Alice Adams (1935)

Alice Adams - 1935

Coming up next is 1935's "Alice Adams", starring Katharine Hepburn.  The film follows a family who has fallen on hard times financially.  The daughter (Hepburn) aspires to high society and gives herself pretentious airs to make herself acceptable in their sight.

The film's supporting cast includes Fred MacMurray, Fred Stone, Evelyn Venable, Frank Albertson, Ann Shoemaker, Charley Grapewin, Grady Sutton, Hedda Hopper, Jonathan Hale, Hattie McDaniel, and Zeffie Tilbury.

Alice Adams belongs to a respectable middle-class family.  However, she aspires to greater heights.  When she can't afford some flowers to make up a bouquet to a party she's invited to that evening, she picks some violets by the roadside.

Her father has been ill for some time.  His employer, however, has made sure that he continues to receive his salary even though he is unable to work.  Alice's mother continually hounds him to break away from the company and go out on his own so he can afford to have Alice compete socially with the other girls.

After dressing for the party, Alice checks herself in the mirror.  She's a bit disappointed in her outdated dress, but she does the best she can to make sure it looks good.  Her brother is to be her escort for the party, and he's not thrilled about it at all.

Alice is even less thrilled when it starts to rain and she has to wear a huge overcoat.  She also has to ride in her brother's old beat-up pickup truck.  In order not to be embarrassed, she makes him park it around the block from the party.

The party is an elegant affair with Alice's friend Mildred receiving her guests in a grand style.

After taking off her coat upstairs, Alice tries to make a grand entrance.  Her brother, Walter, however, is the only one who notices.

Mildred welcomes them to the party, and she introduces them to her parents, the Palmers.

When they dance together, Walter embarrasses her in front of all the other guests.

He quickly disappears after the dance is over, and Alice is left to fend for herself.  She also hears other girls talk about her outdated dress and, although hurt, Alice puts on a brave smile.

Only one man in the room will take the time to speak with her.  His name is Frank Dowling, but Alice considers him to be rather boring.  He asks her to dance, which she accepts, but he dances very awkwardly and they retreat to sit out the next dance.

They notice a handsome guy come in.  Frank tells Alice that his name is Arthur Russell, and he's rumored to be engaged to Mildred.  Alice thinks him rather dashing.

Frank's mother does not like that Frank spends time with Alice and gets him away from her.  Alice is left on her own as everyone else dances.

She decides to go sit with the older ladies, and she starts up a conversation.

She's very surprised when Mildred comes over with Arthur and tells Alice that he wants to have the next dance with her.

She's surprised to see how nicely he dances, and she relishes in the moment.  After the dance, she discovers that her brother has been gambling with the help instead of escorting her, and she's very embarrassed.  They leave the party.

When Alice gets to her room, she breaks down into tears.  Awakened by the sound of her crying, Alice's father feels very badly when he hears his daughter's heartbreak.

The next day when Alice's father asks her about her tears, she just chalks it up to a bad moment.  She talks about looking for work.  "You know, I’ve been thinking.  Well, what I mean is I ought to be something besides just a kind of nobody," she tells her father.

While she's out looking for a job as a secretary, she meets Arthur Russell.  She pretends she's out looking for a secretary for her father.  They hit it off as they walk along the street.  Alice tells a few fibs to make her family seem a little better.  When they get to her house, she won't even let him in because she's embarrassed.  She tells him it's the house her father grew up in, and he doesn't want to move into a proper house because he's so attached to the place.

Inside, her brother Walter gives her a hard time about seeing her with Arthur.  When he leaves, she tells her mother, "Walter must be going with some really dreadful people, Mother.  All this talk about racetracks and everything."

She spends more and more time with Arthur.  "What kind of girl are you?" he asks her.  "Don't you remember?  I told you.  I'm just me," Alice tells him with a smile.  "But who is that?" he questions further.  With a secretive smile, she says, "I've often wondered."

Alice's mother has had it with the way her daughter is treated.  She goes up to her husband and tells him to break away from his company.  (He helped to create a glue formula and he owns half the rights to it.)  Feeling bad about Alice and knowing he can't hold out against his wife forever, Alice's father agrees to start a glue factory.

