Review of Keeper of the Flame (1943) by Edith N — 17 Aug 2011

One of the best Hep/Tracy pairings! Reporter Steve O'Malley (Tracy) is sent to the wife (Hepburn) of a accidentally killed war hero. Once there, she gives him some information about her husband that is very shocking to everyone.

I have been waiting forever for this movie to come on this website. I have owned it for many years and have been dying to write a review for it. Luckily, I'm the first here, and luckily, this is a positive review.

This was made right after the very successful pair up of Hepburn and Tracy "Woman of the Year". Though this isn't as good as the other, this one is definitely worth watching. This is a beautiful gothic tale that is very different from any movies I have ever seen from these two.

George Cukor does a great job directing. I was surprised, because he is usually known as being the women's director because he was a) gay and b) the guy who gave Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and yes, Katharine Hepburn huge roles.

However, Spencer has the bigger, better part that I was glad to see-- he is one of my favorite actors and though he is not too memorable in this role, he makes the most of it. This movie really does fall under the genre of film noir, which is something that any fan of the genre would love to hear.

Hepburn made very few crime movies, so I found it very exciting to see her here. A fact for the other people interested in this movie-- this is not by any means a romantic movie, so don't expect a lot of spice coming from Hepburn and Tracy-- just look forward to terrific acting.

"Keeper of the Flame" might not be the best movie coming from these two together ("Adam's Rib" is still the gold), but is a great watch that has finally come to DVD.