:Keeper of the Flame (film)

On a rainy night, national hero Robert V. Forrest drives his car over a small bridge that has collapsed. He is killed, and the entire United States goes into deep mourning. Admirer and renowned journalist Stephen O'Malley returns from Europe to write a biography of the great man. Among the throngs covering the funeral, he finds his old friends and fellow reporters Jane Harding and Freddie Ridges. They remain after the rest of the press leave.

Forrest's widow, Christine, refuses to speak to reporters throughout the proceedings. However, O'Malley befriends youngster Jeb, son of the gatekeeper of the Forrest estate, Jason Rickards. The grief-stricken boy shows him a way into the mansion, where he meets Christine. Though she is cordial, she refuses to cooperate with his biography. After O'Malley leaves, Forrest's private secretary, Clive Kerndon, fearful of how the reporter will react to the brush-off, convinces Christine to offer her help to O'Malley so that they can guide him in the direction they want.

Over time, O'Malley gains the widow's trust. Christine is the "keeper of the flame," protecting her husband's memory and reputation. O'Malley's instincts tell him that a secret is being kept from him. He discovers that Forrest's elderly, mentally ill mother is living in a separate house on the vast estate. Despite her servants' attempts to keep them apart, O'Malley manages to speak with her and obtains more clues from her ramblings.

O'Malley notices "the arsenal", an old fortification near the Forrest mansion that served as Robert Forrest's office and library. One afternoon, O'Malley observes smoke rising from the arsenal's chimney. When he asks Kerndon about the building's purpose, Kerndon (who cannot see the smoke) tells him it is only a storehouse. O'Malley slips away to investigate. He discovers Christine burning what she claims are love letters, but he suspects otherwise. Later, Kerndon telephones somebody and assures the unnamed party that he will take care of the situation. As O'Malley learns more, he finds evidence implicating Christine in her husband's death and begins to wonder if she and her cousin, Geoffrey Midford, are lovers and murderers. However, Geoffrey's announcement of his engagement to Rickards' daughter, and Christine's reaction, discounts that theory.

When O'Malley admits he cares for Christine, she finally breaks down and reveals the ugly truth. Her husband had been corrupted by the adulation he received and plotted to use his enormous influence to turn Americans to fascist ideals to gain control of the United States. She shows O'Malley papers stored in the arsenal that reveal how Forrest (backed by secretive, ultra-wealthy, power-hungry individuals) planned to use racism, anti-union sentiment, and antisemitism to divide the country, turning social groups against one another in order to create the chaos that would let him seize power. Christine discovered the plot the day before her husband's death. She went riding the next morning and, coming upon the washed-out bridge, could have warned her husband, but decided that a "clean death in the rain was the best thing that could happen to Robert Forrest". O'Malley convinces her to help him write a book detailing Forrest's scheme.

Kerndon eavesdrops, then locks the arsenal's door, sets the building ablaze, and shoots into it through an embrasure. Christine, fatally injured, urges O'Malley to write his book. A man rushes to the burning building carrying an axe, but Kerndon comes up behind him and knocks him out by hitting the man in the head with a gun. Then an automobile driven by Midford rushes to the scene and Kerndon stands in the middle of the road and shoots at the passengers; he is run down and killed. Midford leaves the car, picks up the axe, rushes to the building, breaks through the door, and they rescue O'Malley.

O'Malley ultimately writes a book titled Christine Forrest: Her Life, which exposes the plot.

{{div col}}

• Spencer Tracy as Steven O'Malley
• Katharine Hepburn as Christine Forrest
• Richard Whorf as Clive Kerndon
• Margaret Wycherly as Mrs. Forrest
• Forrest Tucker as Geoffrey Midford
• Frank Craven as Doctor Fielding, one of the few critical of Forrest
• Stephen McNally as Freddie Ridges (billed as "Horace McNally")
• Percy Kilbride as Orion Peabody, O'Malley's taxi driver
• Audrey Christie as Jane Harding
• Darryl Hickman as Jeb Rickards
• Donald Meek as Mr. Arbuthnot
• Howard Da Silva as Jason Rickards
• William Newell as Piggot

{{div col end}}

File:I. A. R. Wylie age 25.jpg]]

