Bringing Up Baby

101, United States, Film Classic, for all ages

David Huxley (Grant) is a nerdy zoologist just finishing his brontosaurus skeleton and engaged to be married to an uptight lady scientist. Then he meets dizzy heiress Susan Vance (Hepburn), who upends his life, kidnaps him to Connecticut, and sticks him in a lady's dressing gown while her dog, George, buries, David's brontosaurus bone, and her tame leopard runs around frightening the bejesus out of everyone, mainly because they've confused him with a wild leopard that escaped from the circus.

It really is close to Seussian anarchy: An unstoppably whimsical woman brings down upon the head of a nice young fellow a series of widening desasters that cause kids to go nuts with apprehension and delight. What else can go wrong for the man with the dimple in his chin? Well, this. And this. And, oh yes, this. But the real reason to watch BABY with your children is that it's a wonderful introduction to Grant and especially, the great Kate. Hepburn is not just maddeningly funny here but possessed of an otherworldly enchantment - a couple of times she uncorks a quicksilver laugh that can give you goose bumps. The whole movie seems filmed under moonlight, with Wild Things just over the horizon.