According to the Internet Movie Database (a staple for anyone working in Hollywood) Howard Hawks' film Bringing Up Baby was not a successful film. This led to the firing of Hawks by RKO and the demanding that Hepburn buy out her own contract. But how come this typical screwball comedy, named twenty four on Entertainment Weekly's “Greatest Films of all Time” list (IMDB), was in fact a substantial loss for the studio RKO. Bringing up Baby was released on February 18, 1938 with a budget of 1,073,000 (IMDB). It consisted of bankable names. Howard Hawks the director had great success years earlier with his film Twentieth Century, which in his book Hollywood Genres Thomas Schatz describes as one of the most critically and commercially successful romantic comedies in its history. So the Director was not the problem. Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn were both big names. The years of the great depression were ripe for comedies. The same year Frank Capra's You Can't Take it With You won most outstanding production (synonymous with the “Best Picture” category we see today) at the 11th annual Academy Awards. (IMDB) Maybe then the movie is not a comedy or perhaps a different comedy than what the people wanted. We will examine a general idea of comedy as well as look at the items, building blocks and themes that make comedies what they are.
Thomas Schatz bravely tackles a definition of sorts where most articles steer clear of nailing down a definition of comedy. “The screwball comedy is distinguished essentially by its style and theme. The genre derives its identity from a style of behavior (reflected in certain camerawork and editing techniques) and from narrative patterns ….” This breaks the genre down into two sides, narrative and visual. Almost akin to the building blocks/theme approach that Rick Altman discusses in his article “A Semantic/Syntactic Approach”. He defines the two terms as building blocks and overall structure into which the blocks are arranged respectively. Schatz's “style”, the visual cues telling us this is a comedy, would fall under the Semantics of a genre. This would include, but not limited to: High-key lighting, quick dialogue, role reversal, animals, slap stick, prat falls, longer time between cuts, two-shot composition, romance and many others. This could be referred to as the style of comedic films. Bringing up Baby, not surprisingly has many of these “building block” characteristics. The scenes are lit fully, even though a lot of it happens in the dark; the woods of Connecticut are unusually bright at night. The characters need neither torches nor flashlights to get around. Few shadows fall on the faces of the characters. This is high-key lighting used to let us take in our surroundings and be comfortable with where we are. Had this been a horror movie, you could guarantee that the lighting would a significantly contrasted look and the shadows would hide nearly everything giving us a more uneasy feeling when watching it.
The quick dialogue is also found in Bringing up Baby especially in Hepburn's role. A lot of this might have to do with the training she received on set. Hepburn had not acted in a screwball comedy before and was learning on set by Vaudeville performers that were hired (IMDB). There are many signs of role reversal in this film as well, Hepburn's character continuously pronounces she is the aggressor and in some cases the man of the relationship. She is the sexually driven one. At one point, when he is in the shower, she puts his hat on. Later when he comes out of the shower he must wear her robe. He even refers to himself going “gay” all of a sudden, a definite blow to the manhood. Animals are also used efficiently for a laugh. Baby and George both bring their own sense of comic style to the story. The slap stick comedy of stunts is also typical of these films. In this case Cary Grant did almost all of his own stunts and falls (IMDB). The prat falls and destruction of huge dinosaurs add to the chaotic nature of comedies. The famous two-shot is widely used in comedies. It is one of the most appealing shot choices a filmmaker can make. A two-shot is simply a medium shot of the two subjects in the scene where we can see most of their actions but little else outside of them. This pulls our attention away from most of the background and focuses us in on the scene, very little visual tension. There is a typical story that is found in most comedies, the romance. It is a device used to easily get us on the side of the protagonists. With such chaos and goofy antics it may be difficult to connect with these zany characters, but one thing we can all focus on is the story of boy likes girl. These are a few of the many building blocks or style choices that make up a comedy, and Bringing up Baby has them in abundance.
