Alice Adams (1935) User Reviews

Hepburn sparkles as small-town girl in clunky social drama

[gaityr · 7/10 · 20 July 2003]

ALICE ADAMS, played by the late, great Katharine Hepburn, is quintessentially the beautiful, ambitious small-town girl put upon by circumstance. She wants desperately to be accepted, to be something other than just a poor "nobody"... to hide the fact that she doesn't come from 'money' and 'background'. This is painfully obvious in the first few scenes, when Alice steals out of the nickel-and-dime store but pauses meaningfully before the classy Vogue shopfront: trying to fool the world and possibly herself into thinking that that was where she was shopping all afternoon. She plans and preens for the high-society Palmer party, even though she has to wear her two-year-old dress, pick flowers for her own corsage, and go with her brother Walter (Frank Albertson) as her date. As everyone at the party ignores Alice, save another social reject Frank Dowling (bit-player Grady Sutton), she spots and is attracted to the rich, handsome Arthur Russell (Fred MacMurray, in a woefully underwritten role). Of course, Mr. Russell is meant to marry party hostess Mildred Palmer. This doesn't last long though--he quickly makes clear his attraction to the magnetic, gracefully awkward Alice, and begins to court her with serious intent. But Alice, in her eagerness to hide her social status, papers over their growing love with lies, which leads to a disastrous dinner party at the Adams abode... even as her family slowly disintegrates around them, partly due to Alice's father Virgil (Fred Stone) wanting to earn more money for his daughter.

The film is generally okay--that's the best word for it. Not great, not even really *good*, but just... okay. It's interesting, and hints at something better than it is. But ultimately, it's a social drama that comes off a bit stilted, with very few fully-fledged characters. The key role of Arthur Russell is remarkably free of a personality, and it's even hard to really put a finger on what Arthur finds so enchanting about Alice... aside from her being fortuitously Katharine Hepburn's identical twin. Oh, Alice is an interesting character, certainly. But so much of her being is concentrated on her social ambitions that it leaves you wondering what Arthur sees in her since these are the very things she hides from him when they are together. Alice's brother and father fare better, but even towards the end, Walter becomes little more than a plot device in an ending that appears to want to serve as a muddled sort of come-uppance for Alice. Sutton as bumbling gentleman and his sister's dance partner is actually a stand-out in his... what? Five minutes of screen time? Intriguing though the message of the film may be (social class does not matter and attempts to rise above it will only keep you from your true self and happiness), the blandness of the characters keeps one from really developing sympathy for the characters.

As for Alice, the film almost seems designed to have the audience keep her at arm's length. When she recognises that she is the one who will drive Arthur away, not because of what he has heard about her but because she cannot bear to confront her own reality head on, she keeps pressing on. The one truly brilliant scene in the film is that of the disastrous dinner party--this is possibly the first film I've seen where the atmosphere is one of muffled horror, both on the part of the participants as well as the audience. As Alice flounders through the dinner, chatting constantly, gaily, desperately, I found myself just wanting her to please, please keep quiet. To stop making things worse. It was very effectively staged, and a wry, clever commentary on Alice's inability to just relax and be herself. But by the end of the film, when Alice realises her foolishness and finally lets her guard down, there just isn't time to muster much sympathy for her character. It doesn't help that her suitor is so terminally boring that the love story is charming at best, but certainly does not come anywhere near to the unadulterated magic of the best classic film couples.

However--and this is a pretty darn big however--although this is probably not one of Hepburn's better 1930s films (she starred in a whole run of those, including LITTLE WOMEN, STAGE DOOR, HOLIDAY and BRINGING UP BABY), this is without a doubt one of the best of her 1930s performances. Never was there a lovelier, more quietly desperate wallflower than Hepburn's Alice. Hepburn is not squarely in her prime here--not yet. For that, I point you to her unparalleled, radiant turn in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. But in ALICE ADAMS, she is all fresh, awkward beauty. Her performance gives a strong hint of what she will be well capable of in the future--an almost intuitive ability to harness those 'mannerisms' of hers, as her critics call them, to serve the performance and flesh out her character... but also to shed them in an instant and truly, genuinely surprise her audience with beautiful understatement and a remarkable lack of histrionics in her performance. (This would only be refined in her future roles with Spencer Tracy.) As Alice floats through the Palmer party, pretending she is in demand and only waiting for her date, or as she chats with a desperate light in her eyes to Arthur at the Adams' dinner party, Hepburn suffuses the role with the kind of quiet, frantic desire which is simply perfect for her character. It is Hepburn that gives ALICE ADAMS the spark of life it needs to keep from being a mediocre, even bad, film. Her performance is the cornerstone and, quite frankly, the most interesting part of the film.

7.5, largely on the basis of Hepburn's performance which gives this film the extra edge it needs.

Gee Whiz!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 18 November 2005]

I am NOT a fan of Katharine Hepburn....but I really like her in this film. I don't think she ever looked cuter and was more appealing. One often forgets the fresh face and beauty she had when she was young.

This film starts off wonderfully for 20 minutes, then bogs down a bit for an hour and then rallies brilliantly in the last 20 minutes. That last part is so good that made the film not only worthwhile to view but one to keep and watch every few years.

It bogs down when Hepburn starts her deceiving scheme and nervously yaks and yaks and yaks trying to impress her boyfriend (Fred MacMurray). The deceit involves her trying to hide her social status, something that must have meant a lot more back in the early '30s than it does today.

Critics comment about how the dinner scene is a "classic" and the highlight of the film, but I didn't think it was all that great, although Hattie McDaniel is funny. It's what happened afterward that made it a memorable film to me.

Although Hepburn and Fred MacMurray are the stars of this romance-comedy, Fred Stone almost steals the show. Playing Hepburn's dad in the film, he was both hilarious at times and very sad....and always interesting. He gives an unbelievably powerful speech to his boss near the end of this film.

Another plus for "Alice Adams" is the direction. This is early George Stevens, but just about any film that man directed is top-notch, including this one.

