Desk Set stars one of the silver screen’s greatest duos, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Through nine films they cemented themselves as a benchmark for romantic comedy duos. Their off-screen relationship helped. This may not be the best of the duo’s films and the material may not be earth-shattering great, but Tracy and Hepburn are still very fun to watch and the subject matter is quite the novelty given how far technology has evolved since the film was first released in 1957.
Katherine Hepburn is Bunny Watson, head of the research and reference library of the Federal Broadcasting Network (a fake television network). Bunny has a long standing relationship with studio executive Mike Cutler (Gig Young) but it’s not really going anywhere. Enter efficiency expert Richard Sumner, portrayed by Spencer Tracy, and his “electronic brain” machines – yes, that’s what computers were called back then.
Alright, so you can see where this is going. Over the course of almost 2 hours we get a bit of comedy, some romance, and a time capsule of corporate culture. Much of the story or characters don’t hold up with too much examination, but everything works neatly enough for the film. Desk Set is lighthearted entertainment first and foremost, and everybody involved knows this.
20th Century Fox brings the film to Blu-ray with a solid transfer and a couple of special features. First up is a newsreel about the making of the film which is marketing at its best. Then we get an audio commentary with actress Dina Merrill (who played one of the reference library workers) and John Lee. It’s a decent commentary track with more anecdotes and stories than technical details, and that’s pretty much what you would want.
Fans of classic cinema, particularly Tracy and Hepburn, would do well to pick this up.