Johnny Case (Cary Grant) is a happy go lucky fellow who is crazy in love with the girl of his dreams. He returns to town telling his friends the Potters that he has plans to marry this girl he met 10 days ago at Lake Placid! He is ecstatic and not afraid to show it.

However, he must become acclimated with her family and their lifestyle. Most important is gaining the approval of her sometimes stuffy and always money-minded banking father. Julia Sefton is by all accounts a lovely girl who seems to truly return Johnny’s affection. Honestly, though he is not quite used to her type of society. He makes his entrance by arriving through the servant’s door and wanders around the stately manor marveling at all the trappings. Doing the rounds he runs into her drunken but genuine brother Ned (Lew Ayres). Then, there is sister Linda (Katharine Hepburn), the so-called black sheep of the family, although her only fault is being an energetic free-spirit.

Immediately she and Johnny hit if off, and she soon realizes that her sister has a real catch on her hands. The wedding is finally agreed upon by Mr. Seton, and a big New Year’s Eve Party is thrown much to Linda’s chagrin. The night of the big to do there are two parties that take place. Downstairs all the snobs and high society mingle with Julia parading Johnny around. Upstairs is a different matter where the quarantined Linda is eventually joined by the Potters,  Ned and even Johnny.

The little gathering gets quashed and that is not all. Father and daughter are adamant that Johnny works at the bank and make money because that’s what any respectful husband would do. They take little heed of Johnny’s dream to take a holiday once he has raised enough money to live off of. He just wants to live life free of distractions for awhile, but they just do not understand. Finally, Johnny is feeling too restricted by all the obligations to bear it any longer, because he simply cannot live that way. Again, both father and daughter do not understand. But Julia does, and she finally realizes what she must do. It’s time to take a holiday.

Here is a formidable trio in Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and director George Cukor. It makes me beg the question, how this film has become so overshadowed by Bringing up Baby and The Philadelphia Story? Johnny Case is a wonderfully vibrant role for Grant, and his acrobatics alone are worthwhile viewing. Hepburn on her part plays an equally spirited individual but without the scatter-brained or feisty edge that she often carried. Instead, she is just wonderfully footloose and fancy-free. Edward Everett Horton and Jean Dixon are an absolute riot, and I would love to have friends like them. Lew Ayres role was rather an odd one, but both Doris Nolan and Henry Kolker had an adequate amount of stuffiness to pull off their parts. That juxtaposition was necessary for the film to work and it did.

4/5 Stars