User Reviews

Christopher Strong (1933) belongs to that breed of pre-code that has not aged gracefully. Though it concerns spicy topics such as infidelity, alcoholism, and pregnancy out of wedlock, this picture plays like a musty melodrama with only a young Katharine Hepburn endowing it with any interest for the modern viewer.

One wonders why the film was named after Colin Clive's character, a middle-aged politician whose long-lasting faithfulness to his wife comes to an end when he takes up an affair with Hepburn's free-spirited and virginal aviatrix, Lady Cynthia Darrington. Cynthia is the real main character, certainly the character who goes through the biggest transformation and suffers the most. The film ends with her learning she is pregnant. Rather than give up her career and ruin her reputation, she kills herself in a plane crash. It's as melodramatic as melodrama gets.

Unlike most other pre-codes which sizzle and even feel modern, CS is rather moldy. Unless you're a die hard Katharine Hepburn or Colin Clive completionist, this isn't worth your time.

Katherine Hepburn was a forceful actress with unconventional good looks but some critical mogul labeled her "box office poison" in the late 1930s. Maybe because she often wore slacks. But she was competent enough and was to become much more than merely "competent" as she matured.

Still, in the 1930s, with all her spirit and beauty, she was stuck in a number of movies of the genre that were called -- without any implication of male superiority -- "women's pictures." They were simply aimed at a certain audience, perhaps to provide some balance for the "men's pictures" in which Jimmy Cagney punched everybody out. Beginning with "A Bill of Divorcement," they mostly seemed to involve romantic intrigues and difficulties, the kind that can be found on many afternoon domestic dramas on television. This entry in the series doesn't add much to her box-office impact or, if it somehow does, I missed it. The director gives Hepburn a grand entrance into a ball room dressed in a shimmering gown and tight skull cap that is supposed to be stunning but to an insensitive male only makes Hepburn look a little like the False Maria in "Metropolis."

This one was directed by a woman but it fits the template fairly well. Hepburn is Lady Cynthia Darlington. She's an aviatrix, but don't worry. There isn't much flying in it. She falls in love with a married man, Colin Clive. Clive's daughter falls in love with an older man too, even after she's been seduced by a rogue named Carlo. The echoing dual contretemps is handled better in "King Lear," where it's not handled very well either. Will Katherine wind up with Colin? Will Colin's daughter catch the man she truly loves? Will this movie never end? It's full of people who might have populated a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie at the same studio, RKO. Everybody not wearing riding breeches is dressed in evening clothes. They rush from one all-night party to another. Some of them are reckless. They think nothing of zipping off to vacations in Italy and riding around in speedboats. Colin Clive -- you'll remember him as Dr. Frankenstein. You know, the white-coated scientist who shouts, "Get BECK. Get BECK! It's ALIVE. Ohhh, it's alive!" His name here is Sir Christopher Strong, just as Hepburn is Lady Cynthia Darlington.

Actually, I didn't really care who ended up with whom. The movie did leave me with a strong feeling, however. I wish I'd been born rich instead of poor, into a world in which the worst tragedies one had to face were the prospect of divorce and the immutable fact of having been seduced because one was lonely.

Chiefly of interest as one of Katharine Hepburn's early RKO films, "Christopher Strong" is worth a look for her fans, yet other than that, it's pretty much just another melodrama. Hepburn plays a feminist flier who falls in love with the married man of the title, played by Colin Clive. Lots of tears and hand-wringing follows as the affair deepens. I like Hepburn in the role, she is always interesting to watch, but even now (as she did back then) she seems a bit too arch to really connect to the audience. I have no idea why she falls for Clive in this one. The man is as stiff as a board and not that attractive. Helen Chandler's performance as Clive's troubled daughter fascinated me. Chandler herself was an alcoholic, and she is unnervingly right for her role. Billie Burke also stars as the wife who Clive cheats on. It's a pre-code so we even get a bedroom scene of sorts, but the film reaches a very post-code solution by the end. All in all, a decent melodrama from Arzner, and a striking Hepburn (she wears the moth suit in this one) performance, but not really anything great here.

