dsmith-25000
Yes its amusing. But it is missing a plot. Just a zigzag of different situations that don't link together.
First an escape movie. Then a smuggling story. The a con artist story. Then a musical troupe story. Then an on-again off-again on-again love story between different parties. Then a chase story.
It doesn't end so much as stops as if they decided they had enough film in the can and didn't have to go any father.
And reasons for main characters to do what they did.
-Always touted as where Hepburn dresses as a boy. But the reason seems to disappear after the first 15 minutes.
-Supposedly on the run from French Police which were never seen or never mentioned again.
-Supposedly broke, but had no problem buying or renting a Caravan (British name for a motor home or live-in trailer).
Other problems that didn't fit the 1930's: Insanity of the father. Criminals getting away with their crimes. Attempted suicide (although the female doing in would have had to have lungs like Tarzan to be heard by the person she was calling to.)Worse might be Grant laughing at the end (supposedly at lovers running away from their supposed lovers that they were chasing), but maybe he was laughing at the audience for siting through all 90 minutes?Nice performances by Hepburn and Grant, but it just doesn't fit together.
HotToastyRag
I'll start with the bottom line: Sylvia Scarlett is the film that dubbed Katharine Hepburn "box office poison". However, when you watch the movie, you wonder how that was possible. She's adorable! After her mother's untimely death, Katharine Hepburn and her father Edmund Gwenn leave France and head to England. Teddy has racked up some pretty heavy gambling debts and needs to leave the country, but when he tells his daughter he has to leave her behind lest he be recognized and arrested, she comes up with an idea. Kate cuts her hair and changes her name from Sylvia to Sylvester; surely her father won't be recognized with a young man as his traveling companion! Along the way, they cross paths with a charming Cockney conman, played by Cary Grant, a flirtatious maid, Dennie Moore, and a respectful artist, Brian Aherne. While they band together and enter the con-game, Kate falls in love and longs to be worthy of Brian—even though he believes she's a boy! It's a pretty cute story, and a lot of fun to see Kate, Teddy, and Cary work off one another. It's no great surprise that Kate makes an excellent boy, since her thin frame, beautifully angular face, and slightly masculine voice help mask her true identity. She looks absolutely adorable—or handsome, if you prefer—in her short haircut, and even though the film didn't do well at the box office, it's a definite must-see for Katharine Hepburn fans!
Painbow
A fat Cary Grant plays a cockney who speaks like he grew up in Dick Van Dykes underpants and he meets Katherine Hepburn, a French woman who sounds and seems as French as John Wayne eating apple pie.But anyway.....I love Cary Grant's films but this is my least favourite of all of them. It doesn't convince on any level and seems to have been thrown together last minute. The characters are bizarre and entirely unconnected to any real world i've been to recently. It seems that Grant was still on his way up at this point and Hepburn was Hollywood poison. Cukor puts them together and hopes for the best.Grant and Hepburn do their best and it's all harmless fun. Hepburn's boy/girl persona is an interesting diversion and her pursuit of the greasy Aherne quirky but also a little creepy.Certainly not the worst film i've ever seen and definitely worth a look but it doesn't come close to the greats of this era. If you want to waste away an hour or two on some mindless entertainment that doesn't have anything to say about anything then give it a go.A novelty item that isn't great but it's certainly unique
bkoganbing
Sylvia Scarlett marks the first time that Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant worked together and it's amazing that the three succeeding films they did all became classics. This one just became a curiosity.Edmund Gwenn is her father and he's been doing a little embezzling on the side in France. Before the law catches up with him the thing to do is flee across the English Channel. So to disguise themselves, Kate cuts off her long tresses and puts on men's clothes. No need to go into the rest of the story, but it was daring enough in 1935 just as The Code was taking affect in Hollywood. The situations Hepburn gets herself involved in are just like those that you've seen in Tootsie, Victor/Victoria, and any number of other films. But the censors clamped heavily down in those days.She's got two men interested in him/her, Cary Grant and Brian Aherne. Grant is a cockney con artist and his role is actually closer to the real Archie Leach that became Cary Grant. Just being Cary Grant was probably the biggest stretch of his talent. Brian Aherne is debonair and charming as Brian Aherne always is.Sylvia Scarlett, when viewed with Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, and The Philadelphia Story just doesn't measure up to those three. Still it's interesting to watch.
AD
