★ 7 / 10
Spencer Tracy was just one of those men
CinemaSerf
Spencer Tracy was just one of those men who could light up a screen with the simplicity of his glances, his manner of acting was always effective - and rarely…
Spencer Tracy was just one of those men who could light up a screen with the simplicity of his glances, his manner of acting was always effective - and rarely more so than in this short drama. He is "Bill", an intelligent man who scrapes his living as he can during the American depression. He alights on the gorgeous "Trina" (Loretta Young) and despite his care-free nature the pair set up together in a ramshackle old cabin. Meantime, he develops a bit of a thing for dancing girl "Fay LaRue" (Glenda Farrell) before all of this comes to an head when "Trina" announces she is expecting, and he decides that he is better off elsewhere. Not before, that is, hooking up with the pretty odious "Bragg" (Arthur Hohl) to engage in a bit of larceny to fund his "escape" - but will he abandon her and the unborn baby? It's essentially an against-the-odds love story this - and Tracy and Young have a definite chemistry between them and they hold the story together well. Their character's aspiration for optimistim to triumph over experience in these desperate times for so many is engagingly presented by Frank Borzage in a gritty, authentic - yet still romantic fashion. Just because they don't have everything doesn't mean they don't have anything - and in the end "Bill" must make some choices...
★ 8 / 10
"No female has to starve in a town like this."
Irene212
As other reviewers have noted, this is an unjustly neglected Depression-era film. Directed by Frank Borzage (two Oscars) and written by Jo Swerling (Leave Her…
As other reviewers have noted, this is an unjustly neglected Depression-era film. Directed by Frank Borzage (two Oscars) and written by Jo Swerling (Leave Her to Heaven, The Westerner, Lifeboat, etc.), it is a tough-minded, well-structured and -realized move about denizens of a New York City shantytown. They're grifters, beggars, and women forced into prostitution, but they're a community of people both good and bad, with loyalties as complex as any group's.
Perhaps primary among this movie's many admirable qualities is the contrast between Spencer Tracy's character, Bill, and Loretta Young's Trina. He tough-talking, physically aggressive, and evidently fearless-- but Bill is not the character who gives this film its steely sense of survival. While he blusters, Trina actually hangs tough (if that term can be applied to a character so ladylike). Her devotion to him is obvious, and complete. When she becomes pregnant, she says she will raise it herself if he wants to leave. Such is the dignity of Loretta Young's performance (at age 20) as a very simple, even simple-minded character, that she seems neither weak or dependent, but rather a woman who recognizes happiness when she finds it, and love, and who has learned the hard way that it's worth holding on to because it doesn't come around often, and what's rare is precious.
7.1/10
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