Movies from the Heart—Desk Set

Last week we looked at a young girl, Ariane, searching for love. This week our main character is about 30 years older than Ariane—she’s Bunny Watson, a very mature woman who thinks she’s found love in her current boyfriend but is surprised to realize he may not be the right man for her after all when she meets Richard Sumner, an efficiency expert who shows up at the TV network where she’s the head of research.

The film is Desk Set [1957] by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron. And yes, they’re the writing duo who also became parents to Nora, Amy, Delia and Hallie Ephron.

Take a look at a trailer for the film.

One of the fun reasons to watch this film is just to look at the beginnings of the computer and how it revolutionized businesses. In Desk Set, Bunny meets Richard Sumner when he shows up to install this new-fangled thing called a computer that could change her job forever. Or could it eliminate her job? And those of her fellow workers?

So this Richard Sumner might just be someone for her to fear. She’s determined to show him that she and her staff are just as good as this machine of his. But in the process, she’s rather drawn to his smarts and his honesty. And it’s clear he likes her a bit, too.

Enter the problem: her current boyfriend, Mike Cutler. He’s one of the vice presidents at the network and it’s clear that he and Bunny have been in a relationship for some time. But for her, at 50, she still comes across as a dewy-eyed young girl when she talks about him. And when she shows one of her co-workers the dress she’s bought for a big the big company do that’s coming up, you’d think she was 15 and not 50.

Of course, good old Mike ends up having to cancel their date because of business. But she rolls with it—clearly used to business 86-ing their plans. On another day she’s brought a suitcase with her because she and Mike are going away for the weekend. Then he shows up with roses for her as compensation for having to cancel. Thus, she ends up after work at the elevator, roses from Mike in hand, along with the suitcase, and Richard Sumner is there, as is a co-worker.

Complications ensue.

The co-worker drops her and Sumner off at her apartment—in the rain. So when they get up to her place they’re both soaked. She gives him a robe she’d planned to give to Mike as there’s nothing else for him to wear when he gets out of his wet clothes… and guess what, the weather caused Mike’s plane to be postponed so he shows up and finds them both in bathrobes.

Yes, a misunderstanding shoots the action off in a different direction, just as it did in last week’s Love in the Afternoon.

But do remember, you can’t expect a misunderstanding to do all the work for you—it gives you a structure on which to build, but all those wonderful twists and turns will have to come from you!

Next week, a true classic—Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Copyright © Diane Lake

25Feb24

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