A journalist (James Stewart) gatecrashes a socialite’s (Katharine Hepburn) wedding plans in this 1940 comedy they should have called Say Yes to the Press.

Representing screwball comedy at its finest, The Philadelphia Story bears striking similarities to the same year’s His Girl Friday, both featuring journalism plots, quick-witted romantic comedy, and Cary Grant. But George Cukor’s picture is less of a newspaper satire and more focused on class commentary and the farcical rom-com itself, which grows into a love square over the course of the movie.

A holy trinity of the Golden Age, Grant, Hepburn and Stewart pour elegance and charm into every scene, even though all the characters are hammered for half the film – with the exception of precocious child Dinah (Virginia Weidler), who manages to steal scenes away from Hollywood’s biggest stars. Stewart plays a saltier sort than his usual everyman, but all the characters are the perfect blend of benevolent and bitchy. When told he hardly knows the man he is mocking, Grant replies: “To hardly know him is to know him well.”

The social satire plays out through Stewart’s tabloid reporter who resents having to cover some socialite’s wedding; an early forerunner to the era of the ‘Hello! wedding’, although he doesn’t go through her bins so clearly ethical standards have slipped over time. Similarly it shows how far backwards movies have gone in terms of sexual politics, as the film (like many of its era) takes a progressive and feminist view of marriage, divorce and sex, championing Hepburn’s sexual liberation and her stand against spousal abuse and infidelity.

This liberal outlook, starry cast and witty dialogue make The Philadelphia Story a guaranteed hit, unless you were hoping to learn the history of spreadable cheese.