JohnHowardReid 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.

Uriah43 "Bunny Watson" (Katharine Hepburn) is a supervisor for the Reference Section of a large television studio in New York City. She supervises three female employees and all of them are essentially required to have extremely good memories and knowledge of how to obtain data utilizing the least amount of time. Then one day a gentleman named "Richard Sumner" (Spencer Tracy) appears in their section and eventually announces that he is an efficiency expert hired by the boss in order to speed up data recovery. It is then discovered that he is the maker of a super computer and the speculation from other offices is that he is there to replace some—if not all—of the people in the Reference Section. However, Bunny Watson doesn't believe that any computer can replace them and isn't really too concerned. Not only that, but after investing seven years with her boyfriend named "Mike Cutler" (Gig Young) and with still no hint of marriage from him, she has other concerns on her mind. Little does she realize that her life is about to drastically change. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that for the year it was produced (1957) the story itself seemed well ahead of its time. Yet even though the acting was pretty good I must confess that the comedy was rather mild and the overall movie seemed a bit dated. Even so, it was still somewhat entertaining and for that reason I have rated it as slightly above average.

dougandwin As I have always been a fan of Spencer Tracy, I thought it would be good to sit through one of his old works....big mistake! This movie has not met the test of time (as many have!), and if it were not for good old Joan Blondell, I may not have watched it all the way through. Unfortunately, as great an actress Katharine Hepburn was, this clearly was not her brightest hour. She seemed to be anxious to look after Spencer rather than act, and some of her prolonged rantings were too much. There were some good individual scenes, but they were far apart. Gig Young played his usual role of the other man competently, while it was good to see Dina Merrill in a fun mood. Not worth commenting on the story which has been done before and better.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Some very naturalistic acting by the leads enlivens this offering. Gig Young once again plays the romantic runner-up, this time to Spencer Tracy vying for Katharine Hepburn. The story seems to be ahead of its time, reminding the audience that machines are not supposed to be a substitute for the human touch. Instead, machines make it possible for the human being to be more efficient -- in business, if not always in love.This was the penultimate film pairing of Tracy and Hepburn. Their last film, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, would not occur until a decade later.