VHS Videos: Desk Set Video

Average Rating:

Rating: - Finally--A film where Hepburn triumphs over Tracy
This 1957 film directed by Walter Lang was the eighth of the nine Tracy-Hepburn films and their first in color. Based on the play by William Marchant (which had starred Shirley Booth on Broadway), Katharine Hepburn plays Bunny Watson, a referenced librarian for a television network, who is concerned that the new computer being installed by Spencer Tracy's Richard Sumner is going to put her and the rest of her staff out of work. Gig Young has his standard role as the nice guy who ends up losing the girl in the end, while Joan Blondell, Dina Merrill and Sue Randall make up the rest of Bunny's brainy staff.

In terms of pairing Tracy and Hepburn "Desk Set" is unique because it is the only film where the woman gets the upper hand. Tracy is really nothing more than a misunderstood villain; his new toy is suppose to help the girls in the reference library not replace them. But none of this really matters because in the end it is clear than the women are a lot smarter than the machine.

The one priceless scene in the film is a roof top lunch between Tracy and Hepburn. He just has a few questions for her that turn out to be brainteasers. Hepburn's character disposes of each and every challenge with an ease grace and guileless naiveté that is quite charming, while Tracy sinks lower and lower as she beats him at every turn. The rest of the film is fairly pedestrian (and don't they get the baseball question wrong?).

After receiving Academy Award nominations for her work in "Summertime" and "The Rainmaker," Hepburn had made a film with Bob Hope that was totally butchered ("The Iron Petticoat") and "Desk Set." It would be another two years before she made another film, although Spencer Tracy's failing health was as much if not more of a contributing factor as the sudden drop off in the quality of her films. Hepburn would turn to the stage and perform Shakespeare and then return to the screen with four consecutive Oscar nominated roles. Consequently, in retrospect, "Desk Set" was the end of a period in Hepburn's career. You can not help but look at the next two decades of her film career, where virtually every film is based on a play by a great dramatist (Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, Euripides, Edward Albee) and not think that this was very much a conscious effort by Hepburn in the wake of this particular fluff piece.