The last 100% fresh movie in Hepburn’s filmography is also the least enduring today, though it’s perhaps the most prescient of the bunch — and it’s a Christmas movie! “Desk Set,” a 1957 picture co-starring Spencer Tracy, follows a group of broadcast company librarians (led by Hepburn’s wonderfully named Bunny Watson) who are threatened by the addition of an early computer to their workplace — one that seems designed to take over their jobs. While the technophobia plot unfolds, Bunny also finds herself stuck between two men: Gig Young’s executive, Mike, and Tracy’s inventor character, Richard.
As with other movies of its era, there seem to be a few reviews of “Desk Set” that are only available in print, meaning its perfect Rotten Tomatoes score may not fully reflect reality. The reviews that are online are more mixed than the responses to her Cukor collabs, with The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther calling it “out of dramatic kilter” and devoid of “much of anything” beside its lead actors’ charms. “This could have been a frail venture if not for Hepburn and Tracy,” The LA Times’ Mark Chalon Smith wrote in a ’90s retrospective, “but director Walter Lang’s silky touch and screenwriters Henry and Phoebe Ephron’s smart dialogue also raise it.”
All three movies are worth checking out, as is the vast majority of Hepburn’s filmography. As of this writing, “Holiday” is available to stream on Prime Video, while “The Philadelphia Story” is on Tubi. “Desk Set,” meanwhile, can be rented digitally wherever you get your movies.