 The film generated some political controversy . Republican members of Congress complained about the film 's obviously leftist politics , and demanded that Will H. Hays , President of the Motion Picture Production Code , establish guidelines regarding propagandization for the motion picture industry . Critical reaction at the time was mixed . While at least one reviewer felt the film was reminiscent of motion pictures like Citizen Kane and Rebecca , Hedda Hopper called it " Citizen Kane with all the art scraped off " . Bosley Crowther , writing in The New York Times , concluded that while the first half of the film was very good , the latter half felt slow and failed to deliver emotional punch . Crowther called the film " a courageous and timely drama " and praised Tracy and Hepburn for performances that featured " taut solemnity " . But the script seemed uneven dramatically ( " ... the nature of this story is a murder mystery and yet the interest is centered much more upon the dead man than on the hunt " ) , and a critical problem was that the audience " is informed much sooner than the journalist what the nature of Forrest was , and the story drags while we wait for the journalist to catch up . " Crowther still enjoyed Cukor 's direction , which he felt sustained mystery even when little existed . Like Crowther , the Chicago Tribune and other critics pointed out that the picture seemed slow . The Hartford Courant , meanwhile , raved about the film : " Hepburn and Tracy have given us a great film in Keeper of the Flame ... Great because of the courage and daring it took to make it , the magnificent production it has been given , the excellent acting within it , and the exciting , tense story it contains . " Generally speaking , the film was better received in the eastern half of the United States . 
