Film Review
Of the many great Hollywood double acts, few come even close to
surpassing the legendary pairing of Spencer Tracy with Katharine
Hepburn. They appeared together in nine films in the 1940s and
1950s - the best being
Adam's Rib (1949) and
Pat and Mike (1952) -
the avuncular everyman persona of the former perfectly
complementing the ballsy svelte allure of the latter. Both actors
are pretty exceptional in their own right but together they form an
aggregate that is far more than the sum of its parts. It was a
marriage made in cinema Heaven.
Woman of the Year is the film
in which Tracy and Hepburn worked together for the first time.
Its theme is the competing interests of the modern woman - the need to
have a fulfilling career balanced against the necessity to hold
together a marriage and a family. The film is ahead of its time,
since most women at the time it was made were content to (or were
expected to) give up work after marrying and devote themselves to their
family. As the film shows, you can't have both without some
give and take - but that doesn't mean that a woman can't be as
successful as a man in having a career and a family, providing the
husband is there to lend his support.
The film deservedly won an Oscar for its screenplay, which effectively
combines straight drama and quick fire comedy. The most memorable
sequence is the hilarious final scene in which Hepburn, as the clueless
housewife, attempts to make breakfast for Tracy in a well-meaning
attempt at reconciliation - it's more disaster movie than happy
families.
Woman of the Year
is a classic of its kind, a thoughtful mix of morality tale and
romantic comedy, in which side-splitting slapstick alternates with
moments of sober reflection and heart-wrenching poignancy.
© James Travers 2009
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Next George Stevens film:
I Remember Mama (1948)
Film Synopsis
Sam Craig is a down-to-Earth sportswriter on a New York
newspaper. Tess Harding may have a column on the same paper, but
she appears to come from another world - a society girl who has become
both a prominent political journalist and a torchbearer for
feminism. Tired of Tess's high and mighty
newsprint posturing, Sam decides to confront her - and falls instantly
in love with her. Despite their differences, Tess is also taken
with Sam, and the couple soon marry. It isn't long, however,
before the romance disappears from their relationship and Tess fails to
live up to Sam's expectations of what a wife should be...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.