Desk Set (1957)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Phoebe Ephron (screenplay) and
Henry Ephron (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 May 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Make the office a wonderful place to love in!

Plot:

Two extremely strong personalities clash over the computerization of a TV network's research department.

Plot Keywords:

Research | Computer | Office | Menomnic Device | Intelligence Analysis

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Richard Sumner
Katharine Hepburn	...	Bunny Watson
Gig Young	...	Mike Cutler
Joan Blondell	...	Peg Costello
Dina Merrill	...	Sylvia Blair
Sue Randall	...	Ruthie Saylor
Neva Patterson	...	Miss Warriner
Harry Ellerbe	...	Smithers
Nicholas Joy	...	Mr. Azae
Diane Jergens	...	Alice
Merry Anders	...	Cathy
Ida Moore	...	Old Lady
Rachel Stephens	...	Receptionist

Also Known As:

His Other Woman (UK)

Runtime:

103 min | Germany:98 min | Argentina:102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo | Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #18461) | Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:S | Argentina:Atp | UK:U

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This is the first film that Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn did in color and the eighth of the nine films they starred in together. Their next, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), came ten years later.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When EMERAC begins to print out "Curfew Must not Ring Tonight," Bunny Watson says, "That old poem has about 80 stanzas." In fact, it has 10 stanzas, of 6 lines each.

Quotes:

Mike Cutler: [to Richard Sumner] I supposed I should have called first?
Richard Sumner: Yes, do that next time.

Movie Connections:

References "Lassie" (1954)

Soundtrack:

Jingle Bells

Trivial Pursuit with Emirac

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.