The second film pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn came in a highly dramatic movie with political overtones. “Keeper of the Flame” is the story of the widow (Hepburn) of a national leader whose sudden death prompts a reporter (Tracy) to investigate his life and career. He uncovers disturbing information that could ruin the leader’s wholesome reputation.
Director George Cukor (“A Bill of Divorcement” 1932) put together this glossy drama from a screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart, based on a novel by I. A. R. Wylie. The resulting film seems to strangely resemble “Citizen Kane” (1941); it is nonetheless a very watchable and suspense-filled movie. Some credit goes to cinematographer William H. Daniels and to the soundtrack composed by Bronislaw Kaper.
Tracy and Hepburn are, per usual, superb. Co-stars include Forrest Tucker, Frank Craven, Richard Whorf, Margaret Wycherly, Donald Meek, Howard DaSilva, Darryl Hickman, Audrey Christie, and Percy Kilbride (famous as Pa Kettle) as Tracy’s taxi driver. The watchable “Keeper of the Flame” was not especially popular with the general public and was a loss for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Keeper of the Flame (1943)
cinema
My Review
The second film pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn came in a highly dramatic movie with political overtones. “Keeper of the Flame” is the story of the widow (Hepburn) of a national leader whose sudden death prompts a reporter (Tracy) to investigate his life and career. He uncovers disturbing information that could ruin the leader’s wholesome reputation.
Director George Cukor (“A Bill of Divorcement” 1932) put together this glossy drama from a screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart, based on a novel by I. A. R. Wylie. The resulting film seems to strangely resemble “Citizen Kane” (1941); it is nonetheless a very watchable and suspense-filled movie. Some credit goes to cinematographer William H. Daniels and to the soundtrack composed by Bronislaw Kaper.
Tracy and Hepburn are, per usual, superb. Co-stars include Forrest Tucker, Frank Craven, Richard Whorf, Margaret Wycherly, Donald Meek, Howard DaSilva, Darryl Hickman, Audrey Christie, and Percy Kilbride (famous as Pa Kettle) as Tracy’s taxi driver. The watchable “Keeper of the Flame” was not especially popular with the general public and was a loss for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.