Quality Street is a 1937 period comedy film made by RKO. It was directed by George Stevens

George Stevens

George Stevens was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Among his most notable films were Diary of Anne Frank , nominated for Best Director, Giant , winner of Oscar for Best Director, Shane , Oscar nominated, and A Place in the Sun , winner of Oscar for Best...

 and produced by Pandro S. Berman

Pandro S. Berman

Pandro Samuel Berman , was an American film producer.-Biography:His father, Henry Berman, was general manager of Universal Pictures during Hollywood's formative years. The younger Berman, Pandro Samuel, was an assistant director during the 1920s under Mal St. Clair and Ralph Ince...

. The screenplay was by Allan Scott, Mortimer Offner and Jack Townley

Jack Townley

Jack Townley was an American screenwriter. He wrote for nearly 100 films between 1926 and 1957.He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:...

, based on the 1901 play by James M. Barrie. The music score was by Roy Webb

Roy Webb

Roy Webb was a film music composer.Webb has hundreds of composing credits to his name, mainly with RKO Pictures, and while most of the movies he scored were fairly light in content, he is today best known for his dark horror and film noir scores...

 and the cinematography by Robert De Grasse

Robert De Grasse

Robert De Grasse was an American cinematographer.-Career:Born in Maplewood, New Jersey where his family was working in the fledgling movie industry, he was the nephew of film actor Sam De Grasse...

.

The film stars Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...

, Franchot Tone

Franchot Tone

Franchot Tone was an American stage, film, and television actor, star of Mutiny on the Bounty and many other films through the 1960s...

, with Fay Bainter

Fay Bainter

Fay Okell Bainter was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Charles F. Bainter and Mary Okell. In 1910, she was a traveling stage actress...

, Eric Blore

Eric Blore

Eric Blore was an English comic actor. Blore was born in Finchley , England.Aged eighteeen, he worked as an insurance agent for two years. He gained theatre experience while touring Australia. Originally enlisting into the Artists Rifles he was commissioned in the South Wales Borderers in World...

, Cora Witherspoon

Cora Witherspoon

Cora Witherspoon was an American actress who played supporting roles in films from the 1930s until the 1950s....

 and Estelle Winwood

Estelle Winwood

Estelle Winwood was an English stage and film actress who moved to the United States in mid-career and became celebrated for her longevity.-Early life and early career:...

. Joan Fontaine

Joan Fontaine

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland , known professionally as Joan Fontaine, is a British American actress. She and her elder sister Olivia de Havilland are two of the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s....

 makes one of her early (uncredited) film appearances.

There was also a silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 version made by MGM in 1927, starring Marion Davies

Marion Davies

Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....

 and Conrad Nagel

Conrad Nagel

Conrad Nagel was an American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer.-Biography:...

 and directed by Sidney Franklin

Sidney Franklin (director)

Sidney Franklin was an American film director and producer. His brother Chester Franklin also became a director during the silent film era best known for helming the early Technicolor film Toll of the Sea....

.

The 1937 version was a flop at the box office, one of several RKO films featuring Hepburn which resulted in her being labeled "box office poison" by a national group of movie exhibitors in 1938.

The film was rarely shown on TV until TCM

Turner Classic Movies

Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...

 occasionally included it whenever they were doing a block of Hepburn films. It, along with a number of other obscure films Hepburn made in the 1930s, has recently been issued on DVD for the first time from Warner Archive.