Oh how I do love Kate Hepburn!
Kate Hepburn! What can I say that hasn't been said by thousands of movie fans the world over?
While this is not my favorite Hepburn movie, it is very high on my list. Her acting is fantastic. Her sparring with Peter (O'Toole) is almost as good as that with Spence (Tracy). In the scene where she is gazing into her mirror, you can tell that she is thinking of Spence, missing him, and hurting deeply. She uses that raw emotion to feed her charictor, and delivers a remarkable performance.
As for Peter, he matches her, and you can see where he is trying to draw out every facet of her subtle anger as they descend the stairs. In pure Tracy/Hepburn style she delivers the line "what would you have me do? give up, give out, give in?" Henry turns to her and says, "how about giving me a little peace!" Now she harpoons him with the line. "Why so modest? how about eternal peace? no there's a thought!"
What a lot of people don't know was that she signed to do this movie right after Spencer Tracy died. She was in deep emotional pain for many reasons, but mostly because she was the 'other woman' in Spencers life. Being a Catholic, Spence would not divorce his wife, but lived with Kate. His wife Louise, was agreeable to this arrangement, mostly because Kate was the only person who could keep Spence sober!
If you want to see true love, watch 'Guess Who's Comming To Dinner.' In the scene where she hands the priest a drink, and says "we're in trouble Mike" she is crying. Those tears are real! And later, when Mat Drayton is reflecting on how he and his wife Christina fell in love, watch Kate! Watch her expression, she knows their relationship in real life is ending, and you can see the love she has for Spence. And what was even more emotional for Kate was that Spence died just two weeks later.
As I said, what more can I say about Kate? She was the LAST of the really GREAT actresses this world has ever known!
I also had the pleasure of seeing her live on Broadway in her only musical, Coco. She was awesome. Not a great singer, but none the less awesome!