Christopher Strong is a film of clichés- daring, independent woman meets devoted, trustworthy husband of kind, albeit prudish wife. He's never cheated on his wife, she's never been in love. Will a clandestine affair ensue? Oh, gee, the suspense might leave you hanging.

But before you write this one off, remember that it stars the incomparable Katharine Hepburn in one of her first screen roles. And she is divine. I love Kate when she's strong and brash and carelessly independent. She breathes life into what would be a tired role in any other actress's hands. Her performance makes you believe at once in the worldliness and naiveté of an aviatrix who's never known love before.

The ending is rushed and lacks credibility. It feels forced, as though they had to give some closure to a rather untidy relationship. It would have been better without the closure. But through it all, you believe in Hepburn; even in the final moments, you believe that maybe she regrets her irreversible decision after all.

It's not an original look at adultery, but Kate's performance gives you an interesting view of the other woman- one who is brave but scared, happy but miserable.

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.

In an eerie forecast of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the story of female pilot Cynthia Darrington and her love affair with an older married man (Colin Clive) is a haunting melodrama of one woman's search for independence and the revelation that her sins make her more dependent. She is the best friend of Clive's rebellious daughter (Helen Chandler), an amoral young woman also in love with a married man. Torn between her love for Clive and her own scruples, Cynthia is forced to make a drastic decision, especially after helping Chandler through her ordeal and being thanked for her kindness by Clive's noble wife (Billie Burke in a very serious part) who is disappointed by the lack of "nice" people in their social circle. Will Hepburn choose to break up this marriage in order to secure her own happiness, or will she break it off to prevent herself from becoming one of those selfish social nothings who don't care whom they hurt, as long as their own happiness is secure?

In just her second film, Katharine Hepburn proves that she has what it takes to be more than just a one-hit wonder. She's simply breathtaking to watch, a plethora of emotions and in definite conflict with herself because of something which occurred that was beyond her control. Colin Clive is quite different here as the romantic older man she can't bear to be without, not at all like his mad doctor in "Frankenstein". This is quite a nice dramatic role for Billie Burke who didn't start acting all dizzy in her movies until after she had been established. With this and her outstanding bitchy role as the society woman planning "Dinner at Eight", she would have been the front runner for a Supporting Actress Oscar had they been given out in 1933.

Wearing a gold lamé costume in one sequence which looks like something borrowed from MGM's "Madame Satan", Katherine Hepburn photographs gorgeously, and that voice is "rally" spectacular to listen to, obviously theatrically trained and truly nobody's fool as she takes over the male dominated world of early talking pictures. Her career would be a bumpy ride during her first decade of movie acting because her personality off screen and on was something nobody had seen before. But what makes a star? The ability to stand out on your own and create something that is like no other, and that is what the essence of the great Kate remains to this day. She remains, along with a few others, a truly great icon of entertainment, and that is what makes a legend most!

This was the second Katharine Hepburn movie I ever saw, and I have to say that it impressed me enough to keep watching her in other films (to end up eventually loving her!).

The is the kind of movie that needs to be watched a few times before a viewer can fully understand and recognize all the plots, ironies, patterns, reflections, etc. The movie starts out with Cynthia as the woman who has never had a love affair, and Christopher as the man who's always been faithful to his wife. Meanwhile, Monica (Christopher's daughter) is having a love affair, and Bill is being unfaithful to his wife with Monica. Monica and Bill are the ones who bring Cynthia and Christopher together. When Cynthia and Christopher meet, it still seems unlikely that the whole situation will change. Cynthia imposes herself more and more onto the Strong family, until one can begin to get the sense that something is going on between Cynthia and Chris.

The family and Cynthia go to France, where the tables really turn. At a party, Monica has a one-night-stand with some random fellow (after being told she is not allowed to see Bill until he is divorced). At the very same party, Chris ditches his wife for Cynthia. The whole night ends with a very sappy boat-ride between Chris and Cynthia and with Monica going off with the man she met at the party. At this point, Cynthia is having a love affair with Chris, and Chris is being unfaithful to his wife. Monica has no boyfriend (just her one-night-stand) and Bill is being faithful to his wife.

