 |  | Fizzles out halfway through. |  |
This film started well - I'm a big Spencer Tracy fan, and he's as good as ever in this noirish mystery. But it quickly gets convoluted and dull. The whole thing is like a Victorian gaslight melodrama, and about that interesting, with everything revealed in the last reel. Hepburn is stagey and doesn't get to use her fine comedy talents in a one dimensional role. The ending, the big secret, is signposted throughout the movie, but it will still come as a surprise, since you will have convinced yourself that it is too preposterous to be what you thought it was. Like I say, Tracey is good, but not even he can save this turkey.
October 18, 2008I think it is, even with the stiff competition it gets from some of their other eight films. It begins with the death of a World War I hero in an automobile accident. Hepburn is the man's widow, and Tracy is the reporter who covers the story. Gradually he learns that the dead "hero" was not universally admired---and then he starts to suspect that the car crash may not have been an accident. Along the way he gets some intriguing information from a taxi driver played by Percy Kilbride---not doing his Pa Kettle shtick, but dispensing homespun common sense and independence of thought. There are many blind alleys that add to the atmosphere of menace, and the final revelation is stunning, but all too believable. The only flaw is the final scene, in which everything seems to be happening at once, as though director George Cukor discovered that he was running out of film and had to wrap up the production in a hurry. But the glorious final montage ties it all together for a dramatic, convincing and satisfying conclusion.
September 1, 2008Very different from other Tracy/Hepburn films, both in style and substance. I have viewed this multiple times and thoroughly enjoy it. Strong political theme has kept this from being one of the top films of the era.
April 8, 2006 | | Most serious, intriguing Tracy / Hepburn film. | |
One of my favorite Spencer Tracy movies, Keeper of the Flame is probably the most serious of all the films teaming Tracy with Katherine Hepburn, perhaps the only one that might fit the "noir" class. Mystery surrounds the death of national hero Robert Forrest. Reporter Steve O'Malley (Tracy) wants to do a biography of the late statesman, but the closer he tries to get to the family on their huge estate (sort of a gothic version of the Kennedy Compound), the more it seems Forrest's widow (Hepburn) and secretary are trying to hide something. Tracy begins to suspect their foul involvement in the hero's supposed accidental death. In addition to the great Tracy and Hepburn and an intrigueing story, there are fine performances from the supporting cast which includes a young Forrest Tucker (The Ghost Busters a.k.a. Spencer, Tracy, and Kong), Darryl Hickman (Fighting Father Dunn), Howard da Silva (1776), Percy Kilbride (Pa Kettle), and others.
May 16, 2005Hard to imagine Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn being lousy together: until you see them in this Popular Front catastrophe fron 1942. The conspiracy theory of those days among Hollywood leftists was that there were Fascist fifth columnists under every bed and they had to be rooted out. Reporter Tracy is rooting under widow Hepburn's bed to get the goods on her late husband. Tracy was not politcally sympathetic to the project and he looks thoroughly discouraged and annoyed from scene one. The crummy script and abominable sets didn't help any. Politics is always a touchy subject in the movies; it usually doesn't date well. Some films, like "For Whom the Bell Tolls," can shrug off the rhetoric and still be great years later. Others, like "Keeper of the Flame," sink like a stone.
May 31, 2004More reviews at Amazon.com ...
Daily Birthdays
(9 reviews)