The script was based on an unpublished book by I. A. R. Wylie.{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=116}} RKO Pictures bought the book in outline form in April 1941 but encountered casting difficulties and sold the rights to MGM in December 1941 for $50,000.{{cite news|title=Screen News Here and in Hollywood|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 5, 1941}} A day or two after they had obtained the rights, MGM Vice-president Eddie Mannix realized the source material was political in nature and tried to abandon the project.{{sfn|McLaughlin|Parry|2006|page=33}} However, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mannix relented and the production went forward.{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=118}} Once the film went into production at MGM, the book was published by Random House in April 1942.{{cite news|title=Books and Authors|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 22, 1942}}

MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer assigned the script to Donald Ogden Stewart{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=116}}—one of his favorite screenwriters.{{sfn|Phillips|1999|page=43}} Mayer's choice seemed unusual, because up to that time Stewart had written only light romantic comedies featuring wealthy East Coast socialites, but Mayer felt Stewart's strongly leftist political leanings would enable him to chalk out a better screenplay.{{sfn|Ceplair|Englund|2003|pages=178-179}}

Stewart approached the project with gusto, remarking that he "wrote an adaptation from a novel that tells about the fascist mice who are nibbling away at our country while we're busy fighting a good war."{{cite news|last=Strauss|first=Theodore|title=Sad Tale of a Penitent Humorist|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 24, 1943}} Stewart believed Hollywood had punished him for years for his political views and felt vindicated by the assignment,{{sfn|McGilligan|1992|page=168}} declaring that "here was my compensation for the sabotage of my radical attempt to do my bit ...".{{sfn|Stewart|1975|page=261}} The script was the proudest moment of his entire career.{{sfn|Stewart|1975|page=261}} Stewart, however, had extensive problems adapting the novel for the screen, and filming—originally due to begin in June 1942—was delayed for several months while he worked on the screenplay.{{sfn|Leaming|2000|page=399}}{{cite news|title=Screen News Here and In Hollywood|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 11, 1942}} He consulted with the Bureau of Motion Pictures in the U.S. Office of War Information, an agency of the federal government created in June 1942 to promote patriotism and warn the public about domestic spying.{{sfn|Schatz|1999|page=141}}{{#tag:ref|"Early in the summer of 1942, the [OWI] had been asked to "supply the thinking" for the picture, one of the few pictures to deal with the threat of domestic fascism. ... Keeper of the Flame did indeed reflect the war aims of OWI ..."{{sfn|Koppes|Black|1990|page=94, 96}} "O'Malley confronts Christine Forrest with evidence that she let her husband be killed when she could have saved him, and she finally admits her guilt and justifies her action by speaking of the real nature of Robert Forrest and the Forward American Association. In the long speech that she makes, the thinking of the OWI and the convictions of the screenwriter merge to produce the only real political analysis of the film."{{sfn|Neve|1992|page=69}} "Another film that regurgitated OWI propaganda was M-G-M's Keeper of the Flame, the least watchable movie that Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy made together."{{sfn|Harmetz|2002|page=290}} "Regardless, Donald Ogden Stewart (with input from the Office of War Information) wrote Keeper of The Flame (1942), starring Spencer Tracy ..."{{sfn|Ehrlich|2005|page=80}} "Recent research has disclosed how liberal and internationalist-minded censors of the bureau, headed by Lowell Mellett, a former Scripps-Howard editor, worked with the studios, script by script, to coax Hollywood in the direction of a more high-minded view of the conflict. George Cukor's Keeper of the Flame (1942), released at the low point of the first wave of racist war pictures, represents the first appearance of a Hollywood message film that sought to establish a commanding—and, more important, a respectable—leadership position vis-à-vis the American people."{{sfn|Starr|2003|page=162}}|group=N}}

File:KatharineHepburninStageDoorCanteencropped.jpg

Spencer Tracy had been cast as the male lead in the film just days after MGM purchased the rights to the novel.{{cite news|title=Spencer Tracy to Play Lead in 'Keeper of the Flame'|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 9, 1941}} George Cukor was chosen to direct in late April 1942 because he had dealt well with troubled and headstrong actors in the past, and Tracy was considered a difficult actor to direct.{{cite news|last=Chapman|first=John|title=Looking at Hollywood|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=April 25, 1942}}; {{cite book|last=Schallert|first=Edwin|title=George Cukor to Guide Fate of Hepburn Again|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 27, 1942}} Bronisław Kaper, who had come to MGM in 1935 from Nazi Germany, was assigned to compose the film score.{{sfn|Davis|1993}} William H. Daniels was named the cinematographer.{{sfn|Hoffman|2000|page=196}}

