Sans amour

This is an excellent vehicle for Tracy-Hepburn, not their best but darn close to it. Cleverly made comedy.

The whole cast is just fine, but I think this is Lucille Ball's all-time best feature film performance. She didn't have much opportunity for high-brow sophisticated parts, and as Kitty, the real estate agent and love interest for Keynan Wynn, Ball is just wonderful. What a shame she didn't get parts like this very often.

Direction and set design is typical of MGM's best of the 1940's.

Nifty film.....now if Warner Home Video would get around to releasing it on DVD, I'd be a happy camper.

Without Love, one of the Tracy/Hepburn movies, is one little-known films from that series. It is a sweet story of a developing love between two people. There is a lot of comedy as well, which is fantastic and it is truly funny at times. Katie and Spence, are, as usual, sizzling up the screen and acting to perfection. Although it may not have the charm of Woman of the Year or the biting dialog of Adam's Rib, it is a charming story. Katharine Hepburn plays a widow, Spencer Tracy plays a man who doesn't want to love again. This movie is not for everyone, I especially recommend it to Tracy/Hepburn fans as they will appreciate the real romance behind this picture and enjoy watching them sizzle. Beautiful film.

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!

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn are "Without Love" in this 1945 romantic comedy, also starring Keenan Wynn, Patricia Morison, and Lucille Ball. Based on a play by Philip Barry, Tracy plays Pat Jamieson, a scientist looking for a place to live in Washington, D.C. in wartime; he signs on as a caretaker for the home of Jamie Rowan (Hepburn), a widow. Jamieson has had his heart broken by a French woman, Lily Vine, and Jamie feels that she can never again recapture what she had with her late husband. The two decide to marry but keep it platonic.

This light comedy is obviously predictable, elevated by the excellent cast. Tracy and Hepburn are both delightful with their usual great chemistry. Keenan Wynn and Lucille Ball are on hand as an on-again, off-again couple; the Wynn character is engaged to Patricia Morison, a bossy woman, but he keeps flirting and kissing Ball. Ball's delivery is priceless.

Hollywood didn't know what to with Morison for most of her films, either B movies or small parts in A movies; in fact, her fabulous role in "Kiss of Death" was cut by the censors. Instead, she became a tremendous musical stage star on Broadway and in London, her best role being Kate in "Kiss Me, Kate." At this writing, she's 96 and still with us.

An entertaining film, good watch.

Philip Barry's play about a scientist/inventor who rooms with a widow during the war might've fallen flat with a less-experienced cast; it is middling material, weighted with palaver, not even offering anything in the way of surprises. However, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn are well-attuned to these characters (and to each other) and make the most of it. Tracy is talked into a platonic marriage with Kate, but eventually feels the pangs of real romance. The play's stagy action is opened-up expertly for the screen, with talky scenes nicely balanced by lively set-pieces (such as the train-sequence, the best moment in the film). The colorful supporting cast, including Gloria Grahame (in a bit part) and Keenan Wynn, perform with aplomb, plowing right through the contrivances. As Kate's girlfriend, Lucille Ball gives one of her best performances, and she has a classic retort to Spencer Tracy who commands his dog to lie down (Ball to Tracy: "Who, me?"). Not a perfect showcase for the leads, but very pleasant nonetheless. *** from ****