Katharine Hepburn’s top three films, according to Rotten Tomatoes

The critical consensus is overrated. Rotten Tomatoes may have trained movie fans to put a movie’s value in a percentage in recent years, but some of the best movies of all time have deeply divided critics and audiences alike. Early Hollywood star Katharine Hepburn made many controversial films in her career, from John Wayne’s “Rooster Cogburn,” to her first Oscar-winning film, “Morning Glory,” to the gritty drama about interracial marriage, “Guess.” Who’s Coming To Dinner”. “. One time deadline The latter, which received 10 Academy Award nominations upon release, was called “a hesitant, reserved plea for tolerance, delivered with Kramer’s usual verbiage and dullness.”

It’s a universally acknowledged fact that good films are sometimes panned by some critics, but that makes the rare film that achieves complete critical consensus more interesting – if not necessarily always better than more polarizing films. Many great actors have only one 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but Hepburn is one of the most beloved stars of the Golden Age. He has three. The trilogy of films that have reached the pinnacle of modernity include three rom-com stage adaptations, two George Cukor credits, and at least one classic.

“Holiday” was Hepburn’s first film to impress a large number of critics. Released in 1938, the film starred Cary Grant as a working-class man who suffers culture shock when he meets his wealthy future in-laws. Johnny Grant is set to marry Julia, played by Doris Nolan, but soon develops an interest in her sister, Linda, played by Hepburn. “Holiday” may not be the flashiest or most famous collaboration between Grant and Hepburn (the duo also co-starred in “Bringing Up Baby,” “The Philadelphia Story” and “Sylvia Scarlett”), but critics agree it is one. It is better.

According to a Rotten Tomatoes compilation, 30 critics gave “Holiday” their seal of approval. There are likely some old printed reviews of the 1930s film that have not been digitized, as most of these critics view the film from a modern lens, but they still make a compelling case for it. “The light comedy is perfect, but underneath lies Cukor’s serious interest in the ways we choose to live our lives,” Dave Kehr wrote for the magazine. The Chicago Reader in 1985. Hepburn, who had understudied for the Broadway version a decade earlier, was also praised in reviews.

Hepburn was already a household name by 1940, having starred in “Holiday” and “Bringing Up Baby” and winning Oscars for “Morning Glory” and “Alice Adams” (although she lost out to Bette Davis the latter time ). It was well-known, but not always popular: A 1941 Time magazine column noted that a Manhattan theater owner had made headlines by Hepburn and others dubbed “box office poison” Two years ago. But “Philadelphia Story,” another Cukor collaboration that impressed every critic on Rotten Tomatoes, ended up making money and cementing her legacy for decades to come. The Time magazine columnist claimed that after watching “The Philadelphia Story,” the theater owner said, “Come back, Katie, I’m all forgiven.”

“Philadelphia Story” is another successful romantic comedy about a wealthy family and a love triangle involving an engaged person who has other ideas. This time, Grant plays Hepburn’s ex-lover, John Howard plays her fiancé, and James Stewart is another man who catches her eye. At the time of its release, the New York Daily Times Shoot it Best Comedy of the Year, while The New Yorker Name it “Hepburn’s Triumph.” Its sterling reputation remains equally strong today. “You find so much joy in every single scene that any duet that may occur in the end will be satisfying, because the fun you were having makes all the possibilities exhilarating,” Mike Schott Written for/Film In 2022.

The last 100% new film in Hepburn’s filmography is also the least enduring today, though it is perhaps the most prescient of the bunch. It’s a Christmas movie! “Desk Set” is a 1957 film co-starring Spencer Tracy that follows a group of librarians at broadcasting companies (led by Hepburn’s brilliant Bunny Watson) who are threatened by the addition of an early computer to their workplace—a device that seems designed to take its place. above their jobs. As the technophobia plot unfolds, Bunny also finds herself caught between two men: Gig Young’s CEO, Mike, and Tracy’s inventor character, Richard.

As with other films of its era, there appear to be some reviews of “Desk Set” available only in print, meaning the film’s perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes may not fully reflect reality. Reviews posted online are more mixed than responses to her Cukor collaborations with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times. It is called “off the beaten path” and devoid of “much of anything” besides the charm of the main cast. “This would have been a lame adventure if not for Hepburn and Tracy,” Los Angeles Times reported Written by Mark Shalon Smith In a 1990s retrospective, “But director Walter Lange’s silky touch and clever dialogue between screenwriters Henry and Phoebe Ephron also excite.”

All three films are worth seeing, as are the vast majority of Hepburn’s films. As of this writing, “Holiday” is available to stream on Prime Video, while “The Philadelphia Story” is available on Tubi. Meanwhile, the Desk Set can be rented digitally wherever you get your movies.