Desk Set (1957)

Editor's Note 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.

	Dina Merrill
	Gig Young
	Joan Blondell
	Katharine Hepburn
	Spencer Tracy
	Sue Randall
	Cyril J. Mockridge - Original Music By
	Henry Ephron - Screenplay
	Henry Ephron - Producer
	Leon Shamroy - Cinematographer
	Phoebe Ephron - Screenplay
	Robert L. Simpson - Editor
	Walter Lang - Director
	William Marchant - Based On Play By

USA Today
"...This has obvious stage origins, but note how polished the playing is in the duo's rooftop lunch scene..." 03/02/1990 p.3D

Los Angeles Times
"[T]his 1957 farce is still rollicking good fun." 05/06/2004 p.E27

USA Today
"[I]t's in some ways more fun to watch today than it was then." 05/07/2004 p.6E

Premiere
"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." 07/01/2004 p.111