Movie Review: Desk Set

Movie Review: Desk Set (1957) directed by Walter Lang (aka “His Other Woman”)

Back in 1957, if you needed the answer to a question, you couldn’t just go on the internet. You had to look in a book, or ask another human being to look for you. That’s the job of the four women in the Research Department at the Federal Broadcasting Network. The team is led by Bunny Watson (Katherine Hepburn), a woman of prodigious memory and superior research skills. She’s in a long-term relationship with her manager, Mike Cutler (Gig Young). One day, the women are surprised to have a visitor, “methods engineer” (efficiency expert) Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy). He’s very vague about why he’s here, but spends a lot of time measuring things, doing psychological evaluations, and asking questions about the Research Department’s operations.

Bunny and Richard find each other intriguing as they get to know each other. This happens at the same time as Bunny is becoming disillusioned about Mike. It’s been seven years, and she still has to be on tenterhooks whether he’ll invite her to a dance or not, while Mike seems to expect her to be ready to drop everything when he needs her. Richard isn’t taking her for granted. On the other hand, the office grapevine suggests that he’s there to prepare to have the entire Research Department replaced with an electronic brain, EMERAC.

The day comes, and everyone in the Research Department gets a pink slip! Is this truly the end of Bunny’s job, let alone her love life?

This silly romantic comedy is named in relation to the “jet set” or “smart set.” It reflects a very different office culture from the present day, even discounting the lack of modern machinery (they don’t even have a regular TV in there!) No one bats an eye at intra-office affairs, the imposition of “no smoking” areas is a hassle, and booze flows freely at the office Christmas party. Oh, and apparently the stage play it was adapted from was based on a real life CBS employee.

Tracy and Hepburn are a delight as a blossoming couple, as you might have guessed. (This was a change from the stage version, where Richard and Bunny are not romantically involved, despite Mike’s fears.) Mike isn’t a bad fellow, really, but not a good boyfriend. He’s been happy with a “no strings attached” relationship but hasn’t checked in with Bunny to see if that’s what she still wants, and when he finally pops the question, it’s with a deadline of “tomorrow” to match his needs, not hers.

There are also good supporting characters. My favorite was Ida Wells as a little old lady who silently wanders around the building as though she owned it. The person who I feel sorriest for is Miss Warriner (Neva Patterson), the operator of EMERAC. She doesn’t “get” sarcasm, is very fussy about rules, and her best relationship is with “Miss Emmy”. The research workers treat her with (understandable) suspicion and hostility, and abandon her when they think they’ve been fired. Since she was never meant to replace them, she can’t do their jobs.

For comedy purposes, EMERAC is both more advanced and more vulnerable than real computers were at the time. Having a bright red switch with the sole purpose of making EMERAC malfunction is poor design. I notice that EMERAC’s parts got used for several other movies and TV shows whenever a panel of flashing lights was needed to show a computer operating. IBM can be proud.

This was a fun movie to watch, and should be suitable for junior high viewers on up, though you may need to look up some stuff on the internet like what “floating island” is. Recommended to romantic comedy fans who don’t mind that the details are “of their time.”