Keeper Of the Flame - 1942 TCM on June 16th at 6PM (EDT)

This is not the typical Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn movie and it is probably the least known movie they made together.

Tracy plays a renowned newspaper reporter just returned from covering the war, (WWII) in Europe and he is sent to cover the funeral of a much admired American icon who was killed in an auto accident.

After he meets Katherine Hepburn (the widow) he senses there was more to this dead man's past than most people suspected.

Look for Forrest Tucker, Percy Kilbride (Pa Kettle) and Margaret Wycherly in solid performances. Richard Whorf who plays the business manager for the deceased man, went on to become a successful director in TV years later.

Van Johnson was driving to the premier of this movie, when he was involved in a terrible car accident. If you have noticed the scars on his face in later movies, they come from that accident. Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson were very good friends and Tracy made sure that after he recovered, Van Johnson would be in one of Tracy's movies. He was true to his word and Van Johnson had a large part in "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" in 1944.