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Keeper of the Flame
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn followed up their smash first film together, Woman of the Year with Keeper of the Flame, an overheated 1942 melodrama centered around politics and patriotism that fails to engage due to a somewhat predictable story that moves at a snail's pace, despite being extremely well-acted by an interesting cast.
As the story opens, an international war hero named Robert Forrest has died after driving his car off a bridge. Reporters from all over the country come to the Forrest estate to find out what happened, including Steven O'Malley (Tracy), an acclaimed war correspondent who has returned from Germany to learn the truth about what happened to a man he was in awe of. O'Malley decides the only way to learn the truth is by talking to Forrest's widow, Christine (Hepburn), who initially balks at the idea of talking to a reporter about her husband, but is persuaded that it's something she must do.
The screenplay by Oscar winner Donald Ogden Stewart (The Philadelphia Story) is based on a novel by IAR Wiley, that succeeds at keeping the Robert Forrest character at the center of the story, but is not quite as effective in setting up suspense regarding the possibility that Forrest is not the man the world thought him to be. It becomes obvious pretty early on here what's going on and Stewart attempts to throw the viewer off the scent by setting us up with one red herring after another, all conveniently popping up whenever it feels like the truth is bubbling to the cinematic surface too quickly.
I've now seen eight of the nine films Tracy and Hepburn made together, this is easily the weakest of the ones I've seen, even with a proven guiding force like George Cukor in the director's chair. After the breezy and magical romantic chemistry Tracy and Hepburn created in Woman of the Year, this just wasn't what movie audiences wanted from Tracy and Hepburn...opponents in the cover-up of a political conspiracy. Long before Doris Day and Rock Hudson perfected it in Pillow Talk, Tracy and Hepburn were the original purveyors of the "will they or won't thing" screen romance where the leads are fighting the romantic sparks for the entire running time. MGM spent a lot of time producing musicals that were a nod to the war effort and this seemed to be a dramatic nod to same that, despite good intentions, did not show off Tracy and Hepburn to their best advantage.
Tracy and especially Hepburn do solid work here, but the story is not worthy of them. Richard Whorf, Forrest Tucker, and Stephen McNally make the most of their supporting roles though. And there is some welcome comic relief from Audrey Christie as a reporter with the hots for Tracy and Percy Kilbride as a philosophical cab driver. Kilbride would have his fifteen minutes about a decade later creating the role of Pa Kettle. Even hardcore Hepburn fans will have trouble getting through this one.
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn followed up their smash first film together, Woman of the Year with Keeper of the Flame, an overheated 1942 melodrama centered around politics and patriotism that fails to engage due to a somewhat predictable story that moves at a snail's pace, despite being extremely well-acted by an interesting cast.
As the story opens, an international war hero named Robert Forrest has died after driving his car off a bridge. Reporters from all over the country come to the Forrest estate to find out what happened, including Steven O'Malley (Tracy), an acclaimed war correspondent who has returned from Germany to learn the truth about what happened to a man he was in awe of. O'Malley decides the only way to learn the truth is by talking to Forrest's widow, Christine (Hepburn), who initially balks at the idea of talking to a reporter about her husband, but is persuaded that it's something she must do.
The screenplay by Oscar winner Donald Ogden Stewart (The Philadelphia Story) is based on a novel by IAR Wiley, that succeeds at keeping the Robert Forrest character at the center of the story, but is not quite as effective in setting up suspense regarding the possibility that Forrest is not the man the world thought him to be. It becomes obvious pretty early on here what's going on and Stewart attempts to throw the viewer off the scent by setting us up with one red herring after another, all conveniently popping up whenever it feels like the truth is bubbling to the cinematic surface too quickly.
I've now seen eight of the nine films Tracy and Hepburn made together, this is easily the weakest of the ones I've seen, even with a proven guiding force like George Cukor in the director's chair. After the breezy and magical romantic chemistry Tracy and Hepburn created in Woman of the Year, this just wasn't what movie audiences wanted from Tracy and Hepburn...opponents in the cover-up of a political conspiracy. Long before Doris Day and Rock Hudson perfected it in Pillow Talk, Tracy and Hepburn were the original purveyors of the "will they or won't thing" screen romance where the leads are fighting the romantic sparks for the entire running time. MGM spent a lot of time producing musicals that were a nod to the war effort and this seemed to be a dramatic nod to same that, despite good intentions, did not show off Tracy and Hepburn to their best advantage.
Tracy and especially Hepburn do solid work here, but the story is not worthy of them. Richard Whorf, Forrest Tucker, and Stephen McNally make the most of their supporting roles though. And there is some welcome comic relief from Audrey Christie as a reporter with the hots for Tracy and Percy Kilbride as a philosophical cab driver. Kilbride would have his fifteen minutes about a decade later creating the role of Pa Kettle. Even hardcore Hepburn fans will have trouble getting through this one.