ended with Alice and Russell in love, but Stevens was so unhappy with the script and the ending that he, his friend Mortimer Offner, and Hepburn discarded most of it and rewrote it by using dialogue taken from the novel. Their script ended with Alice's relationship with Russell up in the air, and it finished with a scene in which Alice goes to secretarial school. However, Berman and RKO executives wanted a happy ending in which Alice gets Russell. Stevens and Hepburn opposed the change. Berman enlisted the aid of Cukor, who agreed that the more realistic ending would be box-office poison and so the script was changed into allowing Russell to fall in love with Alice and to win her over. Reception After the cinema circuits deducted their exhibition percentage of box office ticket sales, the film made a profit of $164,000. Critical reviews In a retrospective review, Pauline Kael deemed the film "a classic" and stated that "Hepburn gives one of her two or three finest performances". References Bibliography Further reading Tibbetts, John C., And James M, Welsh, eds. The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film (2005) pp. 8–9. External links 1930s historical romance films 1935 romantic drama films RKO Pictures films 1935 films American black-and-white films Films based on American novels Films directed by George Stevens Films based on works by Booth Tarkington American romantic drama films Films with screenplays by Dorothy Yost Films with screenplays by Jane Murfin American historical romance films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films