Without Love

Harold S. Bucquet's 1945 film is set in Washington during the Second World War. Pat, a scientist, is working on a pressure helmet for the war effort and agrees to a loveless marriage with Jamie, who owns the house he uses as a laboratory. Both have loved and lost before; the arrangement is practical. The film is adapted from Philip Barry's play with a screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart. It is not the most discussed of the Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn pairings, but their dynamic is intact: Hepburn fast, Tracy patient, the tension arising from the talk. Lucille Ball takes a supporting role and her comic timing stands out. The film's limit is that it does not push the loveless-marriage idea to its end; the outcome is predictable from the start and the script does not disguise it. Who it's for: those who love classic Hollywood romantic comedy and the Tracy and Hepburn pairing. Who it's not for: viewers looking for an unpredictable story; the film never strains the genre's template.