Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List
Spoiler-free premise
Paleontologist David Huxley's search for a missing dinosaur bone is derailed by heiress Susan Vance and her tame leopard Baby.
Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free+
Reserved paleontologist David Huxley needs one final bone for a brontosaurus skeleton and a donation for his museum. Impulsive Susan Vance mistakes him for a zoologist and draws him into caring for her leopard Baby, losing clothes, and searching Connecticut.
Why it belongs
Howard Hawks makes escalating chaos meticulous through overlapping dialogue, prop comedy, animal disruption, and Hepburn and Grant's opposing comic speeds.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
A dinosaur bone, golf course, torn dress, peignoir, dog, two leopards, jail cell, and rapid entrances give the farce accumulating machinery—Katharine Hepburn's certainty continually dissolves Cary Grant's rigid order.
Major award wins
No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.
Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.
Institutional reference ranks
Sight & Sound108IMDb Top 250—AFI 10088
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score
Great Cinema Master List scores
Greatness9.5
Engagement7.7
Ease6.9
English · Not Rated Narrative Feature Mood: Funny & Lively
