This vintage Hollywood rom-com, listed as a holiday favorite in Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, features one of American film's most legendary couples:
When efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) starts sniffing around the research department of the Federal Broadcasting Company TV network, the librarians naturally get suspicious. That department's head, Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn), knows that Sumner is the inventor of an "electronic brain" called EMERAC, and she worries that if he installs one of his super-computers, she and research librarians Peg (Joan Blondell), Sylvia (Dina Merrill), and Ruthie (Sue Randall) will all be out of a job.
The more time she spends with Sumner, the more Bunny grows to like him, much to the chagrin of network executive Mike Cutler (Gig Young), who starts taking Bunny a little less for granted now that there's a little romantic competition for her affections. After a wild and drunken Christmas party, Sumner's true plans come to light -- can Bunny keep her job, and will Sumner win her heart?
Critics at the time dismissed Desk Set as a lesser Hepburn-Tracy collaboration, but those of us who grew up watching this movie over and over on TV feel otherwise. Their famous shared chemistry is firing on all cylinders, as they play exceedingly intelligent people who ricochet brilliantly off each other. (Their rooftop lunch-interview is a little marvel of zingy give-and-take.) The smart dialogue flies fast and furious, and between the laughs you'll find yourself learning interesting trivia tidbits about everything from the island of Corfu to the king of the Watusis. The film's Christmas party sequence is a blast, from Eisenhower-era alcohol abuse and sexual harassment to the constant phone calls from tipsy co-workers demanding the names of Santa's reindeer. Desk Set is a delectable visit to an era when computers were the size of large rooms and everyone didn't have instant access to Google.
Fun Facts:
· Desk Set screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron are the parents of filmmaker Nora and author Delia.
· While FBC is a fictional network, its offices just happen to be located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, home of NBC.
· Ray Kellogg, credited with the film's "special photographic effects," went on to direct two legendary low-budget monster movies -- The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster (both 1959) -- as well as John Wayne's hooray-for-the-Vietnam-War epic The Green Berets (1968).
· Tag line from the film's poster: "Meet the Desk Set...From 9 O'Clock Coffee to 5 O'Clock Cocktails -- And, Oh, Those Fabulous Christmas Parties!"
Check back for more of Movieline's 12 Films of Christmas throughout the rest of this week.