Alice Adams (1935)

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.

In the lower-middle-class Adams family, father and son are happy to work in a drugstore, but mother and daughter Alice try every possible social-climbing stratagem despite snubs and embarrassment. When Alice finally meets her dream man Arthur, mother nags father into a risky business venture and plans to impress Alice's beau with an "upscale" family dinner. Will the excruciating results drive Arthur away?

Katharine Hepburn … Alice Adams
Fred MacMurray … Arthur Russell
Fred Stone … Virgil Adams
Evelyn Venable … Mildred 'Georgette' Palmer
Frank Albertson … Walter Adams
Ann Shoemaker … Mrs. Adams
Charley Grapewin … J. A. Lamb
Grady Sutton … Frank Dowling
Hedda Hopper … Mrs. Palmer
Jonathan Hale … Mr. Palmer