The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart and featuring Ruth Hussey. Based on the Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry,the film is about a socialite (Hepburn) whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband (Grant) and a tabloid magazine journalist (Stewart). Written for the screen by Donald Ogden Stewart and an uncredited Waldo Salt, it is considered one of the best examples of a comedy of remarriage, a genre popular in the 1930s and 1940s, in which a couple divorce, flirt with outsiders and then remarry – a useful story-telling ploy at a time when the depiction of extramarital affairs was blocked by the Production Code.

The film was Hepburn's first big hit following several flops, which had led to her being included on a 1938 list that Manhattan movie theater owner Harry Brandt compiled of actors he considered to be "box office poison." She acquired the film rights to the play, which she had also starred in, with the help of Howard Hughes, in order to control it as a vehicle for her movie comeback.

The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two: Stewart for Best Actor and Donald Ogden Stewart for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was remade in 1956 as the musical High Society, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong.

The film was produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1995.

Plot
Tracy Samantha Lord Haven (Katharine Hepburn) is a wealthy Main Line Philadelphia socialite who had divorced C. K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), a member of her social set, because he did not measure up to her exacting standards. (He was an alcoholic, and her lack of faith in him exacerbated his condition.) She is about to marry nouveau riche "man of the people" George Kittredge (John Howard).

Spy magazine publisher Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) is eager to cover the wedding, and he enlists Dexter, one of his former employees, to introduce reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) as friends of the family so they can report on the wedding. Tracy is not fooled but reluctantly agrees to let them stay—after Dexter explains that Kidd has an innuendo-laden article about Tracy's father, Seth (John Halliday), who, Tracy believes, is having an affair with a dancer. Though Seth is separated from Tracy's mother Margaret (Mary Nash) and Tracy harbors great resentment against him, she wants to protect her family's reputation.

Dexter is welcomed back with open arms by Margaret and Dinah (Virginia Weidler), Tracy's teenage sister—much to Tracy's annoyance. In addition, Tracy gradually discovers that Mike has admirable qualities, and she even takes the trouble to find his published stories in the library. Thus, as the wedding nears, Tracy finds herself torn between her fiancé, her ex-husband, and the reporter.

The night before the wedding, Tracy gets drunk for only the second time in her life and takes an innocent swim with Mike. When George sees Mike carrying an intoxicated Tracy into the house afterward, he thinks the worst. The next day, he tells her that he was shocked and feels entitled to an explanation before going ahead with the wedding. Tracy takes exception to his lack of faith in her and breaks off the engagement. Then she realizes that all the guests have arrived and are waiting for the ceremony to begin. Mike volunteers to marry her (much to Liz's distress), but Tracy graciously declines. At this point, Dexter makes his bid for her hand, which she accepts.

Critical reception
According to Bosley Crowther, the film "has just about everything that a blue-chip comedy should have—a witty, romantic script derived by Donald Ogden Stewart out of Philip Barry's successful play; the flavor of high-society elegance, in which the patrons invariably luxuriate, and a splendid cast of performers headed by Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart and Cary Grant. If it doesn't play out this year and well along into next they should turn the Music Hall into a shooting gallery....Metro and Director George Cukor have graciously made it apparent, in the words of a character, that one of 'the prettiest sights in this pretty world is the privileged classes enjoying their privileges.' And so, in this instance, will you, too."

The Philadelphia Story was the last of four films starring Grant and Hepburn, the others being Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Bringing Up Baby (1938), and Holiday (1938). All but Sylvia Scarlett belong to a sub-genre of screwball comedy called the comedy of remarriage described by the philosopher Stanley Cavell as Hollywood's crowning achievement.

Awards and honors
Ruth Hussey as Liz Imbrie
Cary Grant and John Howard as Dexter Haven and George Kittredge

At the 1940 Academy Awards The Philadelphia Story received 6 nominations:
Outstanding Production – MGM (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Producer)
Best Director – George Cukor
Best Actor – James Stewart
Best Actress – Katharine Hepburn
Best Writing, Screenplay – Donald Ogden Stewart
Best Supporting Actress – Ruth Hussey

James Stewart and Donald Ogden Stewart won Academy Awards.

James Stewart was not expecting to win and was not planning to attend the awards ceremony. He was called and "advised" to show up in a dinner jacket. Stewart himself said he had voted for Henry Fonda for his performance in The Grapes of Wrath, and always felt the award had been given to him as compensation for not winning the Academy Award for his portrayal of Jeff Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Donald Ogden Stewart, on the other hand, declared upon winning his Oscar: "I have no one to thank but myself!"

Hepburn won a 1940 New York Film Critics Circle Award for her performance, and the film was named one of the ten best of the year by Film Daily.

In 1995, The Philadelphia Story film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

American Film Institute Lists
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - #51
AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - #15
AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions - #44
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
"You're lit from within, Tracy. You've got fires banked down in you, hearth-fires and holocausts." - Nominated[19]
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores - Nominated[20]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #44
AFI's 10 Top 10 - #5 Romantic Comedy