Premise: Married lawyers go against each other in a trial about a woman who shoots (but doesn't kill) her cheating husband.
The appeal of this movie is that it's Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey, a real-life couple in their sixth film collaboration, going mano-e-mano in a legal battle of the sexes. In that respect, it's a very enjoyable movie. I love how it alternates between the legal theatrics in the day and the couple's discussion and arguing at home in the evening. Hepburn and Tracy are all-timers very much in their element.
I didn't realize this also featured Judy Holiday as the wife on trial. In fact, Hepburn and company intestinally used this as a showcase for Holiday so she could get the film role in Born Yesterday that won her an Oscar the next year in one of history's most competitive acting races*. Unsurprisingly, Holiday is quite good too. She more than holds her own despite the movie being so concerned about Hepburn and Tracy.
*Again, Holiday beat Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard and both Anne Baxter and Bette Davis in All About Eve. That is a competitive field.
Aspects of the movie don't age tremendously. The battle of the sexes stuff is quaint by today's standards, and I rolled my eyes at the "OMG. A woman can be an accomplished and brilliant doctor" scenes. It was 1949 though. I'm cutting it some slack.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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