Katharine Hepburn joined the cast in mid-April 1942 after Stewart sent her a copy of the unfinished script.{{cite news|last=Schallert|first=Edwin|title=Hepburn, Tracy Will Team Again at Metro|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 18, 1942}} Hepburn was fascinated by the character of Christine,{{sfn|Edwards|2000|page=212}} and felt that doing the film would be a way of contributing to the war effort.{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=116}} MGM executives did not want Hepburn attached to the picture, feeling it was an inappropriate follow-up for her (first) previous pairing with Tracy in Woman of the Year (1942), but Hepburn insisted, and MGM relented.{{sfn|Edwards|2000|page=212}} Hepburn showed some concerns with Stewart's redrafting of the script, in that he toned down the novel's love story, placing more emphasis on the character of O'Malley and the action. She asked for more romance in the film.{{sfn|McGilligan|1992|page=168}} Although Hepburn had spent much of the prior year searching for scripts with equally strong male and female parts for her and Tracy,{{sfn|Leaming|2000|pages=404, 407}} she now requested that the O'Malley role be restored to the function it served in the novel (where O'Malley is impotent, troubled, and despairing of love) and her own part expanded.{{cite news|last=Parsons|first=Louella O.|title=New Film Will Resurrect Era of 'Police Gazette'|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times|date=June 22, 1942|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EyJPAAAAIBAJ&pg=3451%2C3547309|access-date=April 9, 2014}}; {{cite news|last=Hopper|first=Hedda|title=Looking at Hollywood|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=July 25, 1942}} Film producer Victor Saville threatened to resign if the changes were made, and Spencer Tracy supported him, which led to the changes being rejected.{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=116}}

Nonetheless, the script still had numerous problems, and Stewart refused to recognize these shortcomings. In late summer 1942, Cukor brought in Zoë Akins, one of his favorite playwrights and screenwriters, to help with the script.{{sfn|Leaming|2000|page=404}} Victor Saville expressed concern that Stewart was basing more and more of the script on William Randolph Hearst, one of Louis B. Mayer's best friends, and that this might jeopardize the success of the picture.{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=117-118}} As script work continued, casting on the film (which had been delayed months) went ahead in mid-1942. Richard Whorf was cast as the villain, Clive Kerndon, in early June. Frank Craven, Audrey Christie, Donald Meek and Stephen McNally were all cast in mid-July.{{cite news|title=News From Hollywood|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 14, 1942}}; {{cite news|title=Gregor Rabinovitch Signed by United Artists to Head Unit to Film 'Russian Girl'|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 15, 1942}}; {{cite news|title=Anna Lee, English Actress, to Have Feminine Lead in 'Flesh and Fantasy' at Universal|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 16, 1942}}; {{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Harold V.|title=The Drama Desk|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=June 15, 1942}}; {{cite news|title=Theater Gossip|newspaper=Evening Independent|date=August 12, 1942}}; {{cite news|last=Dixon|first=Hugh|title=Hollywood|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=August 10, 1942}} Pauline Lord was cast in late July,{{cite news|last=Scheuer|first=Philip K.|title=Pair Given Termers: Thalberg Aide Signed|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 5, 1942}} and Darryl Hickman added in early August.{{cite news|last=Schallert|first=Edwin|title=Velez Deal Notable Event at Columbia|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=August 3, 1942}} Craven, whose character was not initially specified, was given the role of Dr. Fielding in early August. Forrest Tucker and Percy Kilbride were the last members of the cast hired.{{cite news|title=Of Local Origin|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 22, 1942}} Phyllis Brooks tested for a part in the film in mid-June, but was not cast.{{cite news|last=Hopper|first=Hedda|title=Looking at Hollywood|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=June 17, 1942}} A search was even made for the voice of Robert Forrest.{{cite news|last=Schallert|first=Edwin|title=Drama|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=July 2, 1942}}