Without giving away what happens in the story, the film does present a nice message of forgiveness and reconciliation and sports one of the stronger feel-good endings I've ever seen on film. Hepburn's last words in the movie are "Gee Whiz!!" That bygone innocent reaction to MacMurray's comment that he loved her says a lot about how movies and times have changed.

I was blindsided and enamored

[FilmOtaku · 8/10 · 7 January 2005]

Have you ever picked up what you thought was a glass of water, but when you took a long sip you ended up with a mouthful of Sprite? A surprising feeling, but then you have to figure out if it's pleasant or not. I felt similarly about my experience watching "Alice Adams", George Stevens' 1935 film starring Katherine Hepburn as the title character. Expecting a wily romantic comedy, possibly a precursor to Hepburn's screwball comedies, I instead witnessed a beautiful, touching and sad film about rejection and romance in small-town America.

Alice is the daughter of a bookkeeper who is sick, and therefore temporarily out of work. Even before his unemployment, his job did not provide as much money for his family as many of Alice's contemporaries. This causes Alice to not be accepted in society, and makes it harder to find a boyfriend, though she tries to keep cheerful in front of her family. Unfortunately Mrs. Adams doesn't make things easier, by constantly harping on Mr. Adams to quit his job and be more ambitious. When the Palmers have their annual dance, Alice asks her brother Walter to take her, and there she first sees Arthur Russell MacMurray) a wealthy young man who is practically engaged to Mildred Palmer, probably the richest and most socially prominent young woman in the town. He notices Alice, and after a dance together, finds her a couple of days later and they begin a romance, but it becomes obvious that Alice is not going to be able to put up a façade of wealth and social acceptance for long, as their relationship becomes more serious.

There were so many times that I found myself just aching for Alice during this film. Booth Tarkington is so good at capturing the darker side of small town life without being obvious, that it is understandable that this film could be mistaken for a light romantic comedy, though in reality it was anything but. Alice's low self-esteem, mainly due to society's views on her more than her family's lack of money makes her such a fragile character that she becomes immediately sympathetic, and this is mainly due to Hepburn's performance. This was early in her career, and after seeing many of her later films it is easy to forget just how radiant and luminous she once was. She has always been one of my favorite actresses, but it was generally because of the strength she gave the characters she played throughout the years, not her fragility. "Alice Adams" was an extremely pleasant surprise, and I ended up absolutely loving it. A very solid 8/10.

--Shelly

And how about Mr. Fred Stone?

[lrrap · 28 July 2003]

When I first watched this film, despite the fact that George Steven's excellent direction makes a rather mundane plot into a very involving film, I was a bit thrown off by the actor who plays Katherine Hepburn's ailing father. About midway through the film I thought: "this guy's not much of an actor...".

However, by the time the film was over, I was completely captivated by the man, mostly due to his big confrontation scene with his boss near the end--in fact, I think I re-played that scene five times to really appreciate it's emotional power. And it is because of Mr. Fred Stone's performance in that scene that "Alice Adams" remains one of my very favorite films.

And who was the man? Well, anyone viewing "Alice Adams" is watching a rare document of American theatrical history. Fred Stone was born in 1873, actually traveled west with his family in a covered wagon, became a circus performer, acrobat, dancer, clown and expert "eccentric dancer." He knew Will Rogers and Annie Oakley, and became a MAJOR musical theater star in the early 20th-century. His most famous role was that of the ORIGINAL SCARECROW in the very first (1902) stage version of the WIZARD of OZ. As a young man Ray Bolger saw the production in Boston, and began to pursue his own "eccentric dancing" career, becoming immortalized himself as the Scarecrow in the 1939 MGM film.

In "Alice Adams", Fred Stone gives a remarkably sympathetic and honest performance, a simple, rather shy and utterly unpretentious Everyman, who, though convalescing from some undisclosed illness, must constantly endure the brow-beatings and guilt trips laid upon him by his nagging wife. By the end of the film, having become entangled in a business venture for which he seems totally unqualified and outraged by his son's thievery, he confronts his own boss in his living room for his big emotional scene. I remember reading in Mr. Stone's autobiography that George Stevens and Katherine Hepburn were so impressed by his performance in this scene that they actually EXPANDED his part in it to give him more screen time.

After Katherine Hepburn steps in to smooth things over with the boss, she has a final tender scene with Mr. Stone, one of those achingly beautiful scenes (with a lovely background score) that brings tears to the eye because of its sincerity and simplicity. You won't find anything like it in any film of the last 40 years--many imitations, yes---but not the REAL thing.

Oh yes, there's Katherine Hepburn too, in a role that requires her to act flighty and charming in an annoyingly overwrought way---a little of it goes a VERY long way. Still, she's lovely. Other stand-outs include Alice's smart-aleck brother, played by Frank Albertson, an appealing light comedy/musical theater guy BEST KNOWN for 2 roles: as Sam "hee-haw" Wainwright in "It's a Wonderful Life" and as the lecherous businessman who gives Janet Leigh the $40,000 in the second scene of "Psycho" (he really had aged a lot by 1959). Also, Charley Grapewin, best-known as Uncle Henry in the 1939 "Wizard of OZ" has a chance to shine as Mr. Stone's slightly cantankerous but generous and warm-hearted boss, Mr. Lamb.

"Alice Adams" is not for everyone; it's a low-key, genteel film about the problems of small-town people who are moving up in the social world and the one family that gets left behind. But thanks to George Steven's sensitive and compelling direction, the film transcends it very earthbound plot and becomes, at least for some of us, a very involving cinematic treasure.

Fred MacMurray almost steals the spotlight...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 15 March 2005]

ALICE ADAMS is the film I'd heard about for years as one of Hepburn's best early films so when I had the chance to watch it recently on TCM I took advantage of it.

From a novel by Booth Tarkington, it concerns a young woman anxious to connect socially with the right people who manages to attract the attention of a handsome and well-to-do young man (Fred MacMurray) at a party. Hepburn shines in the title role, looking fresh and attractive, struggling to keep him interested in her--but unfortunately, with all of her trademark mannerisms not always held in check.

