Desk Set
1957 Directed by Walter Lang
Synopsis
Two extremely strong personalities clash over the computerization of a TV network's research department.
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Katherine Hepburn Vs. Google-Beta: A Love Story
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Old maid librarian lands old bachelor computer geek. That wasn’t the tag line for Desk Set (1957), but perhaps it should have been. Many critics at the time thought that Spencer Tracy at 57 and Katherine Hepburn at 50 were too old for these rolls. But really, are you ever too old for love?
Shot in CinemaScope, so be sure to see this in wide-screen format, as the pan-and-scan is really annoying. Plus you miss out on some great acting outside the frame.
The story begins as a television station reference/research/library department is studied by “efficiency expert” Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy). The department is run by Bunny Wilson (Katherine Hepburn). Wilson has been strung along romantically for seven years by…
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Though I would have loved a full movie about the life and sexy times of buxom Peg, I guess I can settle for Hepburn and Tracy playing super nerds trying to one-up each other.
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A broadcasting company brings in efficiency expert Spencer Tracy to see whether his new-fangled computer can do the same job as the reference department, headed by the lovelorn, fiercely intelligent Katharine Hepburn. The eighth of nine Tracy-Hepburn vehicles begins at a leaden pace, rambles rather and has too many concessions to silliness, but picks up for a spirited, sweet-natured second half that features three extended set pieces: the first funny, the second touching, and the third rather broad and overdone. The leads are excellent throughout, displaying an effortless, very real chemistry that extends to their overlapping dialogue and affectionate chiding. There's also a welcome appearance from Joan Blondell, who gave perhaps her best performance in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? the same year. No classic, but worth watching, and sticking with, particularly for fans of the stars.
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Learned: Humans will never be replaced by computers because they are the size of whole rooms.
Excellent Hepburn/Tracy banter. Nice bathrobes.
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A film about a librarian who's afraid of being replaced by a computer? Of course I was going to watch this. :)
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There's little done in Desk Set to hide its stage play origins, neither the direction of Walter Lang nor the theatrically-inclined performances of its leads looking like they've made very much of an effort to adapt the material to a different medium, but such is the quality of the writing that it functions fine in film form nonetheless. Hepburn is never not a delight to behold; as the ferocious head of a reference department determined not to have her resources cut, she's the beating heart of the film and never allows the viewer's eye to waver. Spencer Tracy is more reserved, and often more funny, as the man tasked with inspecting her office; the tension between them, and the romance it leads to, isn't anything new or even particularly special, but these are actors of enough class to make the most of the material.
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Fun dialogue and good cast. When I saw this it was the first time I had heard of an efficiency expert.
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Old maid librarian lands old bachelor computer geek. That wasn’t the tag line for Desk Set (1957), but perhaps it should have been. Many critics at the time thought that Spencer Tracy at 57 and Katherine Hepburn at 50 were too old for these rolls. But really, are you ever too old for love?
Shot in CinemaScope, so be sure to see this in wide-screen format, as the pan-and-scan is really annoying. Plus you miss out on some great acting outside the frame.
The story begins as a television station reference/research/library department is studied by “efficiency expert” Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy). The department is run by Bunny Wilson (Katherine Hepburn). Wilson has been strung along romantically for seven years by…
-
Though I would have loved a full movie about the life and sexy times of buxom Peg, I guess I can settle for Hepburn and Tracy playing super nerds trying to one-up each other.
-
Katherine Hepburn Vs. Google-Beta: A Love Story
-
A broadcasting company brings in efficiency expert Spencer Tracy to see whether his new-fangled computer can do the same job as the reference department, headed by the lovelorn, fiercely intelligent Katharine Hepburn. The eighth of nine Tracy-Hepburn vehicles begins at a leaden pace, rambles rather and has too many concessions to silliness, but picks up for a spirited, sweet-natured second half that features three extended set pieces: the first funny, the second touching, and the third rather broad and overdone. The leads are excellent throughout, displaying an effortless, very real chemistry that extends to their overlapping dialogue and affectionate chiding. There's also a welcome appearance from Joan Blondell, who gave perhaps her best performance in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? the same year. No classic, but worth watching, and sticking with, particularly for fans of the stars.
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