single scene in this film that doesn’t have some zany humour underpinning it, even the most serious moments, which are repurposed as wonderfully bittersweet, rather than taking us out of the mile-a-minute pace of the film. Hawks certainly knew how to direct a strong film, and taking this story and transforming it into something that isn’t only well-formed, but also finds every single one of its jokes landing with precision and extracting the exact kind of response it intended to, was a very special skill. Undeniably, he was a filmmaker who tended to cast a very wide net over an array of genres, with this simply being an excursion into the realm of the screwball comedy – he’d work in the genre again on occasion, but it was his ability to approach every film, regardless of what it was trying to be, with the exact same visionary touch and quietly resilient resourcefulness, that made him such a tremendously effective filmmaker. The cutting humour is combined with the director’s tendency to take a slightly minimalistic approach to the material – he wasn’t downplaying any of the scenes so much as he was actively avoiding excess. It makes perfect sense, considering everything that makes Bringing Up Baby such a compelling film comes through in the writing and acting – so Hawks knew exactly what each individual scene should showcase, and what targets it should hit, and the result is something that is deliriously funny without losing any of the edge that makes it so refreshingly authentic, even by contemporary standards.

Humour is a volatile tool, and one that ages faster than nearly any other genre, with each generation bringing new perspectives into what amuses us, and the exact elements of art that make us laugh. Bringing Up Baby triumphs over the threat of being outdated by touching on some universal themes that still make us laugh today. There’s a timelessness to films like this, where their humour may come across dated to more cynical viewers, but still carries a sincerity that has allowed it to stand the test of time, without showing many signs of ageing. Not everything in the film with entertain modern audiences, and those who are likely to appreciate it the most are those who have a penchant for this era of humour, where it was enough to cast some tremendously popular actors in what was essentially a delightful comedy-of-manners, was a combination that would be incredibly appealing to viewers at the time (even if the immediate response to this film was noticeably less-enthusiastic than it would become a few years later). However, the joy that comes when seeing Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant trotting across our screens, setting off verbal fireworks with every word they utter, and commanding the screen with the old-fashioned Hollywood charisma that appears to be in short supply today, is just so palpable. Every moment of Bringing Up Baby feels so unique and unforgettable – and writing about a film that has been anointed as a canonical classic is definitely redundant to an extent. Yet, there is so much value in this film, and like many comedies made during this time, viewers who return for multiple viewings are duly rewarded, whether it be in the form of a little joke we didn’t catch the first time, or the cumulative power of just seeing some poignant emotions on full display. Bringing Up Baby is a very special film, and one of the many classics that truly deserves its reputation.