Tracy's fiancé, George Kittredge, is right off the bat the wrong guy for Tracy. This we know for many reasons, including the fact that he isn't one of the three leads on the billboard above the title. Mostly, though, we know he's wrong for her because in the beginning we see the funny exchange between Tracy and Dexter and know that those two are meant to be together, so whoever comes along has to be wrong. When we finally get to see George, we're told he's not from the same social class. He gets on screen in brand new riding clothes and he looks out of place next to the Lords, who've all got pressed riding clothing, but obviously they're worn in. George's clothing, in contrast, even look more stiff. But the best example of him being out of place is when he tries to mount the horse. He refuses help and insists on doing it alone and for a good minute or so, he's trying to get mount the creature he calls Bessie as the Lords look on. I suppose one could go so far as to say this alludes to his inability to get a proper rein on Tracy, but it's truly a comical look at a fish-out-of-water situation.
The interesting thing about George is that he's not buffoonish. In a screwball comedy, he'd be blatantly wrong for Tracy in a caricature way, think Dan from The Awful Truth or even King Westley from It Happened One Night. They're both extremes of the wrong man for the heroine. Here, though, George is more realistic, and yet we know he's wrong for Tracy without the screwy characteristics. Again, this is mostly due to the great introduction we're given of him. The two don't belong together. He tells her he'll be her an ivory tower; he sees her as a goddess and truly worships her. So when she finally disappoints him when he finds her drunk in the arms of Mike, he obviously assumes the worst. When you put someone on a pedestal so high, they're bound to fall off eventually, and hard. This, of course, is an easy excuse for George and Tracy to not end up together, but what cements the fact that they don't belong is that he assumed the worst possible scenario. And while he is willing to forgive her, he starts by putting restrictions on her drinking. Tracy obviously deserves someone more forgiving than that.
Macauley Connor of South Bend, Indiana--Mike to his friends--is perhaps the one of the three whom you'll think Tracy will end up with. He seems to have all those characteristics that is typical of any romantic comedy, including the screwball. He's not just the complete opposite of Tracy, but he resents the society crowd. He hates covering the beat for Spy Magazine and goes into the Lord household with preconceptions on the entire family. When he meets Tracy, he immediately despises her, but when he finds her in the library reading his book of short stories, which she calls almost like poetry, he starts seeing her in a new light--well almost. The thing about Mike that makes him so likable is that even though Tracy does begin to warm up to Mike and offers him a cottage she has so he can devote himself to writing full-time, he remains true to his principles. He doesn't take her up on her offer because he doesn't want freebies, and he calls her and her lot out on their ways. She in turn calls him a snob, which he is. There's a dynamic going on between the two of them that is so palpable, you think they're falling for one another. He woos her with words, "there's a magnificence in your eyes, your hair," that Tracy can't help but to tell him to keep talking.
How often do you get such confusing options in a romantic comedy? We can rule out George, but Mike is pretty likable, and gets on great with Tracy. But his purpose is more of one who tries to build up her self-esteem again. After her father basically tells her if she'd been a good daughter, then he wouldn't have found the need to go after another young thing--I know, it sound incestuous--Tracy goes to her party and gets trashed. Mike, also trashed, seems to be on a mission to get through to her that George isn't the man for her, and in the process, you know, when drinking, one thing leads to another. Only it really doesn't lead to anything more than a passionate kiss, but it's exactly what Tracy needed. So what is Mike? He's kind of the rebound guy, the guy who opens Tracy's eyes so she can see, she's not a goddess, she can be happy, just not with George. In fact, when she thinks she knows what happened the night before in her drunken state, she goes crying to Dexter.
C.K. Dexter Haven makes it clear that he's bringing Spy Magazine into the Lord household because he wants to put the wedding to a stop, but whereas in a screwball comedy you'd see the hero in all sorts of screwy antics trying to get his girl back, Dexter just kind of sits back here and simply sets things in motion. He's a bystander and never really much in the picture. This is quite different in that, in stories in general, we want our characters to do something and not be passive. This isn't to say that Dexter is passive. After all, he is the one who goes to Spy and is willing to get them into the wedding. He visits Tracy and delivers a wedding present, a replica of his boat the "True Love," which sets off a whirl of emotions within her. Dexter's also the one who is still trying to protect Tracy by letting Spy into the wedding in exchange that the magazine won't publish the account of Tracy's father. When given dirt on Spy's editor, he grabs the moment to put a stop to Spy's story on the Lords. All these things show who truly loves Tracy in the end, and with the type of banter going on between the two of them, you know things will always be interesting and heated in that home.
It's an interesting choice to have a romantic lead that does so little of the heavy lifting, if you will. But this in turn creates more conflict within the viewer as well, making things uncertain in the end. As noted in the DVD commentary, you're not really sure who Tracy will end up in the end. I think a huge reason why is because you see so little of Dexter and instead see more of Mike with Tracy. Our minds are pre-wired to believe that the two that are opposite, fight, and are on screen the most will end up together. Not in this case. Yet, Dexter is the one who, rather patiently, is trying to get Tracy to see the truth. And the best part is that when he and George encounter the drunken Tracy with Mike, Dexter is ready to give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps because he knows her well, but he understands her, and he is the one whom she's supposed to be with in the end.
This has been rather long and winding, but it is a rather more complex story. There are three men vying for Tracy's attention, and none of them are really that bad. In a screwball comedy, this would certainly have given much laughter, but instead The Philadelphia Story comes off as relatable with real characters and not parodies of heiresses or the privileged or other nutty characters. And when it comes down to two men, the choice is surely a difficult one, but truly the hero who gets to marry Tracy is Dexter.
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