Master Class: The Drunk Scene from 'The Philadelphia Story'
This post is for the ". . . And Scene!" blogathon at Sister Celluloid's blog.
Try an experiment some time. Bring up the drunk scene from The Philadelphia Story (1940) to a group of classic movie fans (like the folks at #TCMParty on Twitter, for instance) and I can almost guarantee you they'll start trading lines:
"Oh, C. K. Dexter-HAAAVENN!"
And "Champagne is a great leveleleler."
And "C. K. Dexter-Haven, you have unsuspected depth!"
And . . . but I don't want to spoil the whole scene for you. Suffice it to say, this is a well-known, well-loved scene. I would even say it's one of the best comic scenes ever put on film, performed by two great actors at the top of their game and helmed by a director, George Cukor, who excelled at bringing out the best in a cast. And who also, fortunately, encouraged ad libbing.
( Which we'll get to in a moment . . . )
Try an experiment some time. Bring up the drunk scene from The Philadelphia Story (1940) to a group of classic movie fans (like the folks at #TCMParty on Twitter, for instance) and I can almost guarantee you they'll start trading lines:
"Oh, C. K. Dexter-HAAAVENN!"
And "Champagne is a great leveleleler."
And "C. K. Dexter-Haven, you have unsuspected depth!"
And . . . but I don't want to spoil the whole scene for you. Suffice it to say, this is a well-known, well-loved scene. I would even say it's one of the best comic scenes ever put on film, performed by two great actors at the top of their game and helmed by a director, George Cukor, who excelled at bringing out the best in a cast. And who also, fortunately, encouraged ad libbing.
( Which we'll get to in a moment . . . )