Alice Adams

My three favorite Hepburn performances are Little Women, A Long Day's Journey Into Night, but this one beats all. She is enchanting in this film, one of my five favorite female performances in the history of film. She deserved the Academy award, even Bette Davis said so when she won it for Dangerous. Alice yearns for a higher place in society, but she was born on the wrong side of the tracks. The ironic thing is that she is clearly one of the prettiest women at the dance sequence, but the men reject her. The dinner sequence is one of the high comic points in film history. Hattie McDaniel clearly steals the show with a rib tickling performance as Malena, the hired maid. I could not stop laughing but it was painful for Alice, trying to impress her beau. The ending may not have been faithful to the book, but I felt she should have enjoyed a happy ending.

My original response to Alice Adam’s the movie was not that warm. Like the Tarkington book from which it is made, I had to think and savor.A very young Katherine Hepburn, this was her 7th movie (Imdb), has the lead in an ensemble cast as Miss Alice Adams. This is Kate’s movie, but it is not just about her. Alice is basically a good person. Either by the influence of her mother or the misapprehensions of youth, she is determined to live a social life beyond the capability of her family to keep up with the emerging social elite that had been her crowd. Evan as her efforts at social claiming become more movingly desperate, into her life comes a romance with out of towner Fred MacMurray. This is a young, dashing and handsomely acted MacMurray, but his character, Author Russell is little more than a plot device.The real conflict is between the older Adams Couple. The real question revolves around how much the family is prepared to risk and to compromise in the hopes of lifting their young daughter from a marginal future built on getting by.Keep in mind that the real issues that motivated Booth Tarkington to write The Growth Trilogy among others was the role of emerging and triumphant capitalism as well as the real spirit and human values of it leadership.

Katharine as a lower middle class girl (Alice) trying to find her way onto the next rung up in society is heart-breaking at times. She underplays some scenes with just the right level of pathos. Alice's family complications are difficult for her at times. Hattie McDaniels's portrayal of the maid at the dinner for Alice's beau is a hoot. Fred McMurray is a good man who can see past the snarky way his group of friends, especially the women, treat her. George Stevens directs her well. (What can I say, "I'm a sucker for romance", as Marsha Mason said in the Goodbye Girl-another of my faves.)

Great dvd. Movie was from the early 1930s and was good to see the actors when they were so young.

I’ve never seen a Kate Hepburn film I didn’t like! Love her in this film!

Was pleased to find this old film on DVD as it is one of my favorite Katharine Hepburn pictures.

Well done movie. Faithful to the Pulitzer prize winning book, except for the Hollywood ending.

Exactly what I wanted

Great

This film is amazing, and a great example of Katharine Hepburn's talent

I got it for someone for a gift.

I believe this dvd to be one of the best editions of an old movie in existence - clarity of picture (black & white) and sound are outstanding and I heartedly recommend this import to all and sundry ! Thanks also due for the abrupt delivery of the same.