From his earliest productions in the late forties, Stanley Kramer came to be known as the dean of the Hollywood "problem picture," one of the few Hollywood producers and directors who chose to view social problems, not exactly as entertaining, but as a necessary and viable component of the entertainment film. Kramer can be heard "communicating a message to the conscience of humanity" in such fine dramatic features as The Men, High Noon, The Wild One and Invitation to a Gunfighter, which he produced; and in The Defiant Ones, On the Beach, Judgment at Nuremburg and Ship of Fools, which he directed. His contribution to the tone and strength of the American cinema, particularly during the period when liberalism itself was suspect, is an important one. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is also a "problem picture"--an outgrowth of the Civil Rights movement that was still able to shock with an interracial kiss on the screen--but it is probably the most buoyant of them all. Representing the final film reunion of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (who died shortly after completing the picture), the film is a tribute to both these actors' ability to imbue a role with movement. Its fun lies in watching the crust crackle on two self-satisfied white liberals who must confront their own hypocrisy when their daughter brings home a Black boyfriend (Sidney Poitier) whom she intends to marry.