She does well in the role but, in my opinion, the real magnet of interest is the under-appreciated Fred MacMurray who does a sincere and effortless job as her suitor in a role that could not have been easy to bring off. Both stars are in their physical prime, but MacMurray's naturalness only makes Hepburn look even more mannered than usual. Fortunately, this works because her character is supposed to be putting on airs. But at times, this is overdone.

The awkwardness of the social situations are exploited--and the highpoint has to be the warm dinner served on a hot evening, complete with maid service (by Hattie McDaniel) in one of the movie's most amusing, if uncomfortable, scenes. Here too, MacMurray displays just the right amount of stability against all odds. Fred Stone provides a number of chuckles as Hepburn's so provincial father.

All of the supporting roles are nicely filled, with special praise for Ann Shoemaker as the concerned mother anxious for her daughter to find the right suitor. But it's Hepburn's showcase under George Stevens' sensitive direction and she is convincing despite the overly mannered performance.

Summing up: Although some of the situations seemed a bit forced and not everyone will appreciate the humor at Hattie McDaniel's expense, it's worth watching for Hepburn and MacMurray alone.

Alice Tries To Get A Fellow

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 July 2006]

Showing her versatility Katharine Hepburn gets her best part since her Oscar winning Morning Glory in the title role of Alice Adams. Alice and Eva Lovelace are worlds apart. Eva leaves her small town in search of fame and fortune in the theater. But poor Alice just wants to compete with the rest of the girls in her midwest Indiana small town that Booth Tarkington wrote about and land a real Prince Charming of a fellow.

The Prince shows up at a dance she goes to in the person of Fred MacMurray. She's taken with him, but she's ashamed of her family's rather humble living condition. When MacMurray does come calling they have a family dinner that turns into a real disaster.

Kate got one of her Oscar nominations for her role and MacMurray also gets one of his best early film parts as well. Kate's family is also nicely cast with Ann Shoemaker, Frank Albertson, and especially Fred Stone filling out the roles of mother, brother, and father. I do kind of feel sorry for Stone, he's really put upon by his family. In today's world Ann Shoemaker would have gone out and gotten a second job for another income, back then that would have been unthinkable.

Alice Adams is a nice nostalgic trip by Booth Tarkington into the lives and mores of small town Indiana. This film was also George Stevens's first major film and he'd work with Kate again in Woman of the Year.

Just Be Yourself!!!

[ferbs54 · 7/10 · 26 November 2007]

I suppose that no one ever gave Alice Adams the sage advice that when one goes on a date with somebody, you should just "be yourself." But in the 1935 film "Alice Adams," Katharine Hepburn's title character is too busy trying to hide her humble background and put on hoity-toity airs, whenever she goes out shopping, to a party and especially when being courted, to EVER really be herself, and this desire to climb that social ladder only leads to embarrassing predicaments. This is actually a very charming film, and Hepburn, 28 here, looks extremely pretty, especially when given any number of beautiful close-ups by director George Stevens. The film boasts two wonderful and heartbreaking scenes: an early sequence at a ritzy dance, where wallflower Alice hugs the sidelines while pretending to no one in particular that everything is fine, and a late scene, in which the well-to-do young courter who has taken a fancy to her (nicely played by Fred MacMurray) suffers through a formal dinner with Alice's family in the middle of a heat wave. Hattie McDaniel (listed here as "McDaniels") almost steals this dinner scene as a slovenly, gum-chewing maid. Alice, despite her tendency to put on airs, is at heart a sweet girl (we see that in her relationships with her parents and brother), and the viewer is grateful that a young man is able to see beyond her B.S. and discern her finer qualities. But will upper-class Fred accept Alice, once he learns of her background? That, my IMDb'er friend, I urge you to find out for yourself...

Glimpses of Katharine Hepburn at her most luminous

[zeph-3 · 9/10 · 3 January 2000]

This is an often under-rated film, and nowadays would certainly have been completely forgotten but for Katharine Hepburn's presence. As a satirical view of the 1920s filmed in the mid 1930s it feels somewhat dated. But not Hepburn's performance. This is is among the best of her RKO contract movies. Her innocence, her (modest) social pretension, her search for love, they all ring verosimilar - if not entirely true to life. And the celebrated window scene with tears and rain and sobs being one with Alice's feelings is far more than just 'clever'. Hepburn fans will like it. Others might very well follow along.

The Adams Family

[Lejink · 7/10 · 10 May 2020]

I had literally just completed my reading of Booth Tarkington's novel from which this movie was adapted before settling down to watch Katharine Hepburn star in the title role of this early George Stevens film.

It's a little creaky for sure as you might expect from an old 1935 feature and even if it does tack on a happy ending at variance with the original book, it would take a hard heart to seriously object to the upturn in Alice and her father's fortunes as things turn out.

The story of a sparky, pretty young girl brought up in rather straitened circumstances by her well-meaning but rather down-trodden parents, she is excited to be attending a high society party in the neighbourhood where maybe she can catch the eye of a handsome, wealthy young man who will elevate her from her life of comparative drudgery and give her the good life she craves. However, forced to wear an old dress long out-of-fashion and with no friends with whom to pal about, she's reduced to taking dances from the prize klutz and then playing wall-flower before she by chance meets up with poor little rich boy Arthur Russell played by Fred McMurray, apparently the fiancé of the wealthy deb holding the party but who sees past Alice's outer appearance to the good person within and promptly falls for her.

There are side plots involving Alice's rascally brother who eventually steals money from his employer, while her old dad, played by Fred Stone, employed at the same firm, is egged on by his henpecking wife on the pretext of improving Alice's prospects, to finally get out from his sinecure and set up a glue business in competition with his erstwhile employer, the vaunted big-man-in-town A J Lamb.

It all comes to a head when mum holds a big family dinner to formally meet and greet Arthur in a painfully excruciating scene where everything that can happen to embarrass the bold Alice duly does but just when it seems that poverty and ignominy awaits the family and that Alice may have to shock-horror go out and work for a living, along come two acts separate acts of charity and compassion at the end which transform all their fortunes, especially Alice's.

