Overview
A mild-mannered professor's life spirals into chaos when a free-spirited heiress enters the picture, leading to unexpected romance and hilarity.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Breakneck
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- None
- witty
- frantic
- irreverent
- classic movie night
- date night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a fast, inventive screwball comedy elevated by the exuberant comic chemistry of Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
David's carefully managed scientific career, engagement, and funding campaign repeatedly unravel through Susan's interventions and the leopard episode.
Susan drives the pursuit and adventure while the normally controlled David becomes the flustered, physically comic partner.
The missing intercostal clavicle bone and the brontosaurus skeleton motivate David's funding campaign and connect the characters' schemes.
Baby the tame leopard and George the bone-burying terrier directly intensify the pursuit, misunderstandings, and disorder.
Films like Bringing Up Baby, and why
His Girl Friday
shared screwball comedy, romantic misadventure, rapid verbal repartee, and escalating social chaos
The Philadelphia Story
shared screwball romance, oppositional attraction, eccentric characters, and comic disruption of respectable lives
My Man Godfrey
shared screwball farce, mistaken impressions, animal-driven mayhem, and a freewheeling battle of personalities
Movie Details
- Director
- Howard Hawks
- Release Date
- 1938-02-18
- Runtime
- 102 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (1125)
Cast
- Katharine Hepburn
- Cary Grant
- Charles Ruggles
- Walter Catlett
- Barry Fitzgerald
- May Robson
- Fritz Feld
- Leona Roberts
- George Irving
- Tala Birell
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Bringing Up Baby about?
- A buttoned-up paleontologist’s orderly plans disintegrate when a wildly impulsive heiress, a pet leopard, and a missing dinosaur bone pull him into romantic screwball chaos.
- What is Bringing Up Baby like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Bringing Up Baby as breakneck, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Bringing Up Baby violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Bringing Up Baby.
- What did critics think of Bringing Up Baby?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a fast, inventive screwball comedy elevated by the exuberant comic chemistry of Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.
- Which films are like Bringing Up Baby?
- Films with a similar feel include His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, and My Man Godfrey.
- How long is Bringing Up Baby?
- Bringing Up Baby runs 102 minutes.
- Where can I watch Bringing Up Baby?
- In United States, Bringing Up Baby is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand.