Principal filming began the last week of August 1942. The entire picture was filmed on a sound stage, with no location shooting.{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=116}} Hepburn had already begun her extramarital affair with Spencer Tracy,{{sfn|Porter|2004|page=33}} and the production was notorious for the ways in which Hepburn doted on Tracy. Tracy drank heavily during the shoot, and Hepburn was his constant guardian, nurse, maid, and gofer during this time.{{sfn|Leaming|2000|page=400}} She tried to keep him out of the bars, assisted him when he was drunk, reinforced his ego, and ran lines with him.{{sfn|Porter|2004|page=399}} However, Hepburn continued to be upset by the script, and dealt with this problem by isolating herself from friends and family in order to concentrate on her interpretation of the role.{{sfn|Leaming|2000|page=400}}

The filming process was an efficient one, and it was going so well that in the middle of the production Cukor asked Hepburn to talk to Judy Garland in an attempt to convince Garland of the need to sober up.{{sfn|Porter|2004|page=401}} In order to add realism to the production, Cukor consulted reporters from United Press for advice on how newspapermen would handle Forrest's funeral. Based on their critiques, Cukor changed the scene in the village hotel's bar so that instead of drinking and talking about the funeral, the reporters get to work drafting articles on their typewriters. The script, too, was changed to permit the bartender to make a quip about reporters working rather than drinking.{{cite news|last=Othman|first=Frederick C.|title=Reporters Teach Director How Newspapermen Work|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times|date=August 24, 1942|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tRtPAAAAIBAJ&pg=7154%2C5975034|access-date=April 9, 2014}}; {{cite news|last=Dixon|first=Hugh|title=Hollywood|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=August 14, 1942}}

Reshoots occurred in September and October. Katharine Hepburn returned to Hollywood in early September for retakes,{{cite news|last=Dixon|first=Hugh|title=Hollywood|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=September 2, 1942}} and Pauline Lord was called back in early October. Although James E. Newcom was the film's editor, Cukor had final cut on the film. Lord's scenes were deleted from the picture, and her name did not appear on cast lists.{{sfn|Porter|2004|page=405}} She was replaced by Margaret Wycherly.

File:Radio City Hall interior LC-G612- 19459.jpg ]]

The film was screened for the Office of War Information's Bureau of Motion Pictures on December 2, 1942.{{sfn|Koppes|Black|1990|pages=97, 339 fn. 27}} The Bureau's chief, Lowell Mellett, was unhappy with the picture and found it heavy-handed.{{sfn|Neve|1992|page=72}}{{sfn|Stewart|1975|page=262}} MGM promoted Spencer Tracy for an Academy Award for Best Actor,{{cite news|last=Hopper|first=Hedda|title=Looking at Hollywood|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=December 19, 1943}} but he was not nominated.

Keeper of the Flame premiered at the Albee Theatre in Cincinnati on January 28, 1943, setting a box-office record for the city. Following a few other limited dates in February, it had a premiere at New York City's Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, March 18, 1943.{{cite news|title=Of Local Origin|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 16, 1943}}; {{cite news|title=Of Local Origin|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 18, 1943}} The premiere served as a fundraiser for the Outdoor Cleanliness Association (a group dedicated to public lighting and enforcement of trash laws).{{cite news|title=To See Music Hall Show: Outdoor Cleanliness Group Will Attend Premiere Tomorrow|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 17, 1943}} The premiere did not go well: MGM head Louis B. Mayer stormed out, enraged by his having encouraged the making of a film that equated wealth with fascism.{{sfn|Koppes|Black|1990|pages=96-97}} It opened in Los Angeles at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Thursday, April 1, 1943.{{cite news|title=Film Pairs Notables|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=March 29, 1943}}; {{cite news|title='Flame' Due on Screens|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 1, 1943}} Keeper of the Flame made its Australian premiere at the Metro Theatre in Melbourne in June 1943.{{cite news|title=Metro: Keeper of the Flame|newspaper=The Age|date=June 8, 1943}} It did not appear on American television until March 1957.{{cite news|title=Saturday Television|newspaper=The Hartford Courant|date=March 31, 1957}}

Although the film was held over for a fourth week at Radio City Music Hall (most films lasted a week),{{sfn|Schatz|1999|page=211}}{{cite news|title=Of Local Origin|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 8, 1943}} it did not do well at the box office nationally and is considered the least successful of the Hepburn-Tracy films.{{sfn|Booker|1999|page=100}}{{sfn|Andersen|1997|page=59}} It earned $2,190,000 in the United States and Canada and $1,032,000 elsewhere, making an overall profit of $1,040,000.[https://archive.org/stream/variety153-1944-01#page/n51/mode/2up "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, 5 January 1944 p 54]

The film generated some political controversy. Republican members of Congress complained about the film's obviously leftist politics and demanded that Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Production Code, establish guidelines regarding propagandization for the motion picture industry.{{sfn|Mann|2001|page=123}}{{cite news|title=Propaganda Code Planned By Hays: He Will Ask Movie Industry for Voluntary Action to Head Off a Congressional Inquiry|newspaper=United Press|date=October 10, 1943}}

Critical reaction at the time was mixed.Variety film review, December 16, 1942, p. 16. While at least one reviewer felt the film was reminiscent of motion pictures like Citizen Kane and Rebecca, Hedda Hopper called it "Citizen Kane with all the art scraped off."{{sfn|Mann|2006|page=327}} Bosley Crowther, writing in The New York Times, concluded that while the first half of the film was very good, the latter half felt slow and failed to deliver emotional punch.{{cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|title=That Old Familiarity: A Report on Some Recent Pictures in the Light of Past Experience|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 28, 1943}} Crowther called the film "a courageous and timely drama" and praised Tracy and Hepburn for performances that featured "taut solemnity."{{cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|title='Keeper of the Flame,' in Which Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn Make Appearance, Arrives at the Music Hall|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 19, 1943}} But the script seemed uneven dramatically ("... the nature of this story is a murder mystery and yet the interest is centered much more upon the dead man than on the hunt"), and a critical problem was that the audience "is informed much sooner than the journalist what the nature of Forrest was, and the story drags while we wait for the journalist to catch up." Crowther still enjoyed Cukor's direction, which he felt sustained mystery even when little existed.

Like Crowther, the Chicago Tribune and other critics pointed out that the picture seemed slow.{{cite news|last=Tinee|first=Mae|title=Tracy-Hepburn Movie Unfolds Unusual Story|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=May 7, 1943}} The Hartford Courant, meanwhile, raved about the film: "Hepburn and Tracy have given us a great film in Keeper of the Flame ... Great because of the courage and daring it took to make it, the magnificent production it has been given, the excellent acting within it, and the exciting, tense story it contains."{{cite news|title=New Films: Keeper of the Flame at Loew's Poli|newspaper=Hartford Courant|date=April 1, 1943}} Generally speaking, the film was better received in the eastern half of the United States.{{cite news|last=Lusk|first=Norbert|title='Keeper of the Flame' Well Received in East|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=March 30, 1943}}

File:George Cukor - 1946.jpg

Cukor himself was highly dissatisfied by the film. "I suspect the story was basically fraudulent," he told an interviewer.{{sfn|Lambert|1972|page=169}} Like many critics, he felt that "as a piece of storytelling, the unfolding of a mystery, the first half of Keeper of the Flame is a damn good show," but the rest of the film had substantial problems. He praised Spencer Tracy's work, saying: "Tracy ... was at his best in the picture. Subdued, cool, he conveyed the ruthlessness of the reporter sent to investigate Forrest's death without seeming to try. He was ideally cast in the role, grimly and skeptically exploring the secret of the dead boys' club hero who was in fact a rampant fascist."{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=119}} Hepburn, he felt, was hindered by the role and her approach to it. "It was Kate's last romantic glamour-girl part, and she acted with some of that artificiality she'd supposedly left behind at RKO. That first scene, floating into a room in yards and yards of draperies with these lillies—well, it was all far, far too much. I don't think I really believed in the story, it was pure hokeypokey, and her part was phony, highfalutin."{{sfn|Higham|2004|page=119}} But he felt Hepburn did her best: "That's awfully tricky, isn't it? And doesn't she give long, piercing looks at his portrait over the mantel? Well. I think she finally carried a slightly phony part because her humanity asserted itself, and her humor. They always did." Overall, though, Cukor felt the film was leaden, and that it had "a wax work quality".{{sfn|Lambert|1972|page=169}} Even screenwriter Stewart eventually came to feel the film was "tedious, wooden, and heavy-handed".{{sfn|Stewart|1975|page=261}}

More recently, some critics have reassessed the film positively, and it has been cited as 1943's "great emotional drama."{{sfn|Parish|1978|p=546}} Critics and scholars note that the film is a good example of the type of anti-fascist films produced in America early in World War II.{{sfn|Booker|1999|pages=100-101}}

Kevin Starr states that the film "remains astonishing in its bold effort to shape American public opinion" and is a film that "preaches a hard-line Popular Front message."{{sfn|Starr|2003|page=162}} Robert Fyne, author of The Hollywood Propaganda of World War II, (1997) notes the film's "strong warning to the American people about demagoguery, domestic fascism, and mind control, while praising the virtues of freedom of the press."{{sfn|Fyne|1997|p=193}}

One film historian has concluded that Keeper of the Flame is "truly provocative in that it was one of Hollywood's few forays into imagining the possibility of homegrown American Fascism and the crucial damage which can be done to individual rights when inhumane and tyrannical ideas sweep a society through a charismatic leader."{{sfn|Nochimson|2002|page=202}} Other authors have noted that the film is different from other anti-fascist films of the period in that it clearly links wealth and fascism and points out the ways in which patriotism may far too easily be turned toward fascist ends.{{sfn|Booker|1999|page=101}}

The technical quality of Keeper of the Flame has been highly praised since its release. William H. Daniels' cinematography and lighting design has been described as lush and virtuosic,{{sfn|Nolletti|2005|page=268}} and he received accolades from his peers for his work on the film.{{sfn|Hoffman|2000|page=196}} Cukor biographer and film critic Emanuel Levy praised the strong atmosphere of Keeper of the Flame and Cukor's "interesting Gothic style."{{Sfn|Levy|1994|p=147}} Other historians have pointed out that the film's score is particularly good. For example, one review noted that the music goes silent during the climactic scene in which Christine Forrest reveals her secrets to Steven O'Malley—an effective and unexpected emotional tactic.{{sfn|Nochimson|2002|page=202}}

{{Reflist|group=N}}

{{reflist|colwidth=25em}}

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• {{cite book|last=Andersen|first=Christopher P.|title=An Affair to Remember: the Remarkable Love Story of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy|location=New York|publisher=William Morrow and Co.|year=1997|isbn=0-688-15311-9|url=https://archive.org/details/affairtoremember00ande}}
• {{cite book|last=Booker|first=M. Keith|title=Film and the American Left: a Research Guide|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1999|isbn=0-313-30980-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFhsBBvoo_sC}}
• {{cite book|last1=Ceplair|first1=Larry|last2=Englund|first2=Steven|title=The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930–60|location=Urbana, Ill.|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2003|isbn=0-252-07141-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvC3WaGZF3UC}}
• {{cite book|last=Davis|first=Ronald L.|title=The Glamour Factory: Inside Hollywood's Big Studio System|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EkYNAQAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Southern Methodist University Press|isbn=978-0-87074-357-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Edwards|first=Anne|title=Katharine Hepburn: A Remarkable Woman|location=New York|publisher=Macmillan|year=2000|isbn=0-312-20656-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrsDia1T8WIC}}
• {{cite book|last=Ehrlich|first=Matthew C.|title=Journalism in the Movies|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Illinois|year=2005|isbn=978-0-252-07432-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7SBFwLdaE4C}}
• {{cite book|last=Fyne|first=Robert|title=The Hollywood Propaganda of World War II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sKb-szl1WqcC&pg=PA193|year=1997|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-3310-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Harmetz|first=Aljean|title=The Making of Casablanca: Bogart, Bergman, and World War II|location=New York|publisher=Hyperion|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7868-8814-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Higham|first=Charles|title=Kate: The Life of Katharine Hepburn|location=New York|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2004|isbn=0-393-32598-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2k1cW5gysi0C}}
• {{cite book|last=Hoffman|first=Henryk|title="A" Western Filmmakers: a Biographical Dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors and Actresses|location=Jefferson, N.C.|publisher=McFarland|year=2000|isbn=0-7864-0696-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWNZAAAAMAAJ&q=Keeper}}
• {{cite book|last1=Koppes|first1=Clayton R.|last2=Black|first2=Gregory D.|title=Hollywood Goes to War: How Politics, Profits, and Propaganda Shaped World War II Movies|location=Berkeley, Calif.|publisher=University of California Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0-520-07161-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MNa1E9-Zc4C}}
• {{cite book|last=Lambert|first=Gavin|title=On Cukor|location=New York|publisher=Putnam|year=1972|isbn=978-0-399-10925-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxfuAAAAMAAJ&q=On+Cukor}}
• {{cite book|last=Leaming|first=Barbara|title=Katharine Hepburn|location=Milwaukee, Wisc.|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|year=2000|isbn=0-87910-293-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaUrTpEf4qgC}}
• {{cite book|last=Levy|first=Emanuel|title=George Cukor: Master of Elegance : Hollywood's Legendary Director And His Stars|url=https://archive.org/details/georgecukormaste00levy|url-access=registration|year=1994|publisher=Morrow|isbn=978-0-688-11246-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Mann|first=William J.|title=Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910–1969|location=New York|publisher=Viking|year=2001|isbn=0-670-03017-1|url=https://archive.org/details/behindscreenhowg00mann|url-access=registration|quote=Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969.}}
• {{cite book|last=Mann|first=William J.|title=Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn|location=New York|publisher=Henry Holt|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8050-7625-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BMIb78WYV-MC}}
• {{cite book|last=McGilligan|first=Patrick|title=George Cukor: A Double Life|location=New York|publisher=Perennial|year=1992|isbn=0-06-097520-2}}
• {{cite book|last1=McLaughlin|first1=Robert L.|last2=Parry|first2=Sally E.|title=We'll Always Have the Movies: American Cinema During World War II|location=Lexington, Ky.|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|year=2006|isbn=0-8131-2386-0|url=https://archive.org/details/wellalwayshavemo00mcla|url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book|last=Neve|first=Brian|title=Film and Politics in America: A Social Tradition|location=London|publisher=Routledge|year=1992|isbn=978-0-415-02620-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Nochimson|first=Martha|title=Screen Couple Chemistry: The Power of 2|location=Arlington, Tex.|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-292-75579-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hy1MAgAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book|last=Nolletti|first=Arthur|title=The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: Laughter Through Tears|location=Bloomington, Ind.|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2005|isbn=0-253-21725-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5-_WZSne_QC}}
• {{cite book|last=Parish|first=James Robert|title=Hollywood's Great Love Teams|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L3RZAAAAMAAJ|date=January 1, 1978|publisher=Rainbow Books|isbn=978-0-89508-004-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Phillips|first=Gene D.|title=Major Film Directors of the American and British Cinema|location=Lehigh Valley, Pa.|publisher=Lehigh University Press|year=1999|isbn=0-934223-59-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cVFly8avlXIC}}
• {{cite book|last=Porter|first=Darwin|title=Katharine the Great (1907–1950): A Lifetime of Secrets ... Revealed|location=New York|publisher=Blood Moon Productions|year=2004|isbn=0-9748118-0-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMz8ixHYU30C}}
• {{cite book|last=Schatz|first=Thomas|title=Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s|location=Berkeley, Calif.|publisher=University of California Press|year=1999|isbn=0-520-22130-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwf5SUcfousC}}
• {{cite book|last=Starr|first=Kevin|title=Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940–1950|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=0-19-516897-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKL4DQ4XLtUC}}
• {{cite book|last=Stewart|first=Donald Ogden|title=By A Stroke of Luck!: An Autobiography|location=New York|publisher=Paddington Press|year=1975|isbn=0-8467-0063-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfYfAQAAIAAJ&q=By+A+Stroke+of+Luck!:+An+Autobiography}}

{{Refend}}

• {{AFI film|528}}
• {{IMDb title|0034936}}
• {{TCMDb title|249}}

{{George Cukor}}

{{Tracy Hepburn films}}

Category:1942 films

Category:1942 drama films

Category:American drama films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:1940s English-language films

Category:Films about journalists

Category:Films based on British novels

Category:Films directed by George Cukor

Category:Films set in country houses

Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films

Category:Films with screenplays by Donald Ogden Stewart

Category:Films produced by Victor Saville

Category:Films scored by Bronisław Kaper

Category:Films based on works by I. A. R. Wylie

Category:1940s American films