The Show-Off

This is an amiable version of an interesting play about a genial but dangerous bullslinger played by Tracy. He is just barely successful with personal relationships (his in-laws can't stand him) and gets fired from his job, but in the end triumphs! A good lesson about the way the corporation works, and why the rewards for a good salesman are so great.

I think if viewed as a culture clash - upper-middle-class Puritans who are slipping economically - and desperately need some new blood - having a head-on collision with Irish-Catholic culture - where forgiveness always waiting around the corner.

As someone who grew up with that clash - though it was Puritan vs. Italian-Catholic, with the Irish as referrees, I loved this movie. The Puritans were so perfectly portrayed, and WHO CAN CRITICIZE Clara Blandick? If she isn't waving the "white" flag better than anyone for our culture going down in all its glory - as the WASP business class did in the 1930s, then I don't know who..

Clara is superb and her character pegs Tracy for the blowhard that he is. But he is more than a blowhard - he is genuinely tender with Madge, and his love for her - albeit the puppy love of a couple in their 20s - is real and sincere.

Clara reminded me of a maternal grandmother - granted, grandma, born Charlotte Evelyn Hemmings, was on the serious narcotic known as Roman Catholicsm by the time I knew her (having converted 20 years before I was born), and to a lesser extent, my dear mother, gone these three years, who not only was on Roman Catholicism, but also on real narcotics after having Irish triplets, courtesy of the Latino known as Daddio.

Anyway, I love these portrayals of Yankee/Puritan/WASP womanhood (don't all happy people love their mothers?) - both Clara and Madge are honest to the core - and like Kay Johnson in Passion Flower - they are willing to accept the "other" - in this case the new blood that is Spencer Tracy - daughter lovingly, mother grudgingly.

No coincidence that Kay Francis is the femme fatale in Passion Flower - like Tracy she was culturally Irish, right down to the convent schools (when Ma could afford them).

So watch this movie as a culture class and enjoy it. The Irish had a few things to teach the white people...

When George Kelly's play was written, in the Twenties, and when this movie was made, it was natural to call it, and Aubrey Piper (Spencer Tracy) a show-off. Today, with a lot more psychological knowledge and frankness about, that wouldn't do--the story would have to be titled The Immature Man, The Cruel Man, The Selfish Man, or The Liar.

Piper continually lies to make himself look bigger in other people's eyes but really succeeds only in making himself feel better. They nearly always disbelieve and ridicule him. (The exception being his fiancee, then wife, Madge Evans, who romanticises him and finds out her mistake only after marriage.) True, the wife eventually tells him that he is not a man, and his mother-in-law, Clara Blandick, the sourball to end all sourballs, is always sending hilariously scornful put-downs his way. But on the whole the movie regards Piper with tolerant affection.

But if we look at Piper seriously, what is he? A man who causes his wife worry and distress so that he can sustain the fiction of wealth and generosity. A man to whom other people are no more than an audience. One might affectionately tolerate a six-year-old who carried on as Aubrey does, but the way this man ignores reality and people's feelings make him more of a psychopath than a show-off.

What is ironic is that Kelly in fact had got hold of one of the big changes in American life but came at it from the wrong angle. The Twenties was when promotion began to be a powerful force, when fast talk and ballyhoo triumphed over sober reality, and advertisers learned to sell not the steak but the sizzle. But this idea is conveyed far better by characters such as Lee Tracy and James Cagney, who gleefully carried off stunning feats of well-plotted chicanery. Aubrey Piper, on the other hand, with his inept schoolboy antics, grinning and patting himself on the back, is just a loudmouth amateur.

One reviewer has mentioned that this characterisation is a big change from Spencer Tracy's usual solemnity. If you want to see a manic Tracy whom you can regard with affection, look for The Actress, Ruth Gordon's story of her early years. He plays her manic and utterly lovable papa.

Spencer Tracy went on to a career of more intense roles. Yes, he was in comedies with Katharine Hepburn. But he was the straight man.

Here he is a know-it-all who absolutely cannot keep his mouth shut and himself out of other people's business.

I have never seen the Pulitzer Prize winning play on which it's based. I'd guess he is very true to George Kelly's version, though.

Madge Evans is fine as his love interest. Her performance style has not dated well, though. Clara Blandick, on the other hand, is delightful as her shrewish mother.

Every time he has determined to toe the straight and narrow and overhears something he just must comment on, we cringe. It moves along at a fast clip. And it holds up very well.

Show Off, The (1934)

*** (out of 4)

J. Aubrey Piper (Spencer Tracy) is the ultimate blowhard, a man who never stops talking about everything great he's done yet he never realizes that he's never done a single worthwhile thing in his life. He eventually marries a girl (Madge Evans) but the two soon find themselves in debt with Aubrey losing more and more. He's eventually without a job and when his wife leaves him he must try and find someway to save face. This isn't the greatest comedy ever made as the direction is a bit sloppy and the screenplay has a few loose ends but what makes this thing so special is the performance by Tracy in his first role for MGM. This character is without question one of the biggest idiots in the history of cinema and if this person was involved in your real life even the most civil person would probably have to fight themselves in not punching him in the face. Aubrey is constantly telling lies, trying to make himself look better than he is and more often than not his lies end up costing other people their happiness. Apparently Lee Tracy was originally set to play this part but after his legendary incident in Mexico during the filming of VIVA VILLA! he was let go and Tracy got the part. This was certainly a great thing because I don't think there's another actor in the history of cinema that could have brought this character to life. Tracy's powerful attitude and strong voice brings this character to life and one can't help but overlook the character's flaws simply because of how magnificent the actor is. There's a running joke about the character being in one room but talking so loud that you could hear him a block away and even this is perfectly done by Tracy. The way he gives that powerful voice just takes over a room and you can't help but feel as if Tracy is this character. The mannerisms are perfect, the walk he gives and even the way he laughs at his own jokes. This certainly isn't Tracy's greatest work as an actor but I'd be willing to say it's one of the most memorable characters he has created. Evans is also extremely good as the suffering wife and we get strong supporting work from Grant Mitchell, Clara Blandick, Henry Wadsworth, Lois Wilson and Alan Edwards. I'm sure many will watch this film and just want to kill the Aubrey character and I'm sure many will hate the film simply because they hate this guy. I certainly understand this as there were times where I was hoping someone would do bodily harm to him. However, Tracy is just so terrific in bringing this character to life that I have no problem recommending the film.