WORLD TOUR Day 22 - New York, NY
BEFORE: Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy carry over - they made 9 films together, after all, and this is the 5th in my project, but I think I've seen the best of them, the other 4 don't seem to have the same recognition. Tonight I'm back to reporters - Chicago's a great city for newspaper reporters, but so is New York.
THE PLOT: Rival reporters Sam and Tess fall in love and get married, only to find their relationship strained when Sam comes to resent Tess' hectic lifestyle.
AFTER: I'm willing to concede it, Hepburn and Tracy made for a cute couple, and I think this film shows it off best. Certainly better than "Adam's Rib" did, or even "Desk Set". They're cute when they're falling for each other, they're cute when they're cooking for each other, heck, they're even cute when they're fighting and dividing up their property. My problem with some of their other films was sort of a relationship shorthand, since the audience knew they were a couple in real life, it was pretty much a certainty that they'd end up together in the movie. Since this was their first film together, there are no shortcuts here - so the film (rightfully) has to detail all of the steps in the forming of the characters' relationship.
There are no third parties involved here, unlike "Adam's Rib" or "Desk Set" - no love triangles or quadrangles - but the relationship is complicated enough without that. Since he's a sportswriter and she's a columnist (who also devotes her time to society parties and charitable causes), they both travel a lot. The courtship is so quick they don't have time to think about where they're going to live after they get married, so they sort of maintain separate apartments for a while. There are also some major communication issues between them - neither is very upfront about what kind of relationship they want to have, so they try to maintain the lifestyles they had before, and sort of wing the rest.
I'm sure there are plenty of career-oriented people, even today, who can't or won't adjust to a married lifestyle. (ASIDE: If the institution of marriage is so outdated, why were all those gay people fighting for it?) I think we've been sold this American Dream that's something of a fallacy, which says that we can, and should, all have career, marriage and raising kids on our agendas. But honestly, I don't know how anyone manages to tackle all three simultaneously. I think many people settle for two out of the three - couples where both partners have busy careers could hire a nanny, for example, so that's one way around the impossible balancing act.
Hepburn's character's solution to "having it all" involves an attempt at adoption, something that's become a trend among high-profile actors and actresses, who either can't take the time out from their career to be pregnant, or are worried about the effect it will have on their body. Taken this way, the selfless act of adoption also seems rather self-serving. She also has a maid, but the best gags in the film come near the end, when she tries to make breakfast and coffee by herself, dressed in a full mink coat. She doesn't even know how to light the stove, and things just get worse, and funnier, from there. You probably see Spencer Tracy's characters cooking in films a lot more than Hepburn's did.
Of course, in the 1940's, women were all expected to know how to cook - but that doesn't mean they all did. My dad was trained as a baker, and was an Army cook as well, but once he got married (early 1960's) he expected my mother to learn how to cook for him. Outside of the occasional "Pizza Night", he never cooked at home - still doesn't. But it's all about two people finding an arrangement that works for them. After college, I asked my Mom to write out all her recipes for me, so as a result I do more of the cooking at home (though usually it's just heating frozen foods, I am capable of more). But after a few incidents, I'm not allowed to make coffee.
Anyway, the film - I found there were quite a few narrative threads that this film generated that it just never followed up on. What happened to the German scientist? The little Greek refugee boy? How'd that whole World War 2 thing turn out, anyway? I'd think that the marital problems of two reporters might not amount to a hill of beans when compared with the problems of the world, but I guess I'd be wrong.
Also starring Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen, Minor Watson, William Bendix.
RATING: 5 out of 10 boxing stories
My take on Spencer Tracy is simple. You go to the movies and you wish you could be as smooth and stylish as Fred Astaire or as handsome and charming as Cary Grant. You know it'll never happen. Then you see Spencer Tracy and think "OK. He's a nice guy, reasonably articulate and good looking, and he gets a woman as fine as Hepburn. That's an attainable goal. Plus, it looks like he buys his suits off the rack. Who has the patience for custom tailoring?"
ReplyDeleteWomen married young -- either straight out of high school or after a few years doing entry-level work -- and then immediately became homemakers. These rigidly-defined gender roles blow my mind. From my perspective in 2012, I can't fathom a woman going through her late teens and early Twenties knowing that Society had put her on a set of rails that almost always leads to a career of cleaning house, cooking meals, and taking care of kids.
ReplyDeleteWhich is something we all do anyway, I know. I mean, assuming that we without children include "not smacking that little kid at the next table who keeps throwing popcorn everywhere" as part of "taking care of kids." It just seems completely alien, now. As soon as the marriage certificate is signed, the officiant says "Right. From now on, you've got to cook and clean for this one, and do all of his laundry."