Production
The film was written specifically as a Tracy-Hepburn vehicle (their 6th film together) by friends of the couple, Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon. The pair, who were married to each other, got their inspiration for the story from the real life case of William and Dorothy Whitney, who were married lawyers who ended up divorcing and marrying their respective clients in a case. Kanin saw great potential in the idea of married lawyers as adversaries, and the plot for Adam's Rib was developed. The original title for the film was Man and Wife, but the MGM front office quickly vetoed it as dangerously indiscreet.
Hepburn and Kanin encouraged Judy Holliday to play the role of Doris in the movie, which was used by Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn as a screen test for the chance to re-create on film her Broadway success in Kanin's play Born Yesterday. Receiving positive notices for Adam's Rib, Holliday was cast in the 1950 film version of Born Yesterday, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
It has been noted that in several scenes of the film, there are unusually long takes, where the camera does not move for minutes at a time. Most of these scenes happen when the principal characters are arguing.
Read more about this topic: Adam's Rib
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