Keeper of the Flame (1942)

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

I.A.R. Wylie (novel)
Donald Ogden Stewart (screenplay)

Release Date:

December 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

FIERY LOVE DRAMA! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Journalist Steve O'Malley is writing a biography of a national hero who died when his car ran off a bridge...

Plot Keywords:

Bridge | Widow | Taxicab Driver | Biographer | Fire

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Steven 'Stevie' O'Malley
Katharine Hepburn	...	Mrs. Christine Forrest
Richard Whorf	...	Clive Kerndon
Margaret Wycherly	...	Old Mrs. Forrest
Forrest Tucker	...	Geoffrey 'Geoff' Midford
Frank Craven	...	Doctor Fielding
Stephen McNally	...	Freddie Ridges (as Horace McNally)
Percy Kilbride	...	Orion Peabody, Taxi Driver
Audrey Christie	...	Jane Harding
Darryl Hickman	...	Jeb Rickards
Donald Meek	...	Mr. Arbuthnot
Howard Da Silva	...	Jason Rickards (as Howard da Silva)
William Newell	...	Piggot, the Horse Handler

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | France:U (re-release) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #8871) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

Van Johnson was driving to a special screening of Keeper of the Flame (1942) when he was involved in the road accident that left him with a metal plate in his forehead.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Symphony No.3 in E Flat Major

Story strives to be "a poor man's Citizen Kane"...

The pitfalls of blind hero worship are examined at length in KEEPER OF THE FLAME with SPENCER TRACY as an intrepid reporter trying to find out what dark secrets are behind all the repressed household members who refuse to divulge much information about a dead patriot. Most secretive of all is KATHARINE HEPBURN as the man's widow who, it turns out, is the real "keeper of the flame" in that she cannot divulge what it is that's behind the death of her husband who was so beloved by the public.

It's a heavy-handed treatment that George Cukor gives this story, interesting but very flawed in that it cloaks everything in too much ambiguity until the final moments. By that time, viewers will be wondering when this long-winded scenario will end.

It's almost an early film noir in its presentation--very low-key lighting full of shadows as dark as the mystery behind the man's existence. Was he trying to ruin America with his fascism? Was he clearly a man who deserved death as a punishment for his sins? Very unusual for an MGM film of this period to soak up so much noir atmosphere and, more than that, to serve as a vehicle for the talents of Hepburn and Tracy. Some of it works, but much of it is tedious in the telling.

A good cast gives it what it deserves, no more, no less, including FORREST TUCKER, MARGARET WYCHERLY and DARRYL HICKMAN (in another one of his tiresome childhood roles). Certainly not for everyone's taste.

George Cukor's fussy attention to detail holds the film back from being a taut exercise in suspense.