Christopher Strong

1933

1 hr. 17 min.

Comedy

List

83%

6 Reviews

Tomatometer

39%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Female aviator Lady Cynthia Darrington (Katharine Hepburn) and Parliament member Sir Christopher Strong (Colin Clive) meet at a party, where the free spirit and the married politician are instantly attracted. Christopher's wife, Lady Elaine (Billie Burke), invites Cynthia to stay at the Strongs' summer house, where she grows even closer to him. Mindful of the damage an affair would do to Christopher's career and family, the couple parts, but they soon realize they can't live without each other.

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Steve D

Really slow and miss-cast

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/02/24

Full Review

Shadowman4710

Sir Christopher Strong (Colin Clive) is a rather stuffy but happily married British diplomat who becomes infatuated with female aviator (Katherine Hepburn in a very early performance). As a melodrama, it's very much a period piece and suffers from the stilted acting an dialogue that was so common to the 1930's. Still, Hepburn shines in it and it's worth a view for any Hepburn fans. Everybody else? Probably not.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

06/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best romance movie ever made!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

"At the time, Arzner's film was not well-received, but later, feminists and other critics reexamined the incoherent saga in terms of gender roles and singled out Hepburn's turn (her first starring role) as an aviatrix and her penchant for bizarre outfits."

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The love affair is a little in your face in terms of delivery, but it's a gentle enough drama to enjoy with two big stars of the day.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

walter m

The movie starts after a scavenger hunt has rounded up all the usual objects. So, the hostess proposes two new challenges: to either find somebody who has been married for five years and has always been faithful or to find somebody over the age of 21 who has never been in love. For the first category, Monica(Helen Chandler) takes off to find dear old dad, Sir Christopher Strong(Colin Clive), who is so boring he is doing taxes in the middle of the night. Harry(Ralph Forbes) almost literally crashes and burns in a borrowed motorcycle before meeting up with Lady Cynthia Darrington(Katharine Hepburn) who satisfies the second category. At the party, Christopher and Cynthia bond and she gives him a ride in her car before one in her airplane. Even for the time it was made, "Christopher Strong" is a stodgy movie that drags on much too long and that even Katharine Hepburn can do little to salvage.(You do have to admit, however, that she is one of the only people who could rock that costume.) In fact, the coolest part of the movie, the flying, is usually given short shrift in favor of the dull melodrama in a half-hearted attempt to explore the changing social mores of 1933.(Notice that the movie is not called "The Daring Darrington.") And I am simply left wondering what exactly Cynthia sees in such a drip as Christopher.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Dorothy Arzner

Director

Katharine Hepburn

Lady Cynthia Darrington

Colin Clive

Sir Christopher Strong

Billie Burke

Lady Elaine Strong

Helen Chandler

Monica Strong

Ralph Forbes

Harry Rawlinson

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THR Staff

Hollywood Reporter

Katharine Hepburn, so far as this reviewer's opinion runs, is the next big star of pictures.

Mar 19, 2018

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Although both the film and Gilbert Frankau’s source novel are named after the male character, director Dorothy Arzner, star Katharine Hepburn, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Zoe Akins make it clear that Cynthia Darrington is the central character.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 12, 2023

Full Review

Eduardo Guaitsel

Cine-Mundial

Katherine Hepburn's fine talent and extreme thinness - who they put in some quirky outfits to look like Greta Garbo - in an plot with a lot of talking. [Full review in Spanish]

Jan 13, 2021

Full Review

Pare Lorentz

Vanity Fair

Neither producer, director, nor audience evidently ever once asked the question: what is the picture about?

Jun 14, 2019

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

At the time, Arzner's film was not well-received, but later, feminists and other critics reexamined the incoherent saga in terms of gender roles and singled out Hepburn's turn (her first starring role) as an aviatrix and her penchant for bizarre outfits.

Rated: B+

May 12, 2007

Full Review

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Good cast and from Hollywood's 'Golden Age,' but Arzner's typically flat direction grounds it.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 24, 2003

Full Review

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Synopsis

Female aviator Lady Cynthia Darrington (Katharine Hepburn) and Parliament member Sir Christopher Strong (Colin Clive) meet at a party, where the free spirit and the married politician are instantly attracted. Christopher's wife, Lady Elaine (Billie Burke), invites Cynthia to stay at the Strongs' summer house, where she grows even closer to him. Mindful of the damage an affair would do to Christopher's career and family, the couple parts, but they soon realize they can't live without each other.

Director: Dorothy Arzner
Production Co: RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Apr 20, 2009