Product Details

• Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Whorf, Margaret Wycherly, Forrest Tucker
• Directors: George Cukor
• Writers: Donald Ogden Stewart, I.A.R. Wylie
• Producers: Leon Gordon, Victor Saville
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302208920
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,175 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's no surprise that Keeper of the Flame came out in 1942, the same year as Casablanca. In this would-be film noir, the problems of two little people again don't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to fighting fascism in other countries--not to mention the United States. Spencer Tracy stars as Steven O'Malley, a war correspondent who comes home to write a book about a great industrialist who's died under mysterious circumstances. He hopes to gain insight from the man's wife (Katharine Hepburn), but she is reticent to play along with the reporter. It's not difficult to figure out the "truth" that Tracy discovers, but the film is an interesting piece of period propaganda. Director George Cukor (who also directed Tracy and Hepburn in Adam's Rib and Pat and Mike) is definitely making what they used to call a message picture, but Tracy and Hepburn's always-apparent chemistry keeps it fun to watch. --Paige Newman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing mystery with an ending no one could have expected, December 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Keeper of the Flame [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Steven O'Malley, who is a reporter played by Spencer Tracy, comes to a small town to find the truth behind a hero of the town whose name is Robert Forrest. This great hero has just died and Steven O'Malley begins to feel this great man was not all he appeared to be. He finds it hard to reach Forrest's widow Christine who he wants to interview. The widow is played by Katharine Hepburn who gives a superb performance. O'Malley finds himself falling in love with the widow. He also finds that no one close to Forrest wants him to find out the truth about this great hero. You will find yourself wanting to discover the truth. It is filled with suspense, romance, and mystery and is a must-see!!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most serious, intriguing Tracy / Hepburn film., May 16, 2005

By 

R. Christenson "SpaceComics.com" (Pine, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keeper of the Flame [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of my favorite Spencer Tracy movies, Keeper of the Flame is probably the most serious of all the films teaming Tracy with Katherine Hepburn, perhaps the only one that might fit the "noir" class. Mystery surrounds the death of national hero Robert Forrest. Reporter Steve O'Malley (Tracy) wants to do a biography of the late statesman, but the closer he tries to get to the family on their huge estate (sort of a gothic version of the Kennedy Compound), the more it seems Forrest's widow (Hepburn) and secretary are trying to hide something. Tracy begins to suspect their foul involvement in the hero's supposed accidental death. In addition to the great Tracy and Hepburn and an intrigueing story, there are fine performances from the supporting cast which includes a young Forrest Tucker (The Ghost Busters a.k.a. Spencer, Tracy, and Kong), Darryl Hickman (Fighting Father Dunn), Howard da Silva (1776), Percy Kilbride (Pa Kettle), and others.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tracy-Hepburn vehicle warns of the Fascist threat at home, October 28, 2000

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Keeper of the Flame [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an interesting choice for the second Tracy-Hepburn picture, following the success of "Woman of the Year," but then all of the films Katharine Hepburn made during World War II were interesting choices. In "Stage Door Canteen," while other stars performed, Hepburn shared in the film's main dramatic scene and in "Dragon Seed" she played a Chinese peasant girl. However, "Keeper of the Flame" is clearly Spencer Tracy's film. He plays Steven O'Malley, a famous correspondent who has returned from Europe to cover the death an American national hero, Robert V. Forrest. Hepburn plays the reclusive widow, a role that eerily foreshadows Jacqueline Kennedy in some regards, whom O'Malley comes to suspect of having murdered her husband. However, to his surprise, O'Malley discovers that Forrest's supernationalism was merely a facade for fascism. There is more going on here than meets the eye. Based an "unwritten" novel by I. A. R. Wylie and scripted by Donald Odgen Stewart, the choice of George Cukor to direct the film is quite surprising. Cukor and cinematographer William Daniels do their best to create a Hitchcock-type film, but the overall effect is a pale imitation at best. Hepburn seems ill-suited to the role of the widow with a secret, although certainly her political sensibilities would support the point of the film. Tracy is a bit subdued, no doubt because of the conflict between his feelings for Christine Forrest and his desire to uncover the truth no matter what the cost, but this is still a solid performance from one of the greatest film actors.

Overall the fascist threat seems too muted in this film. Darryl Hickman as the young Jeb Rickards, who had belonged to Forrest's youth organization (which looks less like the Boy Scouts and more like the Hitler Youth as the movie progresses), is the true emotional heart of the film. Yet in the end you feel more that he was mislead than actually endangered by his membership. The idea that fascism could succeed in America only as a third front sort of thing is dangerously misleading, as demagogues like Huey P. Long were in the process of proving. The nation surely could have used a solid anti-fascist film from Hollywood, but "Keeper of the Flame" was ultimately too shallow an effort. At the end you might understand that Robert V. Forrest was a fascist, but you really have no idea what that means beyond the fact that it is a very bad thing.

This is arguably the weakest Tracy-Hepburn film and was certainly not the formula followed in their more successful efforts. Given the subject matter the romantic elements between the two is sadly misplaced, getting in the way of the film's message as much as the reporter's investigation. Hepburn would be served a little better by her next foray into the suspense genre four years later in "Undercurrent."