‘Desk Set’ or — The Looks of Love?

Does it ruin a love story if we know the two stars are already crazy about each other? It’s not like it’s a hidden secret needing prior or inside knowledge as we can simply tell by the way Hepburn looks at Tracy as though she’d die for the fella in a heartbeat that that’s the case. He, in return, doesn’t need to do anything to impress or catch her attention other than making it clear that as long as he’s looking at her that he possess the unassailable security of nothing else in existence mattering. So how can they fall in love when they’re already deeply in it? Maybe it’s because to pretend otherwise would be utterly futile as how do you convincingly disguise those adoring gazes and looks in order to pull off a sham?

Bunny Watson (Hepburn) heads the reference library at the Federal Broadcasting Network where her team of super-bright girls constantly answer any question anyone calling wants to ask. When a mysterious man, Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy), suddenly appears and starts measuring the place with the intention of installing EMERAC, the latest electronic brain, the girls start worrying they’re about to be replaced.

Dramatically ‘Desk Set’ (1957) is extraordinarily light (it’s a stretch to say nothing really happens but almost nothing really happens). After all, does Bunny have a plan? She’s flirting with Sumner but is that part of a hidden scheme or is it because she’s finally found a willing, stable, empty glass of a man into which she can pour her unlimited fizz?

So there’s little narrative thrust and zero romantic surprise to the extent it feels like we’re doing nothing more than hanging out with these people… but that’s where the pleasure dwells.

The script, based on the play by William Marchant, was written by Phoebe and Henry Ephron (Nora’s parents, and you can tell where she got her sharp wit from) and you can almost sense it was written by a married couple because the dialogue has the easy flow of people who already know a partner inside out and experienced enough to retain the psychological suppleness required for tolerating such closeness to another. And it’s a beautifully crafted script and what it might lack in dramatic punch it more than makes up for in reveling in the signals of unfettered affection.

There’s a wonderful scene where Sumner is “interrogating” Bunny on a frozen rooftop in order to assess her personality which soon escalates into a battle of wits. It’s a flurry of dry, technical and mathematical language but the way the two of them coo it to each other demonstrates that a string of numbers can be romantic if delivered in a tone of voice that involuntarily murmurs “I love you!”

You can also see it during the office party when Bunny gets drunk on Champagne (and did anyone ever do Champagne drunk better than Hepburn?) and where she cannot take her eyes, or smile, off Tracy. Once again, there’s almost no point to the scene plot-wise apart from the swooning thrill of watching someone securely in love knowing they don’t have to hide their inner idiot and how Hepburn plays this is spectacular.

The relationship between Bunny and her staff is also a delight and if the entire film had been nothing more than watching the four women interacting I’d have been perfectly happy, although my favourite performance might be the woman who runs EMERAC who, when it all becomes too much near the end, gets to have one of the best tantrum walk-offs ever. I wanted to give her a cheer.

‘Desk Set’ isn’t perfect, never fully transcends its stage origins and is almost completely lacking in any form of dramatic tension but is so immaculately written, wonderfully acted and dripping with such an easy sense of love and life its irresistible. It didn’t do too well with the critics on release but has, apparently, garnered more praise over the years. This is a good thing as something this charming shouldn’t be forgotten, and once you’ve seen it you’ll realise you don’t need a gigantic electronic brain to tell you that.