Quality Street is a weirdly charming relic

Is it worth your time?

If you have a soft spot for old-school, slightly theatrical black-and-white dramas, you’ll probably find something to enjoy here. If you hate period pieces where everyone talks in riddles or hides behind fans, skip it. Honestly, it’s a bit of a dusty one, but it has that weird, specific energy you only get from 1930s studio films.

Katharine Hepburn is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. She spends half the movie acting like a heartbroken wallflower and the other half playing a bratty, fake teenager. It’s a strange shift. You can see her trying to make the transition work, but it’s kind of jarring when she starts pouting at the camera.

The 'Niece' Situation

The whole plot hinges on her posing as her own niece to test her old flame. It’s the kind of logic that only makes sense in a play from 1901. I kept thinking, how does nobody notice she just changed her hat and put on a slightly higher voice? It’s hilarious in a way that feels unintentional.

Franchot Tone plays the beau, and he’s... well, he’s there. He spends a lot of time looking confused, which, to be fair, is exactly what the character is supposed to be doing. There’s a scene where they’re talking in a garden that just goes on forever. You can practically hear the director yelling at them to keep the pace up.

Small Details

• The costumes look incredibly itchy.
• Hepburn’s curls are doing more acting than most of the supporting cast.
• The set design is very 'we built this in a warehouse on a Tuesday.'

I couldn't help but think about how different this is from something like This Mad World. It’s less gritty, definitely more mannered. It feels like a stage play that got trapped in a film canister.

Is it a masterpiece? Nah. It’s got that weird, stilted rhythm that a lot of movies from this era suffer from. Sometimes the dialogue feels like it's being recited from a textbook rather than spoken between real humans. Still, there’s a lightness to it that’s hard to hate. It’s just a bit… silly. 🎩

I found myself zoning out during the long parlor room scenes, but then Hepburn would do something completely over the top and I’d be pulled right back in. It’s not a film you analyze; it’s a film you just sort of let wash over you on a rainy afternoon.