The Philadelphia Story (1940) - Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant,James Stewart

With this furiously witty comedy of manners directed by George Cukor, Katharine Hepburn revitalized her career and cemented her status as the era’s most iconic leading lady. The intoxicating screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart pits the formidable Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn, at her most luminous) against various romantic foils, chief among them her charismatic ex-husband (Cary Grant), who disrupts her imminent marriage by paying her family estate a visit, accompanied by a tabloid reporter on assignment to cover the wedding of the year (James Stewart). A fast-talking screwball comedy as well as a tale of regret and reconciliation, this convergence of golden-age talent is one of the greatest American films of all time.