It's impossible to deny Alice her happy ending, so sympathetically and engagingly does Hepburn play the part. At this early stage in her career, some of her later irritating ticks and mannerisms are largely absent so that you really want things to turn out well for her. Likewise Fred Stone as her put-upon father, who finds his backbone in the end, even if his "Dang me!" protestations in that wheedling voice of his will likely set your nerves on edge. McMurray too is charming as the suave playboy who turns his back on his privileged but mean-spirited social equals for the love of poor but honest Alice.

One thing I didn't enjoy were the stereotypical demeaning parts given to black actors in the film, like seeing Hattie McDaniels as a slatternly hired-help but to be fair they are as written in the book, although if the producer could take the liberty to change the ending, it's just a pity they couldn't have done something similar with the casting of these parts.

Still, this was an enjoyable and entertaining mild-morality tale, made memorable mainly by Hepburn's bright performance in the title role.

A Triumph For Kate & Company

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 4 June 2002]

Vibrant, young ALICE ADAMS keeps looking for love & happiness, no matter what tough knocks the world throws at her.

Booth Tarkington's novel comes alive in this splendid film from RKO, which, aside from its first rate production values, features a luminescent Kate Hepburn in the title role. Brave & spunky, yet tenderhearted & true, she immediately engages the viewer's interest & compassion. Belittled by her local high society's casual cruelty, her shining eyes & courageous little smile (nearly) always come through. It is wonderful to watch Hepburn work through the film's emotional centerpiece, a disastrous dinner served for the rich young man who's taken a shine to her, inadvertently given on the hottest evening in a decade. (Deftly playing her suitor, Fred MacMurray deserves his share of the applause.) The intrinsic honesty of the actress makes her performance a triumph.

Hepburn is abetted by a very fine supporting cast. Fred Stone as her invalid father, and Ann Shoemaker as her fretful mother are almost uncomfortably realistic - one naturally feels sorry for their trials & tribulations. Frank Albertson plays her loudmouthed brother; a few short years before this actor showed tremendous promise as a musical comedy star, but the breaks didn't come and he was to play mostly supporting roles.

Hedda Hopper irritates nicely as a snobbish society matron. Charley Grapewin gives a good handful of scenes as Stone's gruff, kind-hearted employer. Grady Sutton deserves special mention, playing a lonely young man whose plain face & chubby body have distanced him from the vast majority of society girls. Usually relegated to playing simpering sissies, Sutton's wistful sadness here in his few short scenes makes one instantly sympathetic for the poor fellow

Hattie MacDaniel is hilarious as the clumsy job cook who arrives to prepare and serve Hepburn's dinner party. Movie mavens will recognize Zeffie Tilbury as an elderly lady at the society party.

But it is Hepburn who stays in the mind long after the movie ends...

Folly Is Rewarded

[disinterested_spectator · 6/10 · 18 September 2017]

The title character of "Alice Adams," played by Katherine Hepburn, is a young woman who lives in a small town named South Renford. At first, it appears to be the strangest small town you ever saw, because everyone seems to be rich except the Adams family. Alice gets invited to dances and parties by rich women, but she cannot afford to dress the way they do. The rich men never ask her out, so she has to coerce her brother Virgil to escort her. At the dance, the rich men prefer to dance with rich women, and as her brother deserts her, she is left alone and comes across as a wallflower. In other words, we never see other young women of working class background for her to be friends with, and we never see working class men ask her out for a date. What an odd town.

Of course, we know that this cannot be. No town is like that. In fact, there are bound to be far more working class families than rich ones: young women of her own class to be friends with; young men of her own class to date. Moreover, it is clear that her brother does stick to his own class. He even enjoys shooting craps with black servants, and at the dance, he greets the black bandleader, who in turn is happy to see him. They obviously know each other from nightclubs where working class people go to have fun. But not Alice. In fact, she is mortified when her brother says "Hi" to the bandleader.

To put it bluntly, Alice is a big phony. And yet, we know we are supposed to feel sorry for her. To a certain extent we do. We all know how young people desperately want things that really don't matter, and it is painful to watch her suffer so from pretending to be something she is not, especially when we also know that she could be happy, if she just let all that go. In fact, that is why we never see young women of her own class inviting her to parties or young men of her own class asking her out. If we did, and she snubbed them, we would despise her. But by making it look as though she lives in a town where everyone is rich but her and her family, absurd as that is, we are more forgiving, because we are led to believe that she has no such opportunities.

At the dance, Alice meets Arthur (Fred MacMurray), who seems to be quite taken with her, but she is just as much of a phony with him as with everyone else. It is hard to understand what he sees in her.

But while we are trying to overlook Alice's affectations as the folly of youth, we discover that her mother, apparently in her fifties, is just as foolish as Alice in such matters. Instead of encouraging Alice to stay within her class, she berates her husband for not making more money so that Alice can continue to socialize with the town's upper crust. So much for the wisdom that supposedly comes with age.

Alice's father is recovering from a long illness. His boss, Mr. Lamb, continues to pay him a salary and holds his job open for him, and her father wants to go back to work there when he gets better. But Alice's mother pushes him to go into business by starting a glue factory, based on a formula that actually seems to belong to his boss, inasmuch as Alice's father discovered it on company time.

What we are hoping for is that Alice will realize how foolish she has been. Instead, the movie justifies her. Virgil gets into a jam and steals $150 from Mr. Lamb, whom he also works for, probably to pay off a gambling debt. In other words, we can no longer admire Virgil for being content to fraternize with those in his class, thereby making it seem right for Alice to avoid such people as unworthy.

Anyway, with Alice's father stealing the glue formula and Alice's brother stealing the money, Mr. Lamb shows up at the Adams house to let them have a piece of his mind. It all looks pretty grim. But Alice tells him that it is all her and her mother's fault for pushing her father to make more money. Mr. Lamb is magnanimous, willing to let Alice's father have his job back when he gets well, willing to give them time to pay back the $150, and willing to let Alice's father share in the profits from the glue formula.

But we should note that while Alice takes responsibility for her and her mother pushing her father to start a glue factory, she gives no indication that her desire to hobnob with rich society was an unworthy goal, only that she and her mother should not have pushed her father to make more money.

