Alice Adams
Alice Adams
| 16 October 1935 (USA)
Alice Adams Trailers

In the lower-middle-class Adams family, father and son are happy to work in a drugstore, but mother and daughter Alice try every possible social-climbing stratagem despite snubs and embarrassment. When Alice finally meets her dream man Arthur, mother nags father into a risky business venture and plans to impress Alice's beau with an "upscale" family dinner. Will the excruciating results drive Arthur away?

Reviews
Hmaziba

Alice Adam's' you may see connection between one scene to another, the lover end up at the garden and show their love by exchanging flowers, that means love has been dominated by flowers. For example "Alice Adam's" Alice went garden to pick flower and there was index said, "don't pick the flower" but it was the only flower and she picked up.For example Alice Adams you may see one of index shot that says do not touch it, the camera doll in to Alice then quickly pan to extreme of index sign.However, Alice Adam's edited by Jane Loring in this movie several connected with transition and most transition was "wipe" to connect from one scene to another or one shot to another shots. In conclusion, Drama films are serious presentation or stories with setting or life situation that are portray realistic characters in conflict with individual character or both. This movie contain very famous actress Katherine Hepburn she did nice and wonderful touch to audience.

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dbdumonteil

There are similarities between "Alice Adams" and Stevens ' later classic " a place in the sun".In both movies, the hero(ine) wants to climb the social ladder.The scene of the ball introduces a guest who looks like an intruder in this company of rich kids and fussy old biddies who most of the time ignore him/her;but while Monty Clift's George/Clyde remains passive,bashful ,lonesome and ends up in the pool room ,Alice Adams is a go-getter,trying to pick up wealthy guys ;both finally are noticed by the king(Fred McMurray) and the queen (Liz Taylor) of the fetes.Both are ashamed of the milieu in which they were nurtured : George/Clyde 's preachers family is depicted in lavish details by Theodore Dreiser but hardly appears in Stevens' movie,whilst Arthur is invited for a dinner in Alice's house ;this long scene,the most memorable in the whole movie is the ball sequence in reverse :a chic young man in a rather crummy house ,the best place being its porch.Alice tries and tries to make her dwelling a refined place with caviar toasts ,gourmet (En Français Dans Le Texte/"Ris De Veau"- calves' sweetbreads )dishes and melting ice -cream (just like Shelley Winters' in " a place in the sun" ).The harder she tries ,the harder she fails :Dad and Hattie McDaniel as the clumsy servant cannot delude for long .Actually ,all the household world revolves around Alice ;dad and mom get out of their way to secure their daughter's happiness,forgetting poor brother Walt;and before the final father/boss confrontation,the heroine appears as a selfish,self-centered girl ;she does not realize her meek daddy's sacrifices ,she appears as frivolous as Mildred.It's only when she acknowledges that it's not her parents' fault but hers that we really side with her.Alice was not herself,she played a part (doesn't she say she would be an excellent actress?) just like the stuck -up things Arthur generally meets .Hence the denouement .Katherine Hepburn is a great as ever and the supporting cast is up to scratch.My favorite is Frank Albertson's Walter ,happy with his lot in life ,and playing dice with the servants.

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jacobs-greenwood

George Stevens directed this adaptation of the Booth Tarkington novel about a social climbing mother (Ann Shoemaker) and daughter (Katharine Hepburn, in the title role). Hepburn and the film were Oscar nominated.Alice is a small town girl whose brother (Frank Albertson) is "forced" to take her to a society party, hosted by Mildred Palmer (Evelyn Venable, who's parents are played by Hedda Hopper and Jonathan Hale), in their dumpy automobile. There she meets the wealthy Arthur Russell (Fred MacMurray), who she thinks is "attached" to the hostess. Though she's embarrassed by her brother (found gambling with the hired help) and later their shabby home, Alice has intrigued Arthur with her plain, simple, self-deprecating nature and he begins to pursue her. He invites Alice to another party, hosted by her father's employer J. A. Lamb (Charley Grapewin), but she's too embarrassed to accept. Alice's mother, upset by this, shames her husband Virgil (Fred Stone), who's been recovering from a long illness, into getting off his butt to better provide for their family.Virgil decides that the glue formula he invented while working for Lamb is his, and goes into business for himself. This leads to an obvious conflict between himself and his "former" employer, who'd been supporting him through his illness. Her father's newfound success and "wealth" enables Alice to feel comfortable enough to be courted by Arthur, and invite him to their home for dinner. Mrs. Adams hires a cook-servant (Hattie McDaniel) for the occasion and, in an hilarious scene, all does not go as planned. Evidently, one can't "buy" class;-) However, a happy ending is (of course) a foregone conclusion.

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wmss-770-394192

I had the unpleasant experience of seeing this film for the first time. The only tolerable characters in the entire film are the father and brother.I was never a huge Kate Hepburn fan,but here she is basically unwatchable. The ridiculous way she yaks and twitters and tries to impress everybody is only the tip of the iceberg as to why this is so bad.I'm sure this film is the basis of the impressions comedians did of her for years.First,her family is considered so poor,but their house looks pretty middle class to me. Second,if she is so "poor" why do these rich idiots bother to invite her to parties? As shallow as everyone in the film is,one wouldn't think she'd even be on their social radar,much less a party guest. The level of racism in this film is astounding to my modern eyes. Black people are referred to as "darkies",yep,darkies. Was this the Civil War era or what? Also,her brother is looked down on because he actually (gasp!) has black friends he'd rather hang out with than the high class bigots and snobs his sister wants so much to be like. Then there is Hattie McDaniel. Yes,in a few years she would win an Oscar for GWTW,but here she is just as embarrassing as Hepburn(more so,I'm sure to any black people that actually saw this hot mess back then). The fact that Drew Barrymore thinks she is so funny in this opens up some questions in my mind about Miss Barrymore.At any rate,I will try to forget I ever saw this mess .

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