Sexylocher
Masterful Movie
Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
SanEat
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
JohnHowardReid
Wow! A movie with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn! But don't too excited! Who directed? Harold S. Bucquet, no less. Bucquet started off as an assistant director way back in 1922, then graduated to shorts in 1935 and finally to features with Young Dr. Kildare in 1938. He died on February 13, 1946, so Without Love was his last fling. At its best, Without Love is moderately entertaining, but, alas, it's at its least interesting when Tracy and Hepburn are on screen – thanks partly to Bucquet's rigorously dull direction with its long, static takes. And partly to a rather odd screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart which delivers all its brightest and most lively lines to the support cast, particularly Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn! Admittedly, Tracy does deliver a few bright comebacks. But that's about all we can say on the plus side. Production values are rigorously "B"-grade and it's hard to believe that Karl Freund was in charge of photography. To sum up: Without Love is an "A" feature with "B" production values.
edwagreen
Without doubt, one of the weakest of the Tracy-Hepburn films, still somewhat better than "Desk Set" in 1957.Keenan Wynn really does some really good ham acting earlier in the film when he appears drunk. Lucille Ball, of all people, nearly plays it quite straight as a Realtor on the make for Wynn. These 2 potentially comical people really aren't that funny here. In fact, later in the film, it seems that Hepburn borrows some of the Ball antics later used on television's "I Love Lucy."Even with the title, we know how this is going to turn out: There has to be love, even for a couple joined together as he rejects love due to a bad experience, and she is rejecting it after her ideal marriage ends with the tragic death of her husband. This is supposed to be a marriage of convenience in war-time Washington.The science sequences are ridiculous at best.Little use is made of Patricia Morison, who gives quite a bitchy performance as a nasty, wealthy woman. She is the epitome of bitterness here.While the science sequences are inane, the picture's oxygen is literally sucked out.
Neil Doyle
WITHOUT LOVE is such an uneven film--some of it is quite inspired--but it's safe to say that there are a few scenes that make it worth watching even if it is a bit overlong in getting to its inevitable conclusion. Hepburn and Tracy are at their most polished as romantic partners. The subplot is handled with skill by Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn (who does a great drunken bit) and fans of Tracy and Hepburn won't be disappointed in their handling of rather unusual roles.Hepburn has never been one of my particular favorites--I find her mannerisms are a turn-off by the time any film starring her has gone beyond fifteen minutes--but here she is actually showing a warmth, tenderness and vulnerability that she seldom really showed in any of her more well-known comedy roles. And Tracy is so natural, you forget he is just acting.The plot has two unlikely people who have given up love for opposite reasons actually finding out that they truly do love each other--but not until the last reel. All of their scenes are enhanced by the added device of having a dog who looks just like Toto (from the 'Wizard of Oz') steal many a scene. For added measure, Lucille Ball pops up in a brief but delightful supporting role opposite Keenan Wynn.Hepburn is more appealing here than she was as the stuck-up heroine of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY and the story, although predictable, has some very unusual touches that make it well worth watching, especially if you're fans of Hepburn or Tracy.Patricia Morison has a thankless supporting role and Gloria Grahame has a brief bit as a flower girl allergic to flowers in a nightclub scene.
didi-5
If it wasn't for "Adam's Rib", this film would be my favourite of the Tracy/Hepburn movies. I like the characters they both play, and there's a plus of another plot going on in the background between Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn. Of course you know what's going to happen by the end but the movie is entertaining and the obviousness doesn't matter. I heard that Tracy wouldn't play in this on stage which seems a shame as he's so good on the screen as the cranky scientist taking up residence in Hepburn's cellar. Hepburn is fabulous as ever and the brittle widow is a perfect part for her. Of course no one who marries in the movies 'without love' stays that way. If they did we wouldn't have had these kind of movies in the golden age of Hollywood!