The Philadelphia Story [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs] [1940]

With this furiously witty comedy of manners, Katharine Hepburn revitalized her career and cemented her status as the era's most iconic leading lady thanks in great part to her own shrewd orchestrations. While starring in the Philip Barry stage play 'The Philadelphia Story', Hepburn snapped up the screen rights, handpicking her friend George Cukor to direct. The intoxicating screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart pits the formidable Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn, at her most luminous) against various romantic foils, chief among them her charismatic ex-husband (Cary Grant), who disrupts her imminent marriage by paying her family estate a visit, accompanied by a tabloid reporter on assignment to cover the wedding of the year (James Stewart, in his only Academy Award winning performance). A fast-talking screwball comedy as well as a tale of regrets and reconciliation, this convergence of golden-age talent is one of the greatest American films of all time.

Tom Hanks stars as a gay lawyer with AIDS who battles discrimination and ignorance as he hires a homophobic personal injury attorney after being fired from his job for incompetence in this heartfelt and emotional drama, arriving on DVD from Columbia/TriStar Home Video. Presented in the original 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen version (enhanced for widescreen TVs) and offering a closed-captioned English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack in addition to alternate English, Spanish, and French Dolby Digital Surround tracks, this release also offers optional Spanish and Korean subtitles. This release has absolutely no extra features.