In aiming at political seriousness this Tracy/Hepburn vehicle proved to be something of a misfire for all concerned. The story is that old chestnut about the hero who had feet of clay or in this case an American icon killed in an automobile accident who is revealed to be a Fascist. It's got one of the few really bad Katharine Hepburn performances, (admittedly she is saddled with some terrible material), and Tracy isn't much better as the journalist who sets out to write the man's life story, (he get glummer as the picture progresses as if it's just dawned on him what he's let himself in for). Cukor directed and Donald Ogden Stewart did the screenplay but this is no "Philadelphia Story" but a rather turgid drama masquerading as a thriller but one minus the thrills. If you want to be preached at, go to church where even the dullest sermon would be a lot more fun than this.
Review of Keeper of the Flame
