The legendary screen duo of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn bring their keen comic timing and elegant, palpable chemistry to Walter Lang's DESK SET. Hepburn is cast as Bunny Watson, an exceedingly feminine reference librarian in a longtime lukewarm relationship with TV executive Mike Cutler (Gig Young). Tracy plays Richard Sumner, a hardheaded computer whiz who has designed a system named Miss Emmy to replace Bunny and the rest of her staff. Bunny and Richard clash at first, but their fiery encounters soon begin to take on an unmistakably romantic glow. Lang's film features an excellent script by Henry and Phoebe Ephron, adapted from the play by William Marchant. The sharp, hilarious dialogue is delivered with flair by Tracy and Hepburn, who had played opposite each other seven times before filming began. Fine work from supporting actors Young and Joan Blondell, as well as some unintentionally amusing 1950s conceptions of a computerized world, round out DESK SET's overflowing collection of buoyant charms.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
Mono - English
Mono - French
Mono - Spanish
Stereo - English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: Dina Merrill - Star, Neva Patterson - Star
Movietone News:
1. "Designers Inspired For New Creation By Film 'Desk Set'"
Trailers:
1. Theatrical Trailer
2. "Studio Classics"
Costume Designer
Charles LeMaire: Costume Designer/Wardrobe Director, mid '30s-late '50s
Director of Photography
Leon Shamroy: American Director of Photography
Music Director
Lionel Newman: Composer/Music Director
Production Designer
Lyle Wheeler: Art Director
Source Writer
William Marchant: Playwright\"Desk Set"
Special Effects
Ray Kellogg: American Director
Makeup
Ben Nye: Makeup Artist
Review 1:
"...This has obvious stage origins, but note how polished the playing is in the duo's rooftop lunch scene..."
Source: USA Today
p.3D 03/02/1990
Review 2:
"The real reason to watch this movie is, of course, for the sexily smart, perfectly timed comic interplay that is the hallmark of all Spencer Tracy-Katherine Hepburn pairings."
Source: Premiere
p.111 07/01/2004
Review 3:
"[T]his 1957 farce is still rollicking good fun."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.E27 05/06/2004
Review 4:
"[I]t's in some ways more fun to watch today than it was then."
Source: USA Today
p.6E 05/07/2004