I Take This Woman

Without planning them as such, I ended up watching a Wallace Beery and Spencer Tracy double-bill on consecutive days; in fact, this follows Tracy's QUICK MILLIONS (1931) and Beery's SERGEANT MADDEN (1939) and PORT OF SEVEN SEAS (1938) – see their reviews elsewhere.

Incidentally, in my comments on MADDEN, I had written that it was Josef von Sternberg's only picture on the MGM lot but, actually, he had been entrusted with the title under review as well – only he somehow got fired…and the same fate apparently befell his replacement (Frank Borzage), since a third director (W.S. Van Dyke, here denoted as "II") ended up receiving sole credit for it! For this reason, the film is a fairly maligned one but the result is surprisingly not as despicable as I had anticipated (incidentally, my twin brother had previously watched it as a Saturday matinée' on Italian TV years ago but could not recall what he had made of the picture back then); truth be told, I had completely forgotten about the Sternberg connection but, thankfully, managed to acquire it in time for my current retrospective of that director's work.

The narrative is typical MGM 'mass appeal' fare: a romantic melodrama boasting sophisticated trimmings but maintaining a social conscience (from a story by Charles MacArthur and an uncredited Ben Hecht). A tall order, therefore, and working one's way around it would have probably defeated any film-maker (not least in the icky finale involving a number of children); given the amount of time and money spent on the production – so much so that it was derisively referred to as "I Re-Take This Woman"! – it is small wonder, then, that it eventually ended up in the lap of the legendary "One-Take" Woody (Van Dyke)! As I said, however, the film is enjoyable enough (indeed, it gets by on sheer professionalism alone!) when not lapsing into pathos (with the medical expose' at the center of the last act, it does seem like the makers were trying to bite off more than they could chew!).

Anyway, Tracy brings his customary intelligence to the fold, while leading lady Hedy Lamarr supplies the glamor (for the record, the two stars would be reteamed soon after in BOOM TOWN [1940] and, again, in TORTILLA FLAT [1942]). He is a doctor with a modest practice who runs into a lovelorn socialite aboard ship (at least in this the picture resembles Sternberg's THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK [1928], with which it also happens to share cinematographer Harold Rosson!). Their life together is fraught with complications relating, first and foremost, to her persistent attachment to a married gigolo (played by the bland Kent Taylor, replacing Walter Pidgeon!) but also his 'defection' to an upper-crust hospital; incidentally, Sternberg's appointment would seem to have aimed at endowing Lamarr with a Dietrich-like mystique (a vaguely weird scene has the woman's lover keep a private shrine in her honor!). The supporting cast is notable too: Verree Teasdale (as Lamarr's fashion-designer best