Desk Set

Desk Set (1957) is Walter Lang's office romantic comedy, free to watch online on iFILM. It pairs Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn for the eighth of their nine films together — human wit against the machine.

Bunny Watson runs the reference department at a TV network, where she and her team answer any trivia thrown at them from sheer memory. Then efficiency expert Richard Sumner wheels in EMERAC, a room-sized computer he insists can do their jobs better. The women treat the gadget as a threat — but Sumner's interest in Bunny runs well past the paperwork.

Released when an office computer was pure science fiction, the film caught the anxiety about automation decades early. Its real engine is the Tracy-Hepburn banter: quick, warm and effortless. A gentle pick for viewers who prize sharp dialogue over spectacle. Stream Desk Set (1957) online on iFILM.