Desk Set
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: B
Director
Walter Lanz was at his peak when he helmed Desk
Set, being one of 20th Century-Fox’s best journeyman directors
of the moment, thanks especially to his handling of anything CinemaScope. After the triumph of the Yul Brynner/Deborah
Kerr The King & I the year
before, here was a comedy that can be seen as more transitional than you would
think.
It pits
computer man Richard Summer (Spencer Tracy) and network head Bunny Watson
(Katharine Hepburn) trying to do business, but finding themselves at odds with
each other. Pressured dialogue that you
would find in screwball comedies under such circumstances is replaced by the
more paced exchanges of polite and business society. At least at first. In this world, man and machine are more in
harmony as either people are getting more used to them (especially television,
a centerpoint of the film that is ignored as the studios were battling the
medium at the time) as a generation of teletypes and typewriters and telephones
had past since pre-WWII films brought them on in the early sound era of
filmmaking, or that people have unknowingly agreed to their misery. The latter extends to the misery people
tolerate from each other to conform and fit societal norms.
The other
technology it hints at is color film, stereophonic sound and CinemaScope, so the
entire idea of the misé-en-scene is what CinemaScope often implied down to its
successful campaigns, being surrounded by a world of the future. Desk
Set is the most explicit the format would ever come to admitting this
truth. It also happens to be a very good
film, with its tight 103-minutes-long running time and its own subtle ways of
mocking said technology. It would be
fair to say that this had some kind of influence on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, IBM helped
on both films, but the effect here is much more humorous when it comes to
machine malfunctions), but referencing Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936 and his last silent film) is also very fair when
thinking about this film’s lineage.
In
speaking of that CinemaScope technology, the 2.35 X 1 image is anamorphically
enhanced, despite not being identified as such on the back of the DVD box. This looks pretty color correct for a Deluxe
processed film and Leon Shamroy, A.S.C., delivers some of the bets work of his
cinematographer career. The Dolby
Digital is offered in English & Spanish 2.0 Mono, but the 2.0 Stereo is
particularly strong as it is likely carrying all the sounds that 4-channels of
stereo originally did. Why no 4.0 is
odd, but maybe they could not find those elements, lost them, or just decided
to recycle audio elements (form the 12” LaserDisc’s PCM Stereo perhaps?) that
were handy. Cyril J. Mockridge delivers
an effective score. Extras include a
fine commentary by cast members Dina Merrill and (uncredited on the back of the
box) and film scholar John Lee (Neva Patterson did not participate, despite
what the box says). Stills, the
theatrical trailer, four other Fox trailers, and a newsreel comprise the rest
of the interesting “value added” materials.
The
Phoebe and Henry Ephron screenplay is very smart and holds up remarkably well
after nearly a half-century, based on the William Marchant play. When does right, it is amazing how well some
plays translated into CinemaScope films.
But the natural way in which the frame is filled out is ahead of its
time. The cast that also includes Gig
Young, Joan Blondell and Sue Randall is another plus. But this is funny, smart filmmaking and that
is the top reason to see Desk Set,
which is at least a minor classic.
- Nicholas Sheffo
