Desk Set (1957)

On my first viewing of this movie, I didn't particularly like it. I was surprised that Tracy and Hepburn filmed this movie at all. But then, I re-watched it recently during the AMC tribute to the late great Kate. On second viewing, I found a lot about it endearing and quite humorous.

Although the technology is antiquated, the reaction to change in an organization is not. Speaking from an EEO perspective, Hepburn's boyfriend would be a sexual harassment suit waiting to happen in today's world. However, the office politics are identical to the office politics today. Instead of using the telephone to gossip, people in the office now use email.

Tracy and Hepburn gave great performances in this light-hearted romantic comedy. The scene in Hepburn's apartment is hilarious. Her reaction to her boyfriend's suggestion that he thought she would be alone is priceless. And, when Tracy stumbles out, we get to see Hepburn's uncontrollable laughter (that was probably not scripted) which always makes me lol.

So, take a second look if you first didn't like this movie.

Fmovies: One of the better Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn films: a light comedy which doesn't necessitate his anger or her stridency. Hepburn heads up a charming group of gals in the research department of a broadcasting firm; Tracy is a computer man eager to install his latest creation in their office. Adapted from the Broadway play--and looking it--with large, flat sets stretched across the screen and all the actors moving from stage right to stage left. Still, the cast is colorful (except for Gig Young, stuck in the eternal Gig Young role, that of an SOB second banana who eventually ends up eating crow), and the thing is bubbly fun right to the end. It disappears from memory as fast as it came, but this kind of lightweight venture can be enjoyable on an afternoon viewing. **1/2 from ****

Of all the comedies of Tracy and Hepburn, this one is a personal favorite. The two look like they are really enjoying themselves, and no wonder. It's a fine comic script, with delightful lines and great laughs. Gig Young and Joan Blondell provide excellent support, and the entire cast works together just fine. While other T&H films have perhaps more "bite, " "Desk Set" is a film one can "live with" on more repeated viewings. It's just downright good fun to revisit and enjoy the cast's enjoyment of a rich comedy. Viva Em-er-ac, the friendly computer!

Desk Set fmovies. I showed "Desk Set" to my fourteen-year-old computer guru and for him the "Brain" in this charming Tracy/Hepburn romantic comedy might as well as have been used in a Flintstones flick.

Spencer Tracy is efficiency expert Rich Sumner, hired to introduce computerization to a TV station. While several departments will "benefit" from modernization his focus is on the all-female research department headed by Bunny Watson, Katharine Hepburn. Bunny is a spirited manager whose staff clearly adores her. Veteran character actress Joan Blondell is especially good as Peg, the older member of the library team.

Through confusion and wrong deduction, Bunny fears that Rich's eagle-eye observation of the department's functions adumbrates the severance of all and their replacement by a soulless machine. Of course underlying the heightened anxiety of the librarians is a budding romance between Rich and Bunny. And any growing attraction between Hepburn and Tracy is first-class entertainment (in real life they were sort of close, too).

When the computer and its sterile female operator arrive, the scene is set for a bit of slapstick cyber-comedy, years ahead of the actual havoc that humans create (and still do).

"Desk Set" is pure fun with the finest cinema couple of all time interacting assuredly and amusingly.

One distraction was my kid interjecting why the computer couldn't have been based on a real model of the times. This stopped when I reached for my ever-handy roll of duct tape.

The special features here - some commentary - add little. So what? The movie on DVD is well worth the price.

9/10.

If you replace the constant use of the term "automation" with "outsourcing", this 1957 workplace-driven comedy would be quite a relevant tweak on corporate restructuring and office politics. As it stands now, it's a light piece of entertainment that benefits primarily from a smart screenplay by Phoebe and Henry Ephron (Nora's parents...must run in the family) and of course, the incomparable Tracy-Hepburn teamwork. It's not their best work, but fifteen years into their relationship, they achieve an easy, laser-sharp rapport here that makes the film easy to enjoy.

Efficiently directed by Walter Lang, the movie focuses its plot on the research department of a national TV network, the so-called Federal Broadcasting System. The four-woman staff is headed by the whip-smart Bunny Watson, who appears to possess a wealth of information and an unfailing memory for the smallest detail. They work like clockwork together in finding responses to often extremely trivial questions, but they do everything manually. Enter Richard Sumner, a befuddled man with a measuring tape and mismatched socks, who turns out to be a brilliant engineer hired by the network CEO to install an electronic brain called EMERAC. Designed to streamline the research process, the monolithic computer has the research staff understandably concerned about pending unemployment. Invariably, Bunny and Sumner start to recognize a mutual attraction through the awkwardness, and further complications arise with the presence of Mike Cutler, a rising network executive who has pompously kept Bunny on a leash for years.

As Bunny, Katharine Hepburn appears to be playing a variation of herself, which in this case, suits the role perfectly. By comparison, Tracy seems a bit tired as Sumner, except when interacting with Hepburn, whether unsuccessfully volleying brainteasers on a freezing rooftop, eating floating islands in their bathrobes, or canoodling between the second-floor bookshelves during the office Christmas party. A terrific supporting cast has been assembled starting with Gig Young in his typical role as the third wheel Mike, which he plays with enough sharp and smarmy aplomb to make Bunny's dilemma palpable. Joan Blondell expertly plays Bunny's stalwart sidekick Peg, and they achieve a genuine chemistry as they banter about the "Mexican Avenue bus".

Dina Merrill and Sue Randall (forever etched in my memory as Beaver's crush-worthy schoolteacher Miss Landers on "Leave It to Beaver") seem a bit too glamorous to be librarians, but they're both serviceable, while Neva Patterson plays EMERAC's coldly efficient "mother", Miss Warriner, to brittle perfection. Even though the sets are pure 1950's-style décor, Leon Shamroy makes full use of the Cinemascope process to bring his color-saturated cinematography to the widescreen. The 2004 DVD comes with a commentary track by film historian John Lee, who provides interesting insight to the production, casting and stage-to-screen translation. Merrill provides some remembrances of her own, but her commentary is spotty and a bit self-serving. A vintage, minute-long newsreel on the film's costumes; a few trailers for other Fox films of the period; and a photo gallery complete the package.

Desk Set was the next to last teaming of Tracy and Hepburn and the first one away from MGM. It does have a different look to the product they did at MGM. Still good, but different. Probably because this was done in Cinemascope and Technicolor.

Hard to believe that Cinemascope would be used on a film essentially set indoors and on one set, the set being Hepburn's office. But that was to show the immense size of Emirac the giant computer being installed there which Katharine and her staff think is going to replace them.

Desk Set had been on Broadway two year ago and had a respectable run. It starred Shirley Booth in Katharine Hepburn's part and the rest of the cast were not names by any means. I'm sure Spencer Tracy's role had to be built up from the stage version.

Even so, the film is essentially Hepburn's. As usual in their films she has a rival to Tracy. In the past that part was played by such people as Melvyn Douglas, David Wayne, William Ching, and now Gig Young. It seemed like every movie comedy in the late 50s and early 60s had either Young or Tony Randall as the defeated rival role. Young gives his patented performance here.

A running gag throughout the film are the calls handled by Hepburn's staff at the broadcast network for inane information. Like someone up in the corporate headquarters is playing trivial pursuit.

Also look for good performances by Joan Blondell, Sue Randall, and Dina Merrill as Hepburn's staff and Neva Patterson as Emirac's installer and keeper.

A good addition to the Tracy-Hepburn pantheon.