Keeper of the Flame is a 1942 American drama film directed by George Cukor, and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

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 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.

MGM head Louis B. Mayer stormed out of the cinema, enraged by his having encouraged the making of a film that equated wealth with fascism.

As O'Malley learns more, he finds evidence implicating Christine in her husband's death and begins to wonder if she and her cousin, Geoffrey Midford, are lovers and murderers.

Her husband had been corrupted by the adulation he received and plotted to use his enormous influence to turn Americans to fascist ideals to gain control of the United States.

She shows O'Malley papers stored in the arsenal that reveal how Forrest (backed by secretive, ultra-wealthy, power-hungry individuals) planned to use racism, anti-union sentiment, and antisemitism to divide the country, turning social groups against one another in order to create the chaos that would let him seize power.

She went riding the next morning and, coming upon the washed-out bridge, could have warned her husband, but decided that a "clean death in the rain was the best thing that could happen to Robert Forrest".

Then an automobile driven by Midford rushes to the scene and Kerndon stands in the middle of the road and shoots at the passengers, he is run down and killed.

[3] RKO Pictures bought the book in outline form in April 1941 but encountered casting difficulties and sold the rights to MGM in December 1941 for $50,000.

[4] A day or two after they had obtained the rights, MGM Vice-president Eddie Mannix realized the source material was political in nature and tried to abandon the project.

[7] MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer assigned the script to Donald Ogden Stewart[3]—one of his favorite screenwriters.

[9] Stewart approached the project with gusto, remarking that he "wrote an adaptation from a novel that tells about the fascist mice who are nibbling away at our country while we're busy fighting a good war.

"[10] Stewart believed Hollywood had punished him for years for his political views and felt vindicated by the assignment,[11] declaring that "here was my compensation for the sabotage of my radical attempt to do my bit ...".

[12] Stewart, however, had extensive problems adapting the novel for the screen, and filming—originally due to begin in June 1942—was delayed for several months while he worked on the screenplay.

[13][14] He consulted with the Bureau of Motion Pictures in the U.S. Office of War Information, an agency of the federal government created in June 1942 to promote patriotism and warn the public about domestic spying.

[26] Hepburn showed some concerns with Stewart's redrafting of the script, in that he toned down the novel's love story, placing more emphasis on the character of O'Malley and the action.

[29] Victor Saville expressed concern that Stewart was basing more and more of the script on William Randolph Hearst, one of Louis B. Mayer's best friends, and that this might jeopardize the success of the picture.

[39] However, Hepburn continued to be upset by the script, and dealt with this problem by isolating herself from friends and family in order to concentrate on her interpretation of the role.

[40] In order to add realism to the production, Cukor consulted reporters from United Press for advice on how newspapermen would handle Forrest's funeral.

Based on their critiques, Cukor changed the scene in the village hotel's bar so that instead of drinking and talking about the funeral, the reporters get to work drafting articles on their typewriters.

[48] The premiere served as a fundraiser for the Outdoor Cleanliness Association (a group dedicated to public lighting and enforcement of trash laws).

[49] The premiere did not go well: MGM head Louis B. Mayer stormed out, enraged by his having encouraged the making of a film that equated wealth with fascism.

[62] Crowther called the film "a courageous and timely drama" and praised Tracy and Hepburn for performances that featured "taut solemnity.

[68] Like many critics, he felt that "as a piece of storytelling, the unfolding of a mystery, the first half of Keeper of the Flame is a damn good show," but the rest of the film had substantial problems.

He was ideally cast in the role, grimly and skeptically exploring the secret of the dead boys' club hero who was in fact a rampant fascist.

"[20] Robert Fyne, author of The Hollywood Propaganda of World War II, (1997) notes the film's "strong warning to the American people about demagoguery, domestic fascism, and mind control, while praising the virtues of freedom of the press.

"[72] One film historian has concluded that Keeper of the Flame is "truly provocative in that it was one of Hollywood's few forays into imagining the possibility of homegrown American Fascism and the crucial damage which can be done to individual rights when inhumane and tyrannical ideas sweep a society through a charismatic leader.

William H. Daniels' cinematography and lighting design has been described as lush and virtuosic,[75] and he received accolades from his peers for his work on the film.

For example, one review noted that the music goes silent during the climactic scene in which Christine Forrest reveals her secrets to Steven O'Malley—an effective and unexpected emotional tactic.