Christopher Strong (1933)

Already in only her second film and second year in Hollywood Hepburn displays all the assurance of a veteran. The plot is pure soap and Billie Burke, lovely though she looks, has an unfortunate habit of addressing her lines - especially in her initial scene with Colin Clive - to the middle distance whilst selecting a suitable expression to complement the dialogue. If Hepburn plays a pioneer of sorts - an aviatrix clearly modelled on Amelia Earhart - director Dorothy Arzner is also something of a pioneer standing virtually alone in a Hollywood dominated by male directors. For its time (1933) the exposition may have appeared slick; a group of 'bright young things' engaged in a treasure hunt are instructed by the hostess to find someone who has been faithful to his or her spouse for more than five years and someone who has never had a love affair. The first is easy for one of the guests who simply brings her father whilst someone else brings Hepburn; the age gap is as nothing and they embark on an affair doomed to end in tears. As I said it's world-class hoke but Hepburn makes it watchable.

This was Katherine Hepburn's second film, and she gives a very strong performance indeed (pun intended). She plays a young woman aviator, clearly based upon Amelia Earhart, who has never loved a man and, although beautiful, is convinced that 'there is nothing about me that a man could love'. How wrong she is, as the character Sir Christopher Strong, played sturdily if stodgily by Colin Clive with an upper lip so stiff it cracks, proceeds to demonstrate by cheating on his wife, the wimpish and idle Billie Burke, who likes to lie in bed in a lace bed jacket or welcome guests to soirees in a warbling affected voice. This is such a period piece that anyone who wants a genuine glimpse of pre-War London 'society' should make a point of watching it. How artificial can manners get? Talk about a veneer of politesse thinly covering a seething mass of prejudice, arrogance, and superciliousness! The film was sensitively directed by Dorothy Arzner (1897-1979), the only important female director in Hollywood between 1927 and 1943, who made 21 films in those years, of which the best known today is probably CRAIG'S WIFE (1936) with Rosalind Russell. Although one can imagine being attracted to Hepburn, it is difficult today to imagine anyone taking a character like Christopher Strong seriously, as he is so incredibly boring and formal that any modern woman faced with having to spend a day with him would probably become suicidal very quickly. But in the 1930s, people like that were simply everywhere. Some of the 'fun parties' shown in this film are truly extraordinary. If you can sit back and pretend that you are alive in 1933 and all the 'strange stuff' is normal, then you will get a lot out of this film. It is based on a novel by the popular author of the day, Gilbert Frankau. You would never know that on the other side of the Atlantic, the Great Depression was underway, since the frivolity and frolicsome behaviour of these London socialites gives an effervescent air of limitless wealth and privilege. And it is perfectly natural that Katherine Hepburn has her own private plane in which she can fly around the world solo if she feels like it, and does. Like I said, this is a period piece, and because Hepburn throws her all into it, the drama is powerful within its period limitations.

Katharine Hepburn is a beautiful and accomplished aviatrix in "Christopher Strong," a 1933 film also starring Clive Owen and Billie Burke, and directed by Dorothy Arzner. Hepburn's role of Lady Cynthia is loosely based on Amelia Earhart, a young, ambitious career woman who is not interested in marriage and home but rather accomplishment. She's an early feminist, and the role is perfect for Hepburn, who with her androgynous looks and strong performances would go on to play many such roles in her very long career."Christopher Strong" is of interest because it's early Hepburn, has a feminist theme in the early '30s, and also because it's pre-Code. Arzner does a great job depicting the love affair of Hepburn and Owen and yet shows nothing, with a hand reaching up and checking the time on a small clock...then the light is turned off and plunges the room into darkness after the lovers exchange a few words.The problem with the movie is that it's badly dated, a '30s melodrama with tremulous, "we must be honorable," pip-pip and all that rot dialogue. Owen tells everyone at a party that he will never be unfaithful to his wife, that it is a moral charge he holds high - and seconds later he meets Hepburn and you can tell he's already falling. Owen is an odd choice of a romantic partner - he's not exactly the man one would give up everything for.A bigger problem is the performance of Billie Burke, a fine actress. She is extremely sympathetic as the suffering wife - so sympathetic, in fact, and Hepburn seems so callous about the whole thing for most of the film, that one sides with what I'm sure is the wrong person. Also, putting up with your husband's infidelity and not saying anything brings us right back into aggressive non-feminism.I am forced to agree with one of the other comments - yes, it is directed by an important director, yes, it stars an important, legendary star, yes, it's early feminism, and yes, it's not that great a movie, rather, an artifact. Worth seeing? To catch Hepburn in that moth costume - absolutely.

CHRISTOPHER STRONG (RKO Radio, 1933), directed by Dorothy Arzner, with a haunting score by Max Steiner, began production as "A Great Desire." Starring Katharine Hepburn in her second feature film following her successful debut in A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT (1932), it pairs her opposite Colin Clive for the only time. Set in England, she plays Lady Cynthia Darrington, an enthusiastic aviatrix (possibly inspired on Amelia Earheart), who is over 21 and has never had a lover or an affair because she makes no time for it. All that changes when she meets Sir Christopher Strong (Colin Clive), whose life is not only absorbed in his political career, but with his wife (Billie Burke) and his single adult daughter (Helen Chandler) who has a married lover (Ralph Forbes), but becomes her husband after he is finally granted his divorce.CHRISTOPHER STRONG is particularly interesting mainly because of some pre-production code stuff, and seeing Kate playing "the other woman" on screen for the only time who meets her dismal climax, something not common in a Hepburn movie. There is even a "bedroom scene" which camera focuses mainly on Kate's hand by the lamp while the viewer only hears some mono dialog exchange between her and Chris before she turns off the lights, leaving something to the viewer's imagination. By today's standards, this is nothing compared to what Hollywood would make of this particular scene today. I won't reveal any more about the plot, but this is early Kate Hepburn as the liberated woman with carefree ideas that come back to punish her. Maybe casting Hepburn in this type of role was RKO 's way of trying to develop her into a tragic heroine like MGM's own Greta Garbo. Worth a look, however, especially seeing Colin Clive in something other than that as Dr. Henry Frankenstein, his most famous performance(s) in Universal's FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935). CHRISTOPHER STRONG, which formerly played on the American Movie Classics cable channel prior to 2001, can be seen occasionally on Turner Classic Movies. It was once available on video cassette through the Nostalgia Merchant and RKO Home Video, but presently, it's out of print. Look quickly for future Warner Brothers actress Margaret Lindsay appearing in a small role as a girl who wants to get Cynthia's autograph. Not a box office success when released, but better roles for Kate in 1933 would soon follow with MORNING GLORY and LITTLE WOMEN. (**1/2)