When they return home, Bill and Monica end up having a fight about Monica being frivolous in France. Monica rushes to Cynthia and confides that she is going to commit suicide. Cynthia explains that suicide is not the way to go (which Cynthia herself ends up resorting to at the end of the movie) and encourages Monica to make up with Bill. It works, and Bill and Monica end up getting married. Eventually they find out that they are expecting a baby. . .and Cynthia finds out that she is expecting a baby as well. Christopher's baby, of course. Cynthia tries to tell Chris about the baby, but she keeps getting interrupted through his distraction with Monica's pregnancy.

One day, Chris and Cynthia go out to lunch at a place where they think that they will not be seen. Of course, Bill and Monica end up eating at the very same place, and Monica sees her father and Cynthia together. Monica and Cynthia have a fight where Monica says that Cynthia will never know anything about life, that Cynthia knows nothing about love and one day she will crash down in her plane and die, not knowing what life was about at all (which is the half-true prediction of Cynthia's fate).

Not long after, Cynthia goes up in her plane to break the altitude record. Someone tells her to put on her oxygen mask once she gets to a certain height, which is basically our big hint. She puts on her oxygen mask at the level at which she was told and begins to cry from behind the mask as she keep flying toward the goal height. She sees a montage of all her recent experiences with flying, with Chris, with life. Finally, she rips off the oxygen mask and plummets to her death, having broken the altitude record. She never tells Chris about her pregnancy.

This movie has such a sophisticated, complicated plot. You see the correlation of Monica and Bill's relationship with Chris and Cynthia's. Eventually the relationship situations become reversed, while remaining similar at the same time. The reflections of the relationships are like the symmetry of a butterfly's wings. . .or of a moth's (ha-ha). It's not really even the aviation that is important (although Cynthia does fly around the world at one point in the movie).

Sorry if I have some of the scenes out of order, it's been a long time since I've seen the movie. I just wanted to emphasize the irony of the plot. This movie is one of my all-time favorites, and although some filming and acting techniques are out of date, the overall story could stand the test of time. If you didn't like it the first time, watch it a few more times. I think you could appreciate it more that way.

For years I had an aversion to old movies, which were any black & white movies. From what little clips I saw here and there I had images of a lame plot, bad mood setting music, and gross overacting to make the plot seem more dramatic than it was. In other words, I had thoughts of "Christopher Strong."

This was a stupid movie with a stupid ending.

"Christopher Strong" is a typical 1930's movie regarding rich people. They attend parties until dawn, speak with stuffy accents, and are always fooling around. There's always a mistress or a lover. It's so common that it's just accepted and it would be bad manners to quarrel about it. Us commoners are too unsophisticated to understand.

In this tripe Sir Christopher Strong (Colin Clive) began the movie as a faithful husband who was fully devoted to his wife, Lady Elaine Strong (Billie Burke). His fidelity was a rarity. In fact, it was so rare that his daughter, Monica (Helen Chandler), used him for her scavenger hunt when the guests at yet another swanky party were told to find a man who'd been married more than five years and had remained faithful. Monica dragged her dutiful father to the party where he lectured all the partygoers about the happiness monogamy brings.

The participants were told that they could also find a woman above the age of twenty-one who'd never been in love. And that's where Lady Cynthia Darrington (Katharine Hepburn) comes in. She was brought to the party where she met Christopher Strong and I don't need to even tell you what happened next.

The two fell in love and kept the whole matter a secret because their relationship would positively destroy Christopher's wife. What a selfless gentleman.

Meanwhile, Christopher's daughter, Monica, was openly and happily seeing a married man named Harry (Ralph Forbes). Her prude and "old fashioned" parents forbade it and took her to Paris to take her mind off of the forbidden fruit known as Harry. But what you must understand is that we were supposed to view the Monica/Harry relationship favorably. Why? A.) Because his wife was never shown and B.) Harry and Monica were so happy together. That adds up to the fact that he was miserable with his wife who must've been a miserable person if Harry, this wonderful guy, didn't love her anymore. It was one of Hollywood's weak tricks of establishing which characters are to be admired and which are to be despised.

