Wonderful Movie

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Copyright 1957 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 15 May 1957. U.S. release: May 1957. U.K. release: 12 August 1956. Australian release: 11 July 1957. Sydney opening at the Regent. 9,305 feet. 103 minutes. U.K. release title: HIS OTHER WOMAN.SYNOPSIS: Love and automation clash when an efficiency expert takes stock of a broadcasting company's research department.NOTES: The play opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst on 24 October 1955. Shirley Booth starred opposite Byron Sanders. Also in the cast: Elizabeth Wilson, Joyce Van Patten, Louis Gossett, Frank Moran, Mary Gildea. The director was Joseph Fields. The play closed after a very satisfactory 296 performances.Fox's 75th CinemaScope feature and the 8th teaming of Tracy and Hepburn. COMMENT: A very pleasant and even more pertinent comedy in 2017 than it appeared when originally released. Most contemporary critics liked the film, but nearly all complained how slight the story was and if it were not for the superlative acting teamwork of Tracy and Hepburn... While there is a certain amount of truth in these assessments — it's hard to imagine "Desk Set" succeeding so entertainingly well in the hands of any other players but the warmly likable yet sympathetically odd-people-out Spencer and Kate — there are quite a few other aspects of the movie to enjoy as well. Not least of these enjoyments is the excellent support cast. As the gossipy Smithers, Harry Ellerbe (in movies since at least 1932) has the best role of his entire career. Making their movie debuts are Dina Merrill (from the New York modeling world), and Sue Randall (from a television and Broadway stage background). Oddly, so far as I know, the lovely Miss Randall never made another picture, whereas the equally attractive but somewhat less personable Miss Merrill went on to enjoy a modest but reasonably successful career.I could single out other players for praise, but will content myself with a tip of the hat to Joan Blondell, a skilled comedienne who makes the most of her every entrance and exit.Ephron has realized this little gem on a fair-sized budget. It's untrue to say that "Desk Set" is simply a photographed stage play. It's correct that a lot of the action still takes place in the one set, but not only is this one set more extensive and elaborately furnished than the stage equivalent, there are actually quite a few changes of scene.Shamroy has photographed his players to their considerable advantage, whilst Lang has directed in an unobtrusive but thoroughly professional manner. Admittedly, he has made little use of CinemaScope until the 3rd Act when "Emmy" is cleverly made to fill those wide open interior spaces.If you can afford to laugh at the computer revolution, "Desk Set" will certainly tickle your funny bone.

Another entertaining Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy pairing, the one is about an efficiency expert (Tracy) assigned to "secretly" investigate implementing an electronic brain (e.g. a computer system) in the reference department of a television network. The head of the department (Hepburn) and her employees (Joan Blondell, Sue Randall, and Dina Merrill, in her first film), who currently "look everything up" manually, naturally feel threatened.Gig Young plays Hepburn's long time love interest, an up-and-coming employee at the network whose job interferes with their relationship. Harry Ellerbe appears as a company lawyer who also serves as its "grapevine". Nicholas Joy is the executive in charge that's hired Tracy, Neva Patterson plays a computer operator.The film's funniest scenes are the ones between its two stars: one is a rooftop luncheon in which Tracy learns of Hepburn's extraordinary mind and retention; the other occurs in her character's apartment.Serves as a commercial of sorts for IBM though, having spent more than 15 years in the business, it always amuses me how Hollywood displays computer hardware, with excessive blinking lights and constantly spinning tape drives.This above average comedy was directed by Walter Lang, based on the William Marchant play, and adapted (screenplay) by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, parents of Nora, Delia, and Amy.

When I list my favorite film for each year, this is always on my list for 1957. I know I'm supposed to say "Twelve Angry Men" or "Bridge over the River Kwai", but I just find this film to be better. Hepburn and Tracy star in a very odd romantic comedy in which the leading man is a computer designer and the leading lady is head of the reference department at a major television network. Change the fear of automation that Tracy's computer brings to the fear of outsourcing and you have something very modern indeed. It is interesting to see the fear of being replaced by something cheaper existed for employees even 60 years ago. It's also interesting to see that Hepburn's character as well as her employees are all smart women who, in the 1950's, cannot hope to aspire to something greater than looking up information for the rest of the company. The romantic comedy is smart and very adult, and it's a shame more people haven't seen it. There really is romance after the age of 35, something you'd never know by watching the films of today.I am going to do what I seldom do when I write reviews - mention the commentary track on the DVD. It is a real disappointment There are two people commenting - film historian John Lee and actress Dina Merrill who costarred in the film. John Lee seems to be reading his remarks and talks more about film history in general than the film specifically. Ms. Merrill talks about her personal experiences with the cast. I was really hoping for some extra or commentary about research departments as they existed in the 1950's or even something about the early electronic brains, such as the one that Tracy's character brings into the network research department. You get none of that. There is one other extra about fashions, but that is it. Usually commentary and extras on Fox classic films has been much better than this.One funny item - Dina Merrell mentioned that she tried to make small talk with Joan Blondell by talking to her about meeting her ex-husband Dick Powell. Joan was not amused, and Dina was puzzled by this response? I'm telling you all of this so that if you see the DVD has commentary that you don't get TOO excited.

First off, I'm updating my review based on the new Blu Ray edition of the film. Is it worth upgrading? A definite yes. It looks the best I've ever seen it. Beautiful colors, although I wish it had been just a little sharper. Great transfer.This is not the strongest, nor the weakest, of the Tracy-Hepburn films. In a few spots it suffers...seems to drag, but mostly it moves along fine. I was interested to note that the not very successful film (in terms of box office revenue), gets a decent 7+ rating here on IMDb. That is particularly interesting because is some ways the topic -- incoming technology -- seems a tad outdated now.Particularly fine moments in the film include Tracy and Hepburn in bathrobes after being caught in the rain...and then being caught by Hepburn's initial romantic interest (Gig Young). Watching Tracy here, it seemed as if he was enjoying this sequence very much At the end of this segment, watch for the apparently ad-libbed Spencer Tracy imitating a drunk Red Skelton! Tracy and Hepburn shine here...as they almost always did. Both with characters who seemed businesslike with love creeping up on them. Hepburn seems just right as the researcher whose personal life seems stalled out. Tracy seems just right in terms of personality for the slightly different kind of efficiency expert, but maybe a tad too old to be a computer expert? Joan Blondell steals a number of scenes...definitely one of her best appearances in film. Gig Young has a better role in this film than he did in similar roles where he is the runner-up romantic interest. Here he at least maintains his dignity and acted like a normal man, just on the wrong track for a successful romance. Dina Merrill may be the only other actor of note here, and she plays an assistant in the research office very pleasantly. Poor Neva Patterson seemed to have copyrighted the somewhat cold personality that we also saw in "An Affair To Remember". Tracy and/or Hepburn fans will want this on their DVD shelf, others will enjoy watching it at least once.