Desk Set | |
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Original cinema poster
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Directed by | Walter Lang |
Produced by | Henry Ephron |
Screenplay by |
Phoebe Ephron Henry Ephron |
Based on |
Desk Set (play) by William Marchant |
Starring |
Katharine Hepburn Spencer Tracy |
Music by | Cyril J. Mockridge |
Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date
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Running time
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103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,865,000 |
Box office | $1.7 million (US rentals) |
Desk Set (released as His Other Woman in the UK) is a 1957 American romantic comedy film directed by Walter Lang and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The screenplay was written by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron from the 1955 play, The Desk Set, by William Marchant.
At the Federal Broadcasting Network in Midtown Manhattan, Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) is in charge of its reference library, which is responsible for researching facts and answering questions on all manner of topics, great and small. Watson has been involved for seven years with rising network executive Mike Cutler (Gig Young), with no marriage in sight.
The network is negotiating a merger with another company, but is keeping it secret. To help the employees cope with the extra work that will result, the network head has ordered two computers, or "electronic brains." Methods Engineer and efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy), the inventor of EMERAC ("Electromagnetic MEmory and Research Arithmetical Calculator"), is brought in to see how the library functions, to figure out how to ease the transition. Though extremely bright, as he gets to know Bunny Watson, he is surprised to discover that she is every bit his match.
When they find out the computers are coming, the employees jump to the conclusion they are being replaced. Their fears seem to be confirmed when everyone on the staff receives a pink slip printed out by the new payroll computer. Fortunately, it turns out to be a mistake; the machine fired everybody in the company, including the president.
Richard Sumner reveals his romantic interest in Bunny Watson, but she believes that EMERAC would always be his first priority. Sumner denies it, but then Watson puts him to the test, setting the machine to self-destruct. Sumner resists the urge to fix it as long as possible, but finally gives in. Watson accepts him anyway.