In Paris Monica met a guy named Carlo (Jack La Rue). Carlo was smooth and quick to profess his love for Monica which was an easy way for her to forget Harry. They did what young people do (even in the 30's) while Christopher and Cynthia sneaked around doing the same thing.

I bring up Monica in Paris because that incident led to her becoming one of the most pathetic creatures I've ever witnessed.

Harry eventually divorced his nameless and faceless wife which made him available. He wanted to marry Monica but he heard about her tryst with Carlo and decided better of it.

Before I go into Monica's response to the news that Harry gave her the kybosh, I have to say what a hypocrite Harry was. It went totally unmentioned that he'd been cheating on his wife yet had the nerve to be upset with his side chick for hooking up with someone. Harry was painted as a decent guy who was denounced by only "old fashion" Elaine.

Back to Monica.

There was a two month period Cynthia and Christopher separated. He knew he was wrong so he did the right thing before things got deeper between the two. For reasons unknown Monica hunted down Cynthia to proclaim that she was going to commit suicide because Harry wouldn't marry her. I don't know if it was the melodramatics of it or just because I think it was a small-minded response to rejection, but I hated no one more than I hated Monica in that moment. She was so utterly weak and pathetic that it drove me to want to commit a violent act. I wanted to end her life just so I wouldn't have to see her face or hear her sorry voice again.

Cynthia talked her out of the suicide by telling her that Harry would come around and profess his love for her and then she'd be happy again.

I'm married and I love my wife, but there is no way that I'm attaching that much value to her love and acceptance. I value and respect myself far too much to let another person dictate whether or not I'll be happy.

As for Cynthia and Christopher, they reunited with all of the oaths and proclamations of love everlasting and love unparalleled and feelings indescribable. They vowed never to part ways again, and Cynthia went one step further. She was a renowned aviator, yet she vowed never to fly again just to appease Christopher. She was willing to give up her one true passion just so her lover could feel safe knowing she wasn't doing something unsafe.

Their affair went on for months until the easily predictable happened. She got pregnant. Cynthia was on her way to tell Christopher of the wonderful news, but before she could tell him she was chastised by Monica.

Monica and Harry, now married and legit, saw Christopher and Cynthia in a restaurant doing what they did most: stating their unequivocal love for one another. Monica told Cynthia she saw them and that she was ruining a happy home.

Cynthia: "What about it? You both must have very short memories."

Translation: "Monica, you were dating a married man not too long ago, so who are you two to lecture me?"

Monica: "Well at least I didn't take Harry away from a woman who was an angel whom he always loved."

Translation: "it's OK to be a homewrecker if the dude didn't love his wife anymore or if she's not an 'angel.' "

The hogwash that was coming out of Monica's mouth wasn't the least bit digestible. Didn't she even hear herself. People will say anything to justify their bad acts compared to someone else's bad acts. Just say you don't like it because it's your mother being cheated on and kill all the extra noise.

In any case, the lecture worked. Cynthia felt guilty and decided not to tell Christopher about his unborn child lest she harm an "angel."

What she did instead, though, was so much worse and so much more pitiful.

She killed herself.

And I knew she would! That's the Hollywood answer to a disturbing love triangle. Kill one third of the triangle and then you can have a drama free ending with the remaining two.

Instead of surreptitiously moving away, or breaking it off with Christopher in strong terms, she killed herself.

I loathed this ending for two reasons.

1.) It didn't fit her character. She was a gregarious woman full of life and adventure. She was strong and unapologetic about what she did, yet her affair with Christopher reduced her to a sappy wuss who couldn't cope. Or perhaps she thought her suicide was the noble thing to do, but even still it didn't fit her character.

2.) It's weak. Like I said, Hollywood does that. They take the easy way out of things with deus ex machinas, easy changes of heart, or suicides when it fits. And by suicide I also mean those actions a person takes which he/she knows has a high likelihood of death.

This movie was tragic, and not in the Shakespeare way. It was a pretentious stuffy movie devoid of any value. There was nothing to be gleaned from this heaping pile whatsoever. I don't watch movies to be irked, angered, or riled up. If I want to feel any of those emotions I'd just watch the news.

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