Alice Adams

Rating:
Summary: Katharine Hepburn's Finest Performance
Review: In this superbly done George Stevens film, Katharine Hepburn creates one of the greatest American heroines--headstrong yet deeply vulnerable Alice Adams, a fiendishly anxious impoverished young woman just as fiendishly determined to rise into the white, light, airy world of the upper middle class...as exemplified by the great party scene early on in the film...This scene and the very famous dinner party set piece are magnificent, but so are all of the scenes btwn Hepburn and MacMurray, who's tall, charming, and finely modulated in a very subtle way...Even the tacked-on happy ending doesnt remove the sting of genuine pathos from Hepburn and MacMurray's second to last scene...Hattie McDaniel almost transcends her schlocky-racist role with her droll aside and expressions. This is one of the great films of the 30s.

Rating:
Summary: An adorable small-town comedy
Review: Katherine Hepburn gives a studied performance in one of her classic films. The ending is not exactly realistic, but enjoyable. Fred MacMurray's character is a little flat. What really makes this film worthwhile is seeing Katherine Hepburn capture the essense of a poor girl who just wants to fit in. The story is touching.

Rating:
Summary: Hepburn is Amazing
Review: Katherine Hepburn plays a young, flightly girl with big dreams of taking her place in high society. Unfortunately, she lives in a run down house, her family has none of the pretensions she needs, and she is viewed as somewhat of a joke by the girls she wishes she was like. But Fred MacMurray, a member of the social circle she desires to be a part of, takes an interest in her, making her wonder if her dreams could possibly come true. This isn't the kind of film that I enjoy watching, and even though I'm not even much of a Hepburn fan, my positive rating is based on her painfully honest performance. There are moments when you will cringe as she attempts to make more of her life than it is, because you can feel her embarrassment and the awkwardness of her situation. The much discussed dinner table sequence is a prime example. Hepburn is the whole movie, and although the rest of the performances are capably done (especially Fred Stone as her struggling father), she is the one you will remember.

Rating:
Summary: Hepburn is Amazing
Review: Katherine Hepburn plays a young, flightly girl with big dreams of taking her place in high society. Unfortunately, she lives in a run down house, her family has none of the pretensions she needs, and she is viewed as somewhat of a joke by the girls she wishes she was like. But Fred MacMurray, a member of the social circle she desires to be a part of, takes an interest in her, making her wonder if her dreams could possibly come true. This isn't the kind of film that I enjoy watching, and even though I'm not even much of a Hepburn fan, my positive rating is based on her painfully honest performance. There are moments when you will cringe as she attempts to make more of her life than it is, because you can feel her embarrassment and the awkwardness of her situation. The much discussed dinner table sequence is a prime example. Hepburn is the whole movie, and although the rest of the performances are capably done (especially Fred Stone as her struggling father), she is the one you will remember.

Rating:
Summary: A fine, classic melodrama
Review: Katherine Hepburn shines in a heartrending (and hanky-twisting) role, as Alice Adams, a romantically minded teenage girl whose social prospects are continually dimmed by her lower-middleclass status in a small, gossip-laden town. She is painfully aware of her position and tries to overcompensate by putting on airs and latching onto the haughty local debutantes, who look down their noses at the poor girl who tries to hard to fit in. Enter into this miserable scenario good ole Fred Macmurray, a handsome young rich guy who's got a decent heart, and who falls for the voluble, nervous young Miss Adams. Adapted from a novel by Booth Tarkington, this film gives a glimpse into the old-fashioned mores and courtship rituals of smalltown America in the early 20th Century, and also provides Hepburn with one of her first choice roles. Her fast-talking, palpably forlorn Adams is a character who evokes both irritation and sympathy, perfectly capturing the awkward desperation of teenage longings. Quite a performance!

Rating:
Summary: VINTAGE HEPBURN
Review: Many, including Bette Davis thought Hepburn's playing of ALICE ADAMS was the best performance of any actress in the year 1935 (Davis won the AA that year for her role in the mawkish DANGEROUS) Alice desires to escape her middle class small town envirnment and she's naive and frustrated in her valiant attempts. Alice tries desperately to fit in higher society and nearly alienates her friends and family as a result. Hepburn's performance is funny and heartbreaking. The sets are dated, but the insight on human behaviour is timeless. Alice gets Fred MacMurray in the end (not in the original Booth Tarkington novel); 1930's audiences relished happy endings.

Rating:
Summary: Dinner! A/C!
Review: The whole dinner sequence is excruciatingly funny, and Hattie McDaniel shows that she was a lot funnier--some wonderful takes here--than "Mammie" ever thought about being. The film is a deft satire of small-town life, and Hepburn is adorable--in a wondefully painful way. The subplots are fairly predictable--the usual novel stuff--but the movie survives on Hepburn's performance. This is a movie that will make you squirm and laugh at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Dinner! A/C!
Review: The whole dinner sequence is excruciatingly funny, and Hattie McDaniel shows that she was a lot funnier--some wonderful takes here--than "Mammie" ever thought about being. The film is a deft satire of small-town life, and Hepburn is adorable--in a wondefully painful way. The subplots are fairly predictable--the usual novel stuff--but the movie survives on Hepburn's performance. This is a movie that will make you squirm and laugh at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Timeless
Review: This film touched my heart. You'll laugh and cry and laugh some more. It is an open and honest look at growing up lower middle-class, desperately yearning for what you just can't seem to reach. The happy ending makes for dreams come true - maybe it could happen to you!

Rating:
Summary: HILARIOUS - We almost DIED LAUGHING! So FUNNY! :)
Review: Well do you really want to LAUGH -- not chuckle - But actually laugh from the bottom of your heart? Well this is your movie - my brother and I watched this movie this evening and were killing ourselves laughing - in pain holding our stomachs laughing so hard that we were practically falling off of the couch - they don't make them like this anymore. Clever, clever, clever. PLEASE buy this movie and TRUST us -- you won't be sorry - it will cheer you up on a rainy day or cheer someone else up! We are going to buy it from amazon.com ourselves for our own library. It is a real treasure.