Keeper of the Flame (film)

Keeper of the Flame is a 1942 American drama film directed by George Cukor, starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart is adapted from the 1942 novel Keeper of the Flame by I. A. R. Wylie. Hepburn plays the widow of a famous civic leader who has died in an automobile accident. Tracy portrays a former war correspondent who intends to write a flattering biography of the dead man, only to find that his death is shrouded in mystery. Screenwriter Stewart considered the script for the film to be the finest moment of his career, feeling vindicated by the assignment as he believed that Hollywood had punished him for years for his political views. Principal filming began in the last week of August 1942, four months after the release of the novel, published by Random House. It was filmed on a sound stage, with no location shooting.

The film was screened for the Office of War Information's Bureau of Motion Pictures on December 2, 1942, where it was disapproved of by the bureau chief, Lowell Mellett.

Keeper of the Flame premiered at the Albee Theatre in Cincinnati on January 28, 1943. The film set a box-office record for the city. A few other limited dates followed in February. It premiered at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, March 18, 1943. Its Australian premiere was at the Metro Theatre in Melbourne in June 1943. The film appeared on American television in March 1957.