Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Desk Set Blu-ray Movie Review

Does this later Hepburn-Tracy pairing compute?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 4, 2013

Was there ever an odder match in Hollywood than Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy? She of the cool, patrician air and he of the gruff, no nonsense demeanor. She, a sober minded New Englander and he, a hard drinking Midwesterner, would hardly seem to be a likely pair, but as that old adage evidently rightly states, “opposites attract”. Hepburn and Tracy engaged in a longstanding affair which was shielded from the public, a public which instead was relegated to enjoying the pair in a celebrated series of films the two made together. While some of this nonet, films like Woman of the Year, State of the Union, Pat and Mike and Adam’s Rib, have been acclaimed as among the best movies of their era, at least a couple of others in the set, like Keeper of the Flame and Without Love, are often barely remembered, even by diehard Hepburn and Tracy fans. Desk Set came toward the end of the vaunted Hepburn-Tracy pairing, released in 1957, ten years before the final film the two would make together, 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Desk Set is probably neither the best nor the worst film Hepburn and Tracy made together, but it’s reasonably amiable even if it’s rarely very believable. The film posits Hepburn as a reference librarian at a broadcast facility in New York which is undergoing a “modernization” phase in preparation for a secret merger which entails the installation of two gigantic computers to help manage work flow. Tracy portrays the computers’ inventor, a kind of absent minded professor who also happens to be an efficiency expert who isn’t that sure that the newly created merged company will even need a reference librarian once his gargantuan machines get control of the place. A frankly predictable series of squabbles and skirmishes ensues, until true love—and a few thousand punch cards—win out in the end.

It’s perhaps worth noting that two of Hepburn and Tracy’s most celebrated match ups, the aforementioned Pat and Mike and Adam’s Rib, were co-written by the married couple of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon (and Kanin contributed the original story that became the first Hepburn-Tracy pairing, Woman of the Year). Kanin and Gordon were personal friends of the acting duo, and perhaps that “insider” status allowed them to craft such expert material for their comrades. Another celebrated married writing pair, Henry and Phoebe Ephron (parents of four famous daughters, including Nora and Delia), took on the task of creating Desk Set’s screenplay, but for whatever reason, their efforts didn’t quite have the inherent ebullience of the Kanin-Gordon screenplays.

Hepburn portrays the infelicitously named Bunny Watson, reference librarian for a monolithic broadcasting venture. She has long been involved with a carefree roué named Mike Cutler (Gig Young), an up and coming executive who showers her with gifts but who never seems quite ready to pop the question. With a secret merger in the works, the network brings in crusty and bumbling Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy), who has invented huge computers named EMERAC to streamline operations. That of course sets off a panic in the human workforce, who see “forced obsolescence” in their near futures.

Desk Set, while perhaps expectedly predictable, is often spry and enjoyable, and it has a number of witticisms delivered effortlessly by Hepburn—whose Bunny is something of a walking computer herself—as well as by Bunny’s staff, which includes Peg (Joan Blondell in her traditional blowsy mode), Sylvia (Dina Merrill) and Ruthie (Sue Randall). The film is actually rather forward looking in its depiction of technology replacing human beings, though of course in this case, the technology ends up being fraught with problems (like firing everybody in the place), and is certainly no match for the inherent smarts of Bunny.

The film is a wonderful example of mid- to late-fifties design, with the huge CinemaScope frame filled with the Bauhaus inspired look of the “modern office” with it sleek lines and clean angles, which contrasts nicely with Bunny’s cozy, almost Victorian looking, apartment. But it’s the repartee between Hepburn and Tracy for which Desk Set has earned its reputation. The two are simply incredibly real in their interactions—there’s no pretense, no “indicating”, nothing other than two people (who are obviously crazy about each other from the first time they set eyes on each other) fighting their way to true love.

As odd as it may sound, I couldn’t help but compare Desk Set with a much more cynical take on the intrigues of the contemporary office, Billy Wilder’s 1960 opus The Apartment, as I watched this film again after several years to prepare for this review. While Wilder and his writing partner I.A.L. Diamond skewer the idea of a junior executive climbing the ranks by providing a place for his superiors to have their secret assignations, the Ephrons instead posit largely clueless executives, junior or otherwise, who can’t quite fathom the sea change that may be happening around them. In both films, a raucous Christmas party hides a perhaps only slightly masked melancholy that temporarily delays a happy ending. Certainly, the differences between the two films are much more notable than any similarities, but it’s perhaps notable that in both films, despite the rampant automation of the “modern office”, it’s human emotions that ultimately rule the roost.

Desk Set Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Desk Set is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.36:1. This CinemaScope feature looks great on Blu-ray, sourced from elements with little real damage to report, and with deeply saturated, widely varied colors and some rather remarkable fine detail—especially when one considers that director Walter Lang and cinematographer, the great Leon Shamroy, tend to want to exploit the wide frame and therefore keep their actors at arm's length most of the time. As with Fox's concurrent release of Carmen Jones , there are some minor (inherent) focus problems, usually toward the center of the frame (though they aren't nearly as pronounced as in the Dandridge film). Contrast is strong and grain structure is natural looking (grain and softness take an expected uptick during the film's use of then trendy split screen sequences—see screenshot 19). Some of the process photography also looks a bit soft by comparison, as should be expected.

Desk Set Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Desk Set was screened theatrically in mono, and that original mix is delivered here via a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track. This suffices perfectly well for what is largely a dialogue driven comedy. Cyril J. Mockridge's buoyant score and the occasional foley effect—including EMERAC's spinning and churning sounds—all come through loud and clear, with no problematic dropouts, damage or other distractions.

Desk Set Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Fox Movietone News: Designers Inspired for New Creations by Film Desk Set (480i; 00:59) is a brief puff piece touting the film's costumes.


• Commentary by Dina Merrill and John Lee . It sounds like Lee and Merrill were recorded separately, but they've been edited fairly well together here, although this is a fairly sporadic commentary. Merrill is a real joy to listen to, detailing her Hollywood career with some fondness, and Lee gives more pertinent information on this particular film and Hepburn and Tracy.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2:19)

Desk Set Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's always a bit ironic to look back on older films which are touting some kind of "modernism", only to realize how incredibly dated they are. That's certainly the case with Desk Set, but the real interest here isn't with the machines (which are, after all, a bit of a MacGuffin, to quote Hitchcock), but the effervescent pairing of Hepburn and Tracy. The two slip into their roles like the pros that they were, and if the film never really amounts to much, it's impeccably well produced and often quite enjoyable. This new Blu-ray offers nice looking video and sounding audio, and comes with a decent, if intermittent, commentary. Recommended.