Ultimately, she has learned nothing. We had hoped that she would quit being a phony, make friends with women in her own class, and fall in love with a man who is also from a working class background. But no. The movie rewards her phoniness by having Arthur fall in love with her and want to marry her. Because he is one of the elite, and presumably has plenty of money, she will get what she always wanted, inclusion in the upper class of South Renford. Now she can be the real thing.

Faifthful until the end...and then blows it

[reblefiya · 8/10 · 7 August 2006]

Tarkington's novel, by some quirk, is one of my favourites, one of those I reread recreationally now and then, simply because I like it. I found this adaptation to be wonderfully faithful to the spirit of the book, and Tarkington's intentions, right up until the last ten seconds - and then, dammit, Hollywood tacked on a hackneyed, romantic feel-good fairy-tale ending that entirely subverted the story's message. In the book, people, Alice actually learns something and grows as a woman and as a human being; the ending is bittersweet rather than saccharine.

In summary, I loved the movie, loved the performances, loved the script - hated the stupid ending.

The best thing about this film is Fred Stone

[nellybly-3 · 7/10 · 9 May 2007]

Everyone else is all right. Kate is a bit over the top. Hedda Hopper made the right move in becoming a gossip columnist.

It's a treat to watch him trying to keep his dignity wearing a tux which has boiled shirt that keeps popping open, all the while trying to eat a very fussy, very hot dinner which should have been served (if at all) during the winter, not the summer. The ice cream, when it arrives, is soupy and Fred Stone sips it just like was soup. It's the little bits he does that keeps this picture from becoming a soap opera. Attempting to eat a caviar appetizer, which is obviously not very appetizing, is one of those. BTW it wasn't just his comic bits. He brings an unexpected bite and depth to what could have been a very shallow character.

It's said that Hepburn and Stevens, because Stone was so good, expanded his part, which him added screen time. Very wise decision. I can't imagine anyone else as Virgil Adams.

Alice in Whinerland

[crispy_comments · 1/10 · 17 July 2006]

What a tedious, torturous movie. Katharine Hepburn simpers and over-acts beyond belief; it's hard to tell whether her affectations belong to the actress or the character she's playing. (Heck, maybe the character was written this way to accommodate Hepburn's own mannerisms? Wouldn't be the first time a role was written specifically to suit her - well, technically it might be the *first* time, since "The Philadelphia Story" came years later). In any case, she's always Performing, and I never felt like I got to know the "real" Alice Adams.

Not that I really want to. We're supposed to feel sorry for Alice, being from a "poor" (really middle class), unrefined family, snubbed by the rich snobs at parties, and so on. But, damn, I'd ignore her too - who'd want to hang out with someone who puts on such ridiculous airs, lies about everything, and yammers on and on without letting you get a word in edgewise?

Well, Fred MacMurray, apparently, whose inexplicable interest in Alice is, um, never really explained. What's the attraction? Funny moment: While they're dancing at a party, Hepburn flirts in the most nauseating manner, fishing for compliments about why he's dancing with her and not the other girls. His reply? Oh, the other girls are too bony/skinny. And I suppose Katharine Hepburn is a warm, voluptuous, fleshy handful? Yeah, right..in a skeletal sort of way.

MacMurray's character is sorta-maybe engaged to a girl from a rich family. Will he be won over by the oh-so-subtle machinations of Alice Adams? Or will he be put off by her uncouth family? Will Alice's brother convince her to come down off her high horse and mingle with the common people? Interestingly, the brother associates with "coloured" folks - we see him recognizing and heartily greeting the black bandleader at a party (mortifying poor Alice, tsk tsk!), conversing with "the help", preferring their company to that of the snooty partygoers, etc. All of this is obviously meant to indicate how "low" and uncultured Alice's brother is, but to modern audiences (or at least, to *me*), it makes him the most tolerable character in the film, since he comes across as the least pretentious and least prejudiced of the bunch.

Meanwhile, Alice's parents squabble constantly - see, her mother spoils her rotten (although Alice is ashamed of her roots, the brat), and keeps nagging her husband to make more money so their daughter will be accepted by the rich crowd. Funny, nobody counsels Alice to stop obsessing over wealth, social position and other superficial things - to accept who she is and stop making a fool of herself trying so hard to win the acceptance of snobs who aren't worth it - no, not to win them over exactly...more like, trying so hard to pretend she's *already* one of them, despite their obvious contempt for her. It's embarrassing to watch. But not sympathy-inducing. I just wanted to shake Alice and ask "Why? Why in god's name do you want to be with shallow snobs anyway? Oh, I forgot, 'cause *you're* a shallow snob too...minus the money."

Also, why does Alice talk to her father (and make faces at him) like he's 5 years old?! And why does he seem to like it? Shall we chalk it up to more bad acting from Hepburn? Yes, let's!

Now if you'll excuse me, I feel like offering my beau a wilted rose and some witless prose. Whilst I gaze up at the sky in rapture at some heavenly music only I can hear. Then, if anyone compliments me (after some shameless fishing on my part), I think I'll twitter like a twit and duck my head coyly. Alas, I must go now and play peek-a-boo with dear old Daddy. Mummy doesn't play with him enough. Ta ta!

Just wonderful - a wonderfully true story of class and embarrassment

[trpdean · 10 July 2004]

I had heard of the famous Tarkington novel (but not read it) and had known that Katherine Hepburn won the Best Actress Oscar for this. So, I rented it.

It's just so moving. What I think some of the negative reviewers forget is just how much a girl's prospects in a small town in the 1920s are determined by whom she marries. For the intelligent, lively, vibrant, charming, warm-hearted Alice Adams - with a pitifully weak (but very sympathetic) and rather poor father, Alice's chance to "make anything" of her life is determined socially.

My heart ached with the snubs Alice receives - the routine unthinking cuts she receives at the hands of those from "better" families. Wearing a two year old dress with a corsage of violets illegally picked from the park, her loutish brother in his old beaten-up borrowed car as her date, she tries SO HARD to fit in - and doesn't because no one will let her. It's the most opaque of glass ceilings.

If you've ever felt (at a job, a party, a family gathering) that there was nothing you could do - no matter how hard you tried - to fit in - yet it was important that you did, you'll feel so much for this charming girl.

