Sylvia Scarlett

Dir. George Cukor. 1935, 90 mins. 35mm. With Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Brian Aherne, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Haley. Cukor and Hepburn’s passion project, made soon after the industry-transforming enforcement of Hollywood’s Production Code, was considered scandalous in its day, roundly rejected by audiences and critics for its devil-may-care attitude towards gender and sexuality. Today, this alternately comedic and dramatic tale of a young French woman (Hepburn) who dresses up as a boy to hide out in London with her embezzler father (Gwenn) and ends up hitching her wagon to a crafty conman (Grant), is now a cult favorite. Hepburn is mesmerizing in the lead role. And though Time magazine meant it as an insult when its critic snidely declared, “Sylvia Scarlett reveals the interesting fact that Katharine Hepburn is better looking as a boy than a woman,” the sensuality of Hepburn’s performance and its effect on her co-stars, male and female, remains one of the film’s great charms and surprises. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for MoMI members at the Senior/Student level and above. Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.