Quality Street

...Well, this film is chock full of boisterous shyness! Look at us we are so shy! And it gets very annoying in short order. It's about a street in England in 1805 - Quality Street - that has nobody but spinsters living there. No explanation of this is ever given. Every time a man appears all of the curtains part, and the residents all stare. In fact, anytime somebody new appears on the street they all stare.

The residents we are introduced to are ridiculously introverted and repressed, yet they are also passive aggressive and spend their time being nosey about others since they have no real lives of their own. The Throssel sisters are two people living on this street, young Phoebe (Kate Hepburn) and her older sister, Susan (Fay Bainter). Phoebe has some hope of being taken away from all of this when she meets a young physician, Valentine Brown (Franchot Tone), who seems interested in her, but when he comes to her house for a big announcement, it is that he has joined the army to fight Napoleon.

Phoebe declares that Brown is the one she loves, she is not interested in entertaining any other suitors, and then she throws herself into the work of running a school with her sister. Ten years pass and although Phoebe is only 30, she looks much older than that. Thus when Val (Valentine) returns from war, he is visibly shaken by her changed and wilted appearance and seems to recoil. After he leaves, Phoebe shakes down her hair, puts on an ornate gown, and begins to prance around as though she is 20 again. In the process, she seems to transform back into her 20 year old self. It's rather ridiculous - kind of like the 60s movie where a secretary takes off her glasses, shakes down her hair and is suddenly a go-go dancer, but I digress.

The problem is that Val returns suddenly and sees her like this and Phoebe is embarrassed by her behavior, so a servant identifies her as Livy, Phoebe's niece. Val is entranced, and now Phoebe is forced to keep up the ruse of being two people. The complicating factor is that the existence of this relative that nobody ever knew existed is noticed by the nosey neighbors, they don't believe that Livy is a real person, and they set out to prove that Livy and Phoebe are one in the same. Complications ensue.

Besides belaboring the issue of the residents of Quality Street being repressed but nosey, there are just no real likeable characters here. Phoebe should have cleared up this matter from the start but she doesn't, and Val is clueless as to what he means to Phoebe and seems to forget what time and age do to people. It does get pretty amusing in the last act, but it's a tough hard slog to get to that last act.

This is a gem!--IF you like stories set in this time period to begin with. IF you like the more sentimental acting style prevalent in the 1930's. And probably IF you're female.

This has some resonance with Jane Austen's Persuasion. For me, it felt as if I'd found a new Georgette Heyer story, and on film! This is set in the Regency period in England. It is both romantic and comedic.

Katherine Hepburn gives another great performance, similar to her Jo March in Little Women. I don't find her acting over the top at all. Franchot Tone is a good foil for her--not a great actor, but pretty hunky. Additionally, it has a lovely cast full of the kind of character actors you see in films like the Greer Garson Pride and Prejudice. In this case, it's Fay Bainter, Estelle Winwood, and other notables giving the film a fey charm.

I was about to go to bed one night and was watching a movie on TCM. The movie I was watching had just ended and Quality Street started to play. I was so charmed by this movie that I had to stay up quite late and finish watching it. I just couldn't make myself push the off button on my remote:) Katharine is quite charming as Phoebe and plays her niece quite well too. I honestly don't think Katharine looks too old, as other reviews have stated. Franchot Tone is very handsome as the gullible soldier. A good supporting cast as well. It is a light, entertaining romantic comedy. Just as long as you think this while the movie plays, it won't disappoint.

On Quality Street, women occupy their time by either witnessing or passing gossip about their friends and neighbors. Whenever there's a gentleman caller, all the neighbors peer out their windows and stare, taking note of how he was dressed, if he brought flowers, and how long he stayed. What else is there to do in 1805?

Katharine Hepburn and her old maid sister Fay Bainter live on Quality Street, and while they primarily socialize with other old maids and gossipers in town, Kate has one particular friend she treasures: the dashing Franchot Tone. She's known Franchot for a year, and when she thinks he's going to propose, the rumor gets spread all over town. It turns out he enlisted in the army instead, and Kate feels humiliated. Ten years later, Franchot comes home from the war. He's a little gray at the temples, and Kate is no longer the blushing beauty he remembers. Can they fall in love again or is it too late?

While it has an intriguing premise, the rest of the film is pretty silly. In order to get him back, Kate throws caution to the wind and acts like a harlot with all the other men in town, and her mischief-making gets a little long in the tooth after a few scenes. It is great fun to see Kate all dolled up, though. She's more beautiful than she's ever looked in her movies, and her flirtations are charming and sweet. I'm fans of both Kate and Franchot, but Fay Bainter was my favorite character in the film. She was unselfish and a wonderful sister, and I wish she'd taken some screen time away from Kate's silliness.

Delightful comedy of errors. Pheobe (Hepburn) is in love with the dashing Dr. Brown, but alas her love is unrequited. They meet again 10 years later on his return from the Napoleonic Wars. She has wilted under the strain of teaching little children and is self-conscious about her age. On a whim she decides to dress in her former radiant style, and ends up being mistaken by Dr. Brown for Pheobe's niece. They start to court, and from there it's all silly and predictable, but... sparkling dialogue, great acting and wonderful supporting parts (especially the nosy old spinsters at the windows)