Synopsis: A husband and wife find themselves on opposite sides of the courtroom when the wife decides to defend the woman that the husband is prosecuting.

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy are probably one of Hollywood’s most enduring on-screen couples; in fact, “Hepburn and Tracy” has practically become synonymous with “compelling screen couple.” And with good reason, too, as this film so aptly proves. This is actually the first film of theirs that I’ve watched, and yet another one that I’ve been meaning to see for a long time. I’ve also (and I don’t know why I’m even admitting all these woeful omissions in my film-watching repertoire) never seen anything by this film’s director, George Cukor. So this was definitely a good introduction to Hepburn and Tracy, and to Cukor.

The film was certainly quite enjoyable, though Hepburn and Tracy are so good together that it can’t help but slow down a bit in the scenes where they are apart (which is a fair amount in the first half or so). That’s not to say that other stuff was bad, not at all, but Hepburn and Tracy are both so good, and their back-and-forth dialogue so compelling and enjoyable that I would have been happy just watching them talk and argue for the entire 101 minutes. As for Cukor, he basically just stands back and lets the couple do their thing, which is definitely the wisest choice when the couple is this good.

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