Stanley Kramer’s comedy-drama – about a young white woman who springs her black fiancé on her affluent liberal parents – has dated badly. It’s schematic, patronising and, like most of Kramer’s work, endlessly preachy. It’s also skewed by making the black guy (Sidney Poitier) a cross between Nelson Mandela and Albert Schweitzer. And it’s saddled with a schmaltzy ballad (‘The Glory Of Love’) that plays until you want to scream. Against that, it was very brave in its day, when mixed-race marriages were a criminal offence in many US states. It’s also the ninth and final teaming of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (as the parents). Tracy died only days after shooting was completed. As he makes his great final-reel speech, you know the tears in Hepburn’s eyes have nothing to do with acting.
DVD Extras:
Extras are lavish (featurettes, commentaries), but over-reverential.