I do agree with others that the Arthur Russell part is underwritten.

But the movie boring? Not on your life. The painful moments are more difficult to watch than most war movies in which the protagonist is killed - because it is so well-done -

-- the pains of humiliation borne within, the disability one cannot hide, the old dress, the rude and outrageous relation, the thwarted eagerness - these are far more likely to be the painful moments in one's life (that one does not wish to remember) than any actual bullet wounds.

I love how the movie does not show a saintly Alice - she would love to snub others (e.g., the chubby boy at the dance), would love to parade before others in finery. yet her warmth toward her family - her essential sweetness, her strong frustrated yearning - are completely captivating.

We love this girl - and because of that, we love the movie.

a bit embarrassing to watch but a good film

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 28 February 2006]

This movie is embarrassing, but I don't mean this as a criticism. What I mean by this is that scheming but nice Katherine Hepburn wants to marry a rich guy and her road to this prize can be excruciatingly painful to watch. Once she sets her sights on young Fred MacMurray, she makes a fool or herself repeatedly and is laughed at by his society friends. The problem is that in spite of this, he is mildly attracted to her. However, then her mother becomes involved as well and frankly the whole thing made my skin crawl from embarrassment. The problem, though, is that this is in some cases very realistic and I could relate to her embarrassment--in fact, I think most of us can. So my verdict is that this is an excellent but painful film. Watch it if you can.

Well-done but unpleasant

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 8 August 2015]

Drama in which Katharine Hepburn plays a poor young woman who dreams of bigger and better things--but she's stuck with a pushy mother, an ill father and an obnoxious brother. At a dance a young rich man (Fred MacMurray!) meets and falls for her. She falls for him too but his family would never accept her and she can't get over the feeling that she's not good enough for him.

Well-done if incredibly dated drama. It's a very early Hepburn role and she's magnificent in it. She was justly nominated for an Academy Award for this (Bette Davis won for "Dangerous"). MacMurray is good too and it's fun to see both of them so young and full of life. The main problem though is Hepburn. She's TOO good for her role. You see her struggling to get ahead and it's heart-breaking. The dinner party sequence at the end is particularly hard to sit through. Also Hattie McDaniel plays a maid and is treated horribly but that is (sadly) a sign of its time. It also has a bunch of happy endings that I didn't buy for one second. Still this is well worth seeing.

Dangerous conquest

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 26 May 2020]

There were three or four main reasons for wanting to watch 'Alice Adams'. Have liked some of George Stevens' other films, 'A Place in the Sun' and 'Shane' being primary examples. Katharine Hepburn had a lot of great to masterful performances under her belt whether in comedy, romance or drama. The source material from memory (it has been some years) is a hugely compelling read. Then there is my love of classic film and some real talent in the cast.

'Alice Adams' to me was a good film and one of Stevens' first hits. He did go on to do much better films since though, including the above, and 'Alice Adams' had real potential actually to be a great film. Sadly a few not so minor flaws hinder it. There are a lot of great things though and much to recommend, plus there are a lot of recognisable elements from the source material (despite it being years since reading a lot of parts stick out vividly and brought out here).

Do agree with those that say that Arthur throughout is a rather sketchy and doesn't really develop or interest, with motivations not always clear as well. The ending also felt very tacked on and too neat, noticed this a lot in films in the 1930s, including in those pre-code and it always is at odds with what comes before.

It could have tightened up in the early portions too pace-wise and gotten to the point quicker.

Even though her performance may not be for all tastes, Hepburn however to me is magnificent. She gives it absolutely everything and embodies pretty much every emotion you can think of and quite powerfully. Although his character is bland, Fred MacMurray does his best and is appropriately earnest and amiable. Charley Grapewin gives a nuanced turn in the other fully fleshed out role of 'Alice Adams' other than the titular character herself. Hattie McDaniel had a real knack for scene stealing, and she does so here in one particularly great scene (didn't like how her character is treated though, pretty demeaning). Fred Stone really comes to life in the latter half of the film, he overdid it at first but his honesty shone through later. Ann Shoemaker is very good and also gives one of the better performances.

Stevens directs impeccably, his mood setting was always impressive and is here, it's always involving and coherent and creates some lovely shots. 'Alice Adams' is well made visually, especially the photography which has a lot of style and elegance that has more than enough variation and expansiveness to avoid it from being claustrophobic or static. Fluid editing too. The music fits the atmosphere well and doesn't get too much in use or tone. The script is taut enough, intelligent without being too flowery and with no broadness or over-sentiment. And the story mostly engages and doesn't feel tedious, had no issue following it either. The most lauded scene is the dinner table scene, watching it it is not hard to see why.

Overall, impressive in a lot of areas but could have been better. 7/10

A Movie the Word "Awkward" Was Made For

[evanston_dad · 9/10 · 19 December 2017]

Katharine Hepburn gives a sensational performance in this screen adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel.

Hepburn plays the titular Alice, a young social climber who's embarrassed by her humble origins and working class family and dreams of inclusion among the upper crust of society. One said member, played by Fred MacMurray, falls for her against all odds, and a large bulk of the film details a disastrous dinner party she throws for him in her home, a cringe-worthy dinner if ever there was one, during which she pretends the entire time to be something she's not and which ends with a prolonged monologue that by its end has her convincing him that he doesn't really want her because she's so flustered and mortified by how badly everything went. It's an amazing little bit of acting on the part of Hepburn in a film that earned her her second of twelve career Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.

I've not read the book the film is based on, but I'm guessing that it doesn't end anywhere nearly as patly or tidily as the movie. I guess I could be wrong.

In addition to Hepburn's nomination, "Alice Adams" was also nominated for Best Picture in a year that saw twelve nominees.

Grade: A

Gets off to a slow start, but later becomes a nice look at an earlier era

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 8 January 2016]

Thank goodness that World War II allowed America to grow up! Poor Alice Adams -- a young woman (Katharine Hepburn) who lives in a fantasy world where she pretends to to be happy, while all the time being lonely. Poor Mother Adams who nags her husband constantly to make more money, even though it appears he is recovering from a heart attack. Poor Father Adams, suffering from a nagging wife while wanting all the best for his daughter, even though her prospects seem slim. And poor Brother Adams who has to take his sister to dances, putting a crimp on his ability to play craps.

