Alice Adams (1935)

Directed by George Stevens. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Fred MacMurray, Fred Stone, Frank Albertson, Ann Shoemaker, Evelyn Venable, Charles Grapewin, Grady Sutton, Hattie McDaniel, Hedda Hopper, Jonathan Hale.

The sort of sincere entertainment that probably should have fallen out of favor during the decade of the Depression, but when it stays light on its feet and focuses on character work over message, it works. Hepburn is in good form as a lovelorn social climber who attracts the interest of wealthy MacMurray, but is worried her poorer, less-reputable family will be a burden on her prospects as a marriage candidate. Final act is weighed down by a talky script and too much sentimentality. Based on the Booth Tarkington novel that netted a Pulitzer; the adaptation netted a “happier ending”.

66/100