Got a DVD player for Christmas and "Desk Set" was one of the movies my daughter gave me along with the player. I don't think my daughter was aware of the Christmas party in the movie (I can't recall if she's seen it) but that certainly made it appropriate as a Christmas gift. :)
I got a big kick out of Tracy's exit from Hepburn's apartment. It looks like it was something done on the spur of the moment and the director let them go on (smart guy).
The commentary on the DVD left something to be desired. Dina Merrill contributes very little information about the film and mostly chit-chats about her private life and other projects she'd done with other people. In another context I wouldn't have minded but except for a few bits of trivia about her co-stars and her own part in the film, she had very little relevant to say about this movie. The other person giving commentary was *not* Neva Patterson, unless her voice changed. It was a man who *was* very informative. People have commented on how this was a filmed stage play and the looks of the sets. He explains why Cinemascope movies of the '50s have the look they do. The various technical aspects (and giving answers to questions asked of the librarians but not answered on film) he went into were fascinating. I'd much rather have had him do the entire commentary. Sorry, Ms. Merrill, and I do like you.
Using a hairpin to fix the mainframe computer (can we say "fried components"?) was a play on the old gag that a woman's hairpin would fix anything, from a broken down car to a broken doorknob (I own a book of newspaper cartoons and a 1910 cartoon has that last one) when a poor helpless male wasn't able to do the repair job. Though I don't think I'd class Tracy as very helpless.
Fun from beginning to end and, I think, one of the better Tracy/Hepburn movies.
I got a big kick out of Tracy's exit from Hepburn's apartment. It looks like it was something done on the spur of the moment and the director let them go on (smart guy).
The commentary on the DVD left something to be desired. Dina Merrill contributes very little information about the film and mostly chit-chats about her private life and other projects she'd done with other people. In another context I wouldn't have minded but except for a few bits of trivia about her co-stars and her own part in the film, she had very little relevant to say about this movie. The other person giving commentary was *not* Neva Patterson, unless her voice changed. It was a man who *was* very informative. People have commented on how this was a filmed stage play and the looks of the sets. He explains why Cinemascope movies of the '50s have the look they do. The various technical aspects (and giving answers to questions asked of the librarians but not answered on film) he went into were fascinating. I'd much rather have had him do the entire commentary. Sorry, Ms. Merrill, and I do like you.
Using a hairpin to fix the mainframe computer (can we say "fried components"?) was a play on the old gag that a woman's hairpin would fix anything, from a broken down car to a broken doorknob (I own a book of newspaper cartoons and a 1910 cartoon has that last one) when a poor helpless male wasn't able to do the repair job. Though I don't think I'd class Tracy as very helpless.
Fun from beginning to end and, I think, one of the better Tracy/Hepburn movies.