And then, into Alice's life comes a ray of sunshine -- Fred Mac Murray.

Katharine Hepburn is excellent here, although the part is absolutely the opposite from the type of role that Hepburn later excelled at. This film was made only 3 years after Hepburn's film career first began.

Fred MacMurray is excellent here as the beau. Today, audiences have forgotten just how popular MacMurray was, and how long his Hollywood career lasted. He was a very pleasing actor who could handle comedy or drama equally well.

Fred Stone play's Alice's father here. He's an actor with whom I'm not familiar, but he had a very successful career dating back to the days of Annie Oakley, up through important roles in a number of motion pictures. Ann Shoemaker plays the mother, and plays the role so well that you'd like to see the poor husband shoot her dead; everyone hates a nag! Frank Albertson (not the one from "Chico And The Man") is good as the not very likable brother. Although their roles are small, it's interesting to see Hedda Hopper and Hattie McDaniel in supporting roles (the later, of course, as a maid, but here in a most demeaning nature).

Once this film gets off the ground -- and it takes so LONG for it to do so -- it gets quite interesting. We could have learned that Alice was a wallflower much quicker at the beginning of the film. It really takes MacMurray to bring some life to the flick, and the dinner party scene is quite humorous...a comedy of errors. Admittedly, this happy ending could only happen in a much earlier era.

I don't give this film the high marks some sources do, but it's a pretty decent outing about a very different time.

One of my favorite Hepburn performances

[HotToastyRag · 9/10 · 29 October 2017]

There's a famous scene in Alice Adams where Katharine Hepburn cries at her bedroom window. Reportedly, she wasn't able to act convincingly in the scene until director George Stevens yelled at her. Humiliated, she was thrust in front of the camera and sobbed. I always thought that was terribly mean of George Stevens, but if you dig deep enough, you'll learn countless Hollywood horror stories. I've since read more about his directing methods, and I can't say I'm a fan.

In this literal tearjerker, Katharine Hepburn plays the title character, a girl from a poor family who wants a better life. She tries terribly hard to act as though she's wealthier and classier than she actually is, and when she's noticed by the truly wealthy and classy Fred MacMurray, she enlists her family in the effort to pretend they're well-to-do. This is the premise for many old comedies, but Alice Adams is a drama. It's heartbreaking at times, and one of my favorite Katharine performances. She isn't strong and tough; she's frightened of poverty and constantly hides where she comes from. If you like Stella Dallas or Pocketful of Miracles, you'll like Alice Adams.

As much as I love this movie, I actually don't watch it very often. It's very tough to watch. Kate's father, Fred Stone, is unemployed and his wife Ann Shoemaker always argue about his lack of initiative. While Kate idolizes her father and takes his side all the time, she positively refuses to see her suffering mother's point of view. Fred knows he's not worthy of the hero worship, and he hates himself for not being able to give his children what they deserve.

In the novel, Alice Adams spends all day picking violets to wear to a dance, so she'll look like she fits in. In the movie, when the violets wilt and Katharine Hepburn tries to salvage her pride, she just makes you want to cry. Another heartbreaking scene contrasts Kate and Fred's background when he's invited over for dinner. His parents, Hedda Hopper and Jonathan Hale, live in a beautiful house with plenty of servants. At Kate's house, her mother tries to put on a good impression by talking their cook, Hattie McDaniel, into wearing an apron and serving a fancy soup. Instead of the perfect dinner, it's far too hot to eat the soup, Hattie makes it clear she doesn't usually wear a uniform, and Kate's brother, Frank Albertson, embarrasses them all.

Keep your Kleenex box handy and watch the movie that won Katharine Hepburn her second Rag Award. Even Bette Davis, who was nominated for won the Oscar that year for Dangerous said the award should have gone to Hepburn! Don't read the novel, though; it has a completely different meaning to the story.

Great, Contempuous Movie

[boblipton · 7/10 · 19 June 2023]

Katherine Hepburn is a small-town girl in Indiana. Her father, Fred Stone, has worked for Charley Grapewin all his life, but right now is sick and at home; Grapewin continues to pay his salary until he can come back to work. Hepburn and her mother, Ann Shoemaker, feel the pinch of poverty and the lack of what passes for society in their town. Miss Hepburn is tolerated and despised at the occasional party, whither she must be accompanied by her brother, Frank Albertson. He has no interest in an of this and goes off to play dice with the help. Then Miss Hepburn meets Fred MacMurray.

I side with Albertson, although not his later actions that lead to to the third-act crisis; I was brought up a little closer to society -- or at least its New York City Jewish equivalent, and had no real interest in its closed boundaries. That's probably why I find most of George Stevens' movie so excruciating to watch, from Miss Hepburn's desperate attempts to put on a bit of ritz, to having to endure Grady Sutton as a sitting partner. Stevens directs scenes that might have been comic for awkward pain. You're ready to blow up everyone in town for being a heel, and then Grapewin, as Stone's irascible boss comes through, stealing the movie.

It was certainly a winner as far as the critics were concerned, but I wonder how successful it was at the box office. Did the big-city audiences care? Were the small town audiences annoyed? Despite its excellence, it's not one I revisit often.

Hepburn's Oscar Nominated Performance and Best Picture Nominee

[springfieldrental · 10/10 · 9 June 2023]

After reaching the heights of popularity with a series of hits, including an Academy Awards Best Actress win, Katherine Hepburn's early film career was stuck in mud after appearing in three consecutive dogs. She loved Booth Tarkington's 1921 novel about an inspiring social climber from a lower middle-class family and was pleased to be named as the lead in August 1935's "Alice Adams." Her performance as Alice, says film reviewer Andrea Passafiume, "is one of Katharine Hepburn's finest and most defining roles. The depth and pathos that Hepburn brings to the role of the social climbing Alice helped create one of the most memorable and nuanced performances in classic Hollywood cinema." And critic Pauline Kael described Hepburn's acting as "one of her two or three finest performances."