Things take shape very quickly, and the Adams Glue Company is started.

On a date one night, Alice warns Arthur about listening to what other people in town say about her.  They get lost in the romantic atmosphere of the restaurant and the music that plays.

When Alice returns home that night, her mother can plainly see that she's in love.  She tells Alice to invite Arthur to dinner.

Things aren't going well for the Adams family, though.  Alice's brother Walter has embezzled $150 from his company (the same company his father used to work for) to cover gambling debts.  He asks his father to give him the money, but Mr. Adams doesn't have it, having put everything into his new glue factory.

At the Palmer house, Mr. Palmer tells Arthur and Mildred about how Mr. Adams "double-crossed" his former employer by starting a glue factory.  He says that Mr. Lamb (Mr. Adams' old boss) is starting his own glue factory and vows to put the Adams Glue Company out of business.  He has also found out about Walter's embezzlement.

On the night of her dinner for Arthur, Alice worries constantly about the way the house looks.  It's an unfortunate night for the dinner.  It's terribly hot, and the ice cream has melted before the guest of honor has even arrived.

She's charmed, though, when Arthur arrives, and works very hard to make sure that everything goes right.

Unfortunately, things don't go right.  The maid they hired for the evening is slovenly and unkempt.  She barges in and out of the room noisily.  Mr. Adams' shirt keeps popping open, as well.  To make matters worse, Walter comes home in the middle of dinner and shouts with his parents upstairs.

Alice fights tears.  She's noticed that Arthur hasn't said very much during the dinner.

As she bids him goodnight, she says, "I wonder who's been talking to you about me."  She goes back into the house very sad.

Mr. Lamb comes to the house and talks with Mr. Adams.  They have a heated discussion about the glue factory, the glue formula ownership, and Walter's embezzlement.  Once again, Mr. Lamb vows to ruin Mr. Adams.

When Mr. Adams goes upstairs in a huff, Alice stops Mr. Lamb before he can get out the door.  She tells him the real reason her father left Lamb's company.  It was for her.  She tells him all about how her mother wanted her father to leave so that Alice could have a better standing in society.

Mr. Lamb goes upstairs to see Mr. Adams again.  He tells him that now that he's had a chance to think, he can see that circumstances made Mr. Adams take the steps he did.  Mr. Lamb says that when Mr. Adams is feeling up to it, he can come down to the office and they'll find a way to work together on the glue factory.  They'll also discuss Walter, too.

Alice comes in after Mr. Lamb leaves.  "Isn’t it funny who things work out?  I’ve seen it happen in other people’s lives, and now it’s happened in ours," says Mr. Adams.  "What's that, Dad?" asks Alice.  He replies, "Why, you think you’re going to be pushed right spang up against a wall, you can’t see any way out, or any hope at all.  Then something you never counted on turns up and you kind of squeeze out of it and keep on going."

Alice goes outside to think.  What she doesn't know is that Arthur is waiting on the porch.  He tells her he never left and he heard all of the conversation that went on.  He also tells her that he heard the Palmers talking about Alice and her family, too.

"So, they did talk about me," says Alice sadly.  "Yes, they talked about you a lot," says Arthur, "and I found out one thing.  I love you, Alice."  She smiles and exclaims, "Gee whiz!" as he takes her in his arms and kisses her.

Cast rundown:

   Katharine Hepburn.............................Alice Adams

   Fred MacMurray.................................Arthur Russell

   Fred Stone........................................Virgil Adams

   Evelyn Venable..................................Mildred Palmer

   Frank Albertson.................................Walter Adams

   Ann Shoemaker.................................Mrs. Adams

   Charley Grapewin..............................J.A. Lamb

   Grady Sutton....................................Frank Dowling

   Hedda Hopper....................................Mrs. Palmer

   Jonathan Hale....................................Mr. Palmer

   Hattie McDaniel..................................Malena Burns

   Zeffie Tilbury......................................Mrs. Dresser

And that's it for Alice Adams.  Katharine Hepburn had fallen from popularity by this time in her career, and this film helped revive it.  She was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Bette Davis.  Bette Davis said multiple times that she didn't deserve the award that year, and that it should've gone to Katharine Hepburn.

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