Keeper of the Flame (1943)

My Review

The second film pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn came in a highly dramatic film with political overtones in “Keeper of the Flame.” It is the story of a widow of a national leader whose sudden death prompts a reporter to investigate his life and career. He uncovers disturbing information which could ruin the man’s wholesome reputation.

Director George Cukor (“A Bill of Divorcement” 1932) put together this glossy drama from a screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart, adapted from the 1942 novel of the same name by I. A. R. Wylie. The resulting film seems to strangely resemble “Citizen Kane” (1941); it is nonetheless a very watchable and suspense-filled movie. The film’s high production values prompts us to give honorable mention to cinematographer William H. Daniels and to Bronislaw Kaper, the composer of the soundtrack.

Tracy and Hepburn are, per usual, superb. Co-stars include Forrest Tucker, Frank Craven, Richard Whorf, Donald Meek, Howard Da Silva, Margaret Wycherly, Stephen McNally, Audrey Christie, Darryl Hickman, William Newell, and Percy Kilbride as Spence’s taxi driver. The watchable and engrossing “Keeper of the Flame” was a modest hit at the box office for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was filmed at MGM Studios in Culver City, California.