Even though she lost to Bette Davis for Best Actress in the Academy Awards' 8th Annual ceremonies, Hepburn finished a close second. Davis said repeatedly Hepburn deserved the honors far more than her Oscar-winning performance in 1935's "Dangerous," acknowledged as a make-up for her outstanding role in 1934's "Of Human Bondage." "Alice Adams'" producer Pandro Berman favored director George Stevens, a former cameraman for Laurel and Hardy shorts who recently made the switch to director, for his warmth and comic flair over his other choice, the more experienced William Wyler. Reportedly a coin flip took place between Stevens and Wyler, whom Hepburn leaned towards, that determined George's directorial position for "Alice Adams. "

There was some rocky periods between the relatively new director and Hepburn during the filming of "Alice Adams." She plays the daughter of a lower-class family who yearns to elevate herself into the richer society of her small town. During a social dance, she meets wealthy Arthur Russell (Fred MacMurray), who's caught up by Alice's winsome personality. Soon, Arthur is courting Alice on her front porch. Hepburn and Stevens didn't see eye-to-eye on how to play the coy Ms. Adams in their initial date. MacMurray said later, "I remember a scene on a porch; Kate was in a porch swing and I was sitting in a chair. Her concept of the scene was entirely different from George's. Stevens was quietly definite, and she was less quietly definite. Finally, he said, 'Let's shoot it.' We did it over and over, most in the morning, and we broke for lunch. We did it over. He said, 'It's not the way I want it.' After eighty takes, all day, at last she did it the way he wanted it."

Later in the movie, Alice realizes her attempt to showcase her family as a model of wealth failed to impress Russell, who saw through her family's middle-class facade. Stevens set up the scene where Alice realizes she's losing someone she really liked. He had her walk towards the bedroom window with rain pelting down outside while she sheds a flood of tears. Hepburn felt she couldn't produce tears on demand and insisted she wanted to have her character fall into her bed and cry with her head buried in the sheets. The usually calm Stevens went off on the actress, yelling at her so much the usually calm Hepburn became upset. Stevens immediately called "action," and with the camera rolling, Hepburn is standing looking out the window shedding buckets of tears. Stevens later told her he nearly walked away from the movie over that scene.

After the production wrapped, Hepburn praised Steven's directorial skills, calling him "brilliant." They became good friends with the two collaborating on a pair of future films, including Hepburn's first with Spencer Tracy, 1942's "Woman of the Year." Stevens went on to direct many Hollywood classics, including 1953's "Shane" and 1956's "Giant," and winning two Best Director Oscars. Besides Hepburn's Best Actress nomination for "Alice Adams," the Academy Awards also named it for Best Picture consideration. The American Film Institute nominated the Hepburn film as one of 400 movies for its Greatest Love Stories in movies category.

Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave. . .

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 12 May 2014]

"Alice Adams" is the story of a somewhat poor family in a small town. The mother and the daughter, Alice (Katherine Hepburn), long for money and standing in the community. When Alice meets an attractive, well-to-do man, Arthur (Fred McMurray), she is afraid to be herself lest Arthur reject her.

Things come to a head when the family invites Arthur to dinner. No amount of preparation or posing can stop the truth from revealing itself. The result is edgy comedy.

Hepburn, who often plays the strong, willful woman, here plays a more vulnerable character convincingly. McMurray plays an affable character--the type he is most known for.

A related story involves Alice's father, the man in the middle of all the conniving and contrivance. Oddly enough, the most satisfying part of the story's climax has to do with his relationship with his former employer.

Being middle class is a real misfortune

[rose_lily · 2/10 · 3 March 2014]

Katherine Hepburn plays Alice Adams a foolish, annoying, young woman determined to be accepted by the town snobs who shun her. What goal in life could be a more worthy one than to focus on being accepted by those whose lives are measured on shallow values?! And poor Alice, her plight is a tortured one in which the movie audience is asked to join in on and root for her victory. Are we to sympathize with Alice because she is forced to wear an unfashionable, two-year old dress to a society dance? Katherine Hepburn certainly gives this performance the full benefit of her forceful personality, babbling incessantly and pretentiously to all those around, her finishing school accent only aggrandizing the assault. Her mother, played by Anne Shoemaker, certainly shares Alice's pretensions, bemoaning her daughter's social ostracization from the country club set, berating her husband Virgil, (Fred Stone), with shrewish insistency that he is a business and social failure. As far as Mrs. Adams is concerned, Mr. Adams' shortcomings have selfishly doomed their daughter to an undistinguished middle class life. Not that Mr. Adams isn't asking for what he gets; he's a childish, petulant man who wears his ignorance of the world like a medal of honor.

Fred MacMurray is the socially acceptable suitor Arthur Russell who takes an interest in Alice, although why he is attracted to this strident girl trying too hard to impress, is a mystery. MacMurray, a bland presence in any movie he's in, basically portrays his character as a man in silent contemplation of a theater piece he's been given a front row center seat to take in, or as a hapless boob suffering in non-comprehension of what's going on. Whatever, he's just a prop put carefully in place.

Hattie McDaniel has a small but showy role as the housemaid tasked with preparing and "waiting at table" to the assembled Adams' and their dinner guest for the evening, beau Arthur Russell. She's sloppy, dumb, inept and totally bereft of social poise. Mrs. Adams is so demanding that the maid (who is never referred to by name) becomes so flustered, she falls down the basement stairs to the dismay of Mr. Adams. He just hopes that when the servant took her fall, she didn't break any of his things!

This movie was based on a novel by Booth Tarkington, a Pulitzer Prize wining author whose writing and literary glory has now faded and with reason. Tarkington came from political family, wealthy, conservative businessmen with a bona fide WASP pedigree. His preoccupations were the circumscribed environs of small town Midwest life---the social stratification, the importance of wealth and the petty world of class distinction. Tarkington doesn't condemn this elitist dominance; he legitimatizes societal differentiation determined by material distinction as irrevocable and correct. You just got to feel sorry for people like Alice, and families like the Adams clan. They're just pathetic nobodies.

This movie plays an old tune out good and loud with all false cords and superficial sentiment. It's a real "antique" and not of the valuable kind.