Central Library Friday Film Club: Desk Set
Books, libraries and librarians are the subject of January screenings at our Central Library Friday Film Club. From reportage to comedy to war drama, we try to show how films portray one of the greatest goods of humanity - books and libraries.
Desk Set (1957) Dir. Walter Lang
At the Federal Broadcasting Network in Midtown Manhattan, Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) is in charge of its reference library, which is responsible for researching facts and answering questions on all manner of topics, great and small. Watson has been involved for seven years with rising network executive Mike Cutler (Gig Young), with no marriage sight. The network is negotiating a merger with another company, but is keeping it secret. To help the employees cope with the extra work that will result, the network head has ordered two computers, or "electronic brains." Methods Engineer and efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy), the inventor of EMERAC ("Electromagnetic MEmory and Research Arithmetical Calculator"), is brought in to see how the library functions, to figure out how to ease the transition. Though extremely bright, as he gets to know Bunny Watson, he is surprised to discover that she is every bit his match.
Books, libraries and librarians are the subject of January screenings at our Central Library Friday Film Club. From reportage to comedy to war drama, we try to show how films portray one of the greatest goods of humanity - books and libraries.
Desk Set (1957) Dir. Walter Lang
At the Federal Broadcasting Network in Midtown Manhattan, Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) is in charge of its reference library, which is responsible for researching facts and answering questions on all manner of topics, great and small. Watson has been involved for seven years with rising network executive Mike Cutler (Gig Young), with no marriage sight. The network is negotiating a merger with another company, but is keeping it secret. To help the employees cope with the extra work that will result, the network head has ordered two computers, or "electronic brains." Methods Engineer and efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy), the inventor of EMERAC ("Electromagnetic MEmory and Research Arithmetical Calculator"), is brought in to see how the library functions, to figure out how to ease the transition. Though extremely bright, as he gets to know Bunny Watson, he is surprised to discover that she is every bit his match.
Brooklyn Public Library - Central Library, Balcony Conference Room MM/DD/YYYY 60