DVD Roundup

Desk Set

Imagine a world before Google. People with photographic memories were worth their weight in gold. Companies employed entire research departments. 1957's Desk Set, adapted by Nora Ephron's parents, is the post-World War II battle of man versus machine in a Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn man-versus-woman vehicle. In this eighth of nine films made by the classic romantic team, Hepburn is Bunny Watson, the know-it-all head of a broadcasting network's research department. Tracy is Mr. Sumner, the efficiency expert hired to streamline the department with an "electronic brain machine" capable of spitting out the weight of the world in less than a minute with blinking lights and gurgling computer clang. Sumner is one big looming pink slip to Watson's office of giggly research gals. Sexual tension and fear of automation spawn witty dialogue full of screwball conundrums that should be fun to guess at until we all turn to robots. DVD extras include commentary by supporting actress Dina Merrill, a fashion newsreel short, and the film's original trailer.