Woman of the Year (1942)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

George Stevens

Writers:

Ring Lardner Jr. (screenplay) and
Michael Kanin (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 January 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

The picture of the year!

Plot:

Rival reporters Sam and Tess fall in love and get married, only to find their relationship strained when Sam comes to resent Tess' hectic lifestyle.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Reporter | Newspaper | Cooking | Gender Roles

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Nov. 13

6:00 PM

TCM

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Sam Craig
Katharine Hepburn	...	Tess Harding
Fay Bainter	...	Ellen Whitcomb
Reginald Owen	...	Clayton
Minor Watson	...	William J. Harding
William Bendix	...	'Pinkie' Peters
Gladys Blake	...	Flo Peters
Dan Tobin	...	Gerald Howe
Roscoe Karns	...	Phil Whittaker
William Tannen	...	Ellis
Ludwig Stössel	...	Dr. Lubbeck (as Ludwig Stossel)
Sara Haden	...	Matron
Edith Evanson	...	Alma
George Kezas	...	Chris

Also Known As:

La mujer del año (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Årets kvinde (Denmark) [da]
Årets kvinna (Sweden) [sv]
A Mulher do Dia (Brazil) [pt]
A Primeira Dama (Portugal) [pt]
Die Frau von der man spricht (Germany) [de]
Die Frau, von der man spricht (Austria) [de]
Eshet Ha-Shana (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Kobieta roku (Poland) (informal title) [pl]
La donna del giorno (Italy) [it]
La femme de l'année (France) [fr]
Tess Harding (Poland) [pl]
Tie miehen sydämeen (Finland) [fi]
Uma Mulher Muito Importante (Brazil) (cable TV title) [pt]

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Russian | German | Spanish | Greek

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

New Zealand:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #7844) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

The Broadway musical version opened at the Palace Theater on May 29, 1981, ran for 770 performances starring Lauren Bacall and Harry Guardino and was nominated for the 1981 Tony Awards for the Best Musical, Book and Score.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first scene in the bar, in which all are listening to the NBC Radio program "Information, Please", the dial of the AM radio on the shelf behind the bar changes location between long shots and close-ups. It is correct in close-up, at 660kHz, one of the broadcast frequencies NBC used in New York City in the 1940s, and at 880kHz in long shots, the frequency of the New York City CBS affiliate.

Quotes:

Phil Whittaker: Women should be kept illiterate and clean, like canaries.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in George Stevens: The Filmmakers Who Knew Him (2001) (V)

Woman Outshines Man

Hepburn shines as a beautiful, world-famous political columnist. It is hard to believe that she would fall for an Average Joe sports columnist like Tracy and the latter's performance is too dull to make her attraction to him believable. The first teaming of the pair has its moments but can't quite decide if it is a comedy or a drama. The basic message of this movie seems to be that a woman's place is in the kitchen although there is an amusing sequence in the kitchen where Hepburn tries to disprove this notion. Something seems to be missing from the timing/delivery of the humor. In 1942, the same year as this movie, Director Stevens had much better success with "The More the Merrier."