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Christopher Strong

Play trailer Poster for Christopher Strong 1933 1h 17m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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83% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 40% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
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.

Critics Reviews

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THR Staff The Hollywood Reporter 03/19/2018
Katharine Hepburn, so far as this reviewer's opinion runs, is the next big star of pictures. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 11/12/2023
3/4
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. Go to Full Review
Eduardo Guaitsel Cine-Mundial 01/13/2021
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] Go to Full Review
Pare Lorentz Vanity Fair 06/14/2019
Neither producer, director, nor audience evidently ever once asked the question: what is the picture about? Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 05/12/2007
B+
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. Go to Full Review
Ken Hanke Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) 11/24/2003
3/5
Good cast and from Hollywood's 'Golden Age,' but Arzner's typically flat direction grounds it. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Steve D 03/02/2024 Really slow and miss-cast See more Shadowman4710 06/11/2023 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. See more Thomas M @TMProofreader 01/27/2019 The best romance movie ever made! See more 10/05/2013 "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." See more 06/12/2013 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. See more walter m @Harlequin68 02/16/2013 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. See more Read all reviews
Christopher Strong

My Rating

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Movie Info

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
Producer
David O. Selznick, Pandro S. Berman
Production Co
RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Apr 20, 2009
Runtime
1h 17m