Christopher Strong

We're on the heels of A Bill of Divorcement, and notionally we've the setup for Hepburn to again be the modern presence wandered into the middle of a plummy bowl of wax fruit (why hello again, Billie Burke). The problem soon becomes apparent though: this script has all the wit, sophistication, and nuance of a gallon of lavender-scented laundry detergent.

Assim amam as mulheres estreava há 90 anos em New York. Esse filme me deixou com sentimentos díspares, por ter três motivos para que a Hepburn tome uma derradeira solução drástica: não atrapalhar a vida do amado, não conseguir viver sem o amado, e a terceira, que gosto mais, como libelo contra as legislações anti-aborto. Se a gente cavar fundo, essa terceira é mais condizente com um subtexto pre-code oriundo da Arzner. Box OP Dorothy Arzner

Viewed April 5, 2022. It sounds reductive to say it, but the best part of this is really Hepburn’s outfits — between her wacky moth outfit and her flying gear and her cool hats, she cuts such an iconic figure on screen. Her mere presence is interesting where so much of the rest of the movie is not. Dorothy Arzner’s direction is rather stiff, especially in comparison to the free-flowing, punchy rhythm of Merrily We Go to Hell. The ending is blunt and brutal, not in a good way.

Sort of drab film that really only hits at the end, Hepburn is very good here. And it's interesting how up front it was with the daughter and her affair with a married man. Pre-Hays code magic, I guess.

The declarations of love (& long-suffering wife) are as overwrought as expected & the daughter's 1 of the most annoyingly entitled characters ever. But this isn't for me. The climax is well done & the time period does create legit suspense since it's actually possible Strong might stay faithful. But what we're meant to get out of this soap opera is unclear. Unlike Woody Allen films, the characters behaviors don't seem to result from complexity but from an attempt to elicit scandalized gasps.

A tad bit over-melodramatic in the love declarations between Colin Clive and Katharine Hepburn, but otherwise this is a graceful piece about cheating. There really isn't any bad guys here. Clive is in a perfect marriage with Billie Burke, but he ends up falling deeply in love with Hepburn. Love just happens sometimes and there is little one can do about it. There is a certain innocence about it and they way it plays out. Toned down and no real sensationalism about it.... except for the end.

Hepburn and Clive make a surprisingly great pair, their differences play well together. The ending is inevitable from the first frame, but it unfolds with grace.