10 Things to Love about WITHOUT LOVE (1945)

Harold S. Buquet's WITHOUT LOVE (1945) is without doubt one of Katharine Hepburn's most underrated films. She plays a Jamie Rowan, a scientist's daughter who rents out part of her Washington DC home to a Pat Jamieson (Spencer Tracy), a scientist who cannot find anywhere to live and work due to the housing shortage of WWII DC. Jamie has given up on love because she tragically lost her first husband, and cannot envision loving anybody else. Pat refuses to have any romance in his life because he has been jilted by the girl he was crazy about. So, the obvious conclusion for this mismatched pair is to enter into a loveless marriage and work together as colleagues on the scientific innovations that will win the war. Well, if you've EVER seen a Hepburn/Tracy movie in your life, you can imagine the laughs these two have before yielding to the inevitable and falling hook, line, and sinker for each other!

"You don't want love in your life, I don't want it in mine. But our reasons are as different as the sun is from the moon. You don't want it because you've had all the worst of it. I don't want it because I've had all the best." (Jamie)

As philosophical as this all sounds, the movie is actually rather light, and full of laughs. Hepburn is as good here as she is in some of her more popular comedies, like BRINGING UP BABY (1938), THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940), or ADAM'S RIB (1949). If you haven't seen it already, WITHOUT LOVE is definitely one to add to your collection. Here are my top ten favorite things about the movie.

Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin write for the silver screen's dream team

When Garson Kanin published Tracy & Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir in 1972, Katharine Hepburn was furious and refused to talk to him for years. But after time went by and many of her friends started passing away, including Kanin's wife and writing partner Ruth Gordon, Miss Hepburn came to value his friendship once again.

Most scholars have since dismissed Kanin's memoir as too biased to be considered a dependable account of the affair. Scholar Andrew Britton is most perceptive when he states the purpose of the book "suggests only that the authors of PAT AND MIKE wish to make it clear to the spectator that they are in the habit of addressing the leading actors by their abbreviated forenames." (Britton 170)

Dynamic Duos in Classic Film: Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant

This post is written in conjunction with the Dynamic Duos in Classic Film blogathon hosted by Once Upon a Screen and the Classic Movie Hub. This article and many like it can be found on margaretperry.org.

HOLIDAY (1938)

Katharine Hepburn had the privilege of playing with some of the best leading men of her day, from Humphrey Bogart to John Wayne. She is perhaps best known for the nine films she made between 1942 and 1967 with her long-term lover Spencer Tracy. Hepburn also worked with director and friend George Cukor on a remarkable ten movies, starting with her Hollywood début picture, A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT (1932), until THE CORN IS GREEN (1979) just a couple years before his death.

These two Hepburn teamings may be the most well-known, but we must not forget that Hepburn made four films with sex-pot Cary Grant before she ever met Tracy, and three of these four movies were directed by Cukor.

DESK SET (1957): A Happy Hepburn Christmas

Walter Lang's DESK SET (1957) is one of Katharine Hepburn's few "Christmas movies." You could possibly count LITTLE WOMEN (Cukor, 1933) or Anthony Harvey's THE LION IN WINTER (1968), but DESK SET stands out as a film that really captures the Christmas spirit, at least for the first half of the film. Below is a selection from an academic paper I wrote about "communities of women" in Hepburn's films. I compared and contrasted two Hepburn films centred on a group of professional women: STAGE DOOR (1937) and DESK SET (1957). This post is written in a more formal, analytical tone, but I hope it will inspire deeper thinking about the films we all enjoy. Warning: this post contains spoilers, highlighted in yellow.

DESK SET is about the internal workings of the research department of a television network. The department consists of four women, headed by Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn). The group start to worry about losing their jobs when engineer Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) begins taking measurements for the instalment of a new computer, which threatens to replace them all. Bunny has her own troubles with seven-year beau Mike Cutler (Gig Young) who finally proposes when he gets a promotion. But she cannot decide whether marriage is worth sacrificing her career and leaving her group of co-workers. Sumner makes matters right when he proposes, giving Bunny an alternative: marriage to a man who respects her intelligence and would support, rather than interfere with, her career.

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? (1967): Love, Controversy, and Progress

Turner Classic Movies will conclude their month of Spencer Tracy today, 29 October, with an evening of the four films he made with director Stanley Kramer. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967) was Spencer Tracy's final film and will be showing at 1:30 am EST. It was the ninth film he and Katharine Hepburn had made together since WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942). It now stands as a touching tribute to their personal and professional relationship.

The film was controversial for its time because it is a love story about an inter-racial couple. Dr. John Prentice (Sidney Poitier), the black son of a black mail man, and Joey Drayton (Katharine Houghton), the white daughter of a wealthy white newspaper editor, meet while on vacation in Hawaii and immediately fall in love. They fly home to introduce him to her parents and announce that they wish to be married. Unbeknownst to Joey, John has given her parents a sort of ultimatum: if they don't approve the marriage and give it their blessing, he will call the whole thing off. The situation is intensified when John's parents, still unaware that Joey is a white girl, decide to come out and meet the girl their son has fallen in love with.

Hepburn and Tracy Get Steamy on TCM

Monday, October 22 Turner Classic Movies will be airing six of the nine films Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn made together.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942) - 8:00 pm
Directed by: George Stevens
Written by: Ring Lardner, Jr. and Michael Kanin
Genre: comedy, romance
Co-starring: Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen, Sara Haden
Synopsis: When down-to-earth, all-American sports writer Sam Craig (Tracy) first meets high-flying international political correspondent Tess Harding (Hepburn), sparks fly in more ways than one. The unlikely pair falls in love, but marriage proves difficult as the two attempt to coordinate their mismatched life priorities.
Margaret's rating: 8/10

"And The Award Goes To... Spencer Tracy!"

Turner Classic Movies continues their celebration of Spencer Tracy this month with an evening of five of his Academy-nominated performances, today, October 15. Tracy was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role, two of which he won (BOYS TOWN (1938) and CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1937)). Three of Tracy's Oscar-nominated films were directed by Stanley Kramer and will be featured on the 29th of October when TCM will air all four films on which the two collaborated. Next week will feature several of the films Tracy made with Katharine Hepburn.

BOYS TOWN (1938): 8:00 pm EST

                    Genre: biography, drama

                    Directed by: Norman Taurog

                    Written by: John Meehan, Dore Schary, Eleanor Griffin

                    Co-Starring: Mickey Rooney, Bobs Watson

"There's no such thing as a bad boy."

Spencer Tracy: TCM's October Star of the Month

Although Spencer Tracy was Katharine Hepburn's lover for about 25 years, I am ashamed to say that I know very little about the man, except of course what I have read in Hepburn biographies. I know he was of Irish descent, and like most Irishmen he drank too much and had a serious chip on his shoulder about life. But I do honestly believe that Spencer Tracy was one of the greatest actors of all time, and I didn't need to read that in a book.

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was nominated for the Academy Award for best actor nine times, two of which he won. On October 15 (this coming Monday), Turner Classic Movies will show six of Tracy Oscar-nominated films. Six of the nine films Tracy made with Katharine Hepburn will be aired on Monday, October 22, followed by the documentary, "The Spencer Tracy Legacy," hosted/narrated by Hepburn. This past Monday, October 8, TCM showed three of my favorite Spencer Tracy films from his early years as an actor.

I Never Will Forget Jeanette MacDonald...or SAN FRANCISCO (1936)

This post is written in conjunction with the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Sittin' on a Backyard Fence and ScribeHard on Film. A full day of Jeanette MacDonald films will air on TCM on August 27. SAN FRANCISCO (1936) will be airing at 8:00 pm EST.

Whenever Judy Garland ever sang "San Francisco," she began with a short verse about the immortal Jeanette MacDonald and her 1936 hit movie by the same name. Garland's chemistry with her audience really comes across in this clip from a performance at the London Palladium. She begins her song with, "This lady [MacDonald] has never talked to me since I did this. I don't know why...." This isn't entirely true - apparently MacDonald didn't mind the joke, "as long as it's Judy!"

POLL: What's your favorite Katharine Hepburn WWII movie?

1.) WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942)

(Dir. George Stevens; Writ. Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon)

Sam teaches Tess baseball. She catches on fairly quickly.

In Hepburn's first ever film with Spencer Tracy, she plays high-flying political journalist Tess Harding and he is lowly sports writer Sam Craig on the same newspaper. Although at first the two clash ideologically, they quickly fall in love and marry. The couple struggles to stay together as Tess (Hepburn) continues to rate her job as a higher priority than her marriage. One of the strongest portrayals of a successful business woman on the big screen.

Poll: What's your favorite Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy film?

And the winners are...

Over the past month or so I've posted four polls about Katharine Hepburn movies and co-stars. Although you can continue to cast your votes on those polls, I thought I'd give all those who have already voted a run-down on the scores.

What's your favorite Katharine Hepburn classic? has 20 votes so far and they are pretty evening distributed across the board. BRINGING UP BABY (1938) is in the lead with five votes, followed by LITTLE WOMEN (1934) with four votes. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) and AFRICAN QUEEN (1951) are both tied for last place with three votes each. The remaining five votes selected "other" and that list includes to votes for THE LION IN WINTER (1968), and one each for HOLIDAY (1938), ON GOLDEN POND (1982), and CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933).

15 people have voted on What's your favorite Katharine Hepburn Oscar win? GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967) and THE LION IN WINTER (1968), for which Katharine Hepburn won back-to-back Oscars, are tied for the lead with six votes each. MORNING GLORY (1933), Hepburn's first ever Oscar nomination and win, is trailing with only two votes and Hepburn's final Oscar win, ON GOLDEN POND (1982) brings up the rear with a single vote.

Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn made four films together and you can vote for your favorite in What's your favorite Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn movie? Nine of the fourteen votes went to the ever-popular BRINGING UP BABY (1938). THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) has only three votes and HOLIDAY (1938) only two. Unfortunately, SYLVIA SCARLETT (1935) brings up the rear without a solitary vote.

The most recent poll Who's your favorite of Hepburn's leading men? gives several options, but so far people have only voted on two: six votes have gone to Cary Grant and five to Spencer Tracy. John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Henry Fonda, and Peter O'Toole are also listed, but no one seems overly impressed with their performances, apparently!

These are all running polls, so feel free to cast your vote at any time. If you don't see the answer you would like, you can always enter your own in the "other" option. Let me know if you have an idea for a poll question and I will post it for you. You can see all the existing polls under the "Polls" tab at the top of the blog, and there is also a link to each individual poll in the Table of Contents. Thanks for voting!

Poll: Who's your favorite of Hepburn's leading men?