The Silver Screen Oasis

Just finished it this morning for the first time in a long time. The first fifteen seconds were funny because the DVD is a Universal release but you hear the MGM lion (never seen) just as the Liberty films logo comes up. They also spelled Hepburn's name wrong, "Katherine." It was right in the end credits.

After that I thought this would be fun to watch with elections coming up next year. Tracy is good as a wealthy presidential candidiate. Hepburn is a little different as his estranged wife. She is more vulnerable as she tries to win him back while being part of the campaign.

Angela Lansbury is as cold and sneaky as they come. Frankly, I found a realtionship between her and Tracy a bit far fetched. Van Johnson is pretty good as the wise guy. A few Capra characters but not many and not much from them.

Except for when it was made it's easy (for me) to buy that polictics operate pretty much the same way today. Some pontificating goes on but the process is what I found interesting. Anytime we get to see Tracy and Hepburn together it is a good thing.

This is not my favorite Capra. I find it stiff and lifeless up until the last half-hour or so, when Tracy is supposed to appear on TV. This is the "I paid for this microphone" scene that Ronald Reagan supposedly quoted while campaigning in New Hampshire in 1980.

(Odd that political pundits call the "I paid" scene a famous classic movie scene, but I've never seen much attention paid to "State of the Union" in books on film, or heard people talk about it the way they talk about "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.)

Anyway, what I really remember about the "I paid" scene is this one TV technician (I think he is played by the guy who was the bridgekeeper in "It's a Wonderful Life.") who simply stands there and watches Spencer Tracy until Tracy blows his top. I wonder if Capra modeled this guy on the sentry in "Birth of a Nation."

I like this movie, but I think the best chemistry isn't between Hepburn and Tracy. It's between Hepburn and Lansbury, because that's where the conflict is.
The same sort of thing happened in "Key Largo." Between Bogart and Bacall--nada. But between Edward G Rbinson and Bogie--serious tension.