IMDb RATING
6.9/10
4.6K
YOUR RATING
A working-class girl is thwarted and embarrassed in her attempts to move up socially by her gauche family and unstable father.A working-class girl is thwarted and embarrassed in her attempts to move up socially by her gauche family and unstable father.A working-class girl is thwarted and embarrassed in her attempts to move up socially by her gauche family and unstable father.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 1 win & 3 nominations total
Hattie McDaniel
- Malena
- (as Hattie McDaniels)
Brooks Benedict
- Henrietta's Dance Partner
- (uncredited)
Harry Bowen
- Laborer Putting Up Sign
- (uncredited)
Steve Carruthers
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Monte Carter
- Waiter at Restaurant
- (uncredited)
George Ford
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Joe Gilbert
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThough Bette Davis won the 1935 Academy Award/Oscar for Dangerous (1935) beating out Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams (1935), Davis was noted for saying more than once that she didn't deserve the award that year and that the one who did was Katharine Hepburn.
- GoofsWhen Alice walks with Arthur toward her house for the first time, a woman watering her shrubs can be seen and a letter carrier walks up, then back down her porch steps twice. The background scene repeats itself, letter carrier, woman setting down hose, etc. The letter carrier approaches Alice moments later where she then has to shamefully admit to Arthur that this is, indeed, her house that she is in front of. Likely a rear projection scene that was duplicated.
- Quotes
Mrs. Adams: Malena fell down the cellar stairs!
Virgil Adams: Did she break any of our things?
- ConnectionsFeatured in George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984)
Featured review
I was blindsided and enamored
Have you ever picked up what you thought was a glass of water, but when you took a long sip you ended up with a mouthful of Sprite? A surprising feeling, but then you have to figure out if it's pleasant or not. I felt similarly about my experience watching "Alice Adams", George Stevens' 1935 film starring Katherine Hepburn as the title character. Expecting a wily romantic comedy, possibly a precursor to Hepburn's screwball comedies, I instead witnessed a beautiful, touching and sad film about rejection and romance in small-town America.
Alice is the daughter of a bookkeeper who is sick, and therefore temporarily out of work. Even before his unemployment, his job did not provide as much money for his family as many of Alice's contemporaries. This causes Alice to not be accepted in society, and makes it harder to find a boyfriend, though she tries to keep cheerful in front of her family. Unfortunately Mrs. Adams doesn't make things easier, by constantly harping on Mr. Adams to quit his job and be more ambitious. When the Palmers have their annual dance, Alice asks her brother Walter to take her, and there she first sees Arthur Russell MacMurray) a wealthy young man who is practically engaged to Mildred Palmer, probably the richest and most socially prominent young woman in the town. He notices Alice, and after a dance together, finds her a couple of days later and they begin a romance, but it becomes obvious that Alice is not going to be able to put up a façade of wealth and social acceptance for long, as their relationship becomes more serious.
There were so many times that I found myself just aching for Alice during this film. Booth Tarkington is so good at capturing the darker side of small town life without being obvious, that it is understandable that this film could be mistaken for a light romantic comedy, though in reality it was anything but. Alice's low self-esteem, mainly due to society's views on her more than her family's lack of money makes her such a fragile character that she becomes immediately sympathetic, and this is mainly due to Hepburn's performance. This was early in her career, and after seeing many of her later films it is easy to forget just how radiant and luminous she once was. She has always been one of my favorite actresses, but it was generally because of the strength she gave the characters she played throughout the years, not her fragility. "Alice Adams" was an extremely pleasant surprise, and I ended up absolutely loving it. A very solid 8/10.
--Shelly
Alice is the daughter of a bookkeeper who is sick, and therefore temporarily out of work. Even before his unemployment, his job did not provide as much money for his family as many of Alice's contemporaries. This causes Alice to not be accepted in society, and makes it harder to find a boyfriend, though she tries to keep cheerful in front of her family. Unfortunately Mrs. Adams doesn't make things easier, by constantly harping on Mr. Adams to quit his job and be more ambitious. When the Palmers have their annual dance, Alice asks her brother Walter to take her, and there she first sees Arthur Russell MacMurray) a wealthy young man who is practically engaged to Mildred Palmer, probably the richest and most socially prominent young woman in the town. He notices Alice, and after a dance together, finds her a couple of days later and they begin a romance, but it becomes obvious that Alice is not going to be able to put up a façade of wealth and social acceptance for long, as their relationship becomes more serious.
There were so many times that I found myself just aching for Alice during this film. Booth Tarkington is so good at capturing the darker side of small town life without being obvious, that it is understandable that this film could be mistaken for a light romantic comedy, though in reality it was anything but. Alice's low self-esteem, mainly due to society's views on her more than her family's lack of money makes her such a fragile character that she becomes immediately sympathetic, and this is mainly due to Hepburn's performance. This was early in her career, and after seeing many of her later films it is easy to forget just how radiant and luminous she once was. She has always been one of my favorite actresses, but it was generally because of the strength she gave the characters she played throughout the years, not her fragility. "Alice Adams" was an extremely pleasant surprise, and I ended up absolutely loving it. A very solid 8/10.
--Shelly
helpful•285
- FilmOtaku
- Jan 7, 2005
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Booth Tarkington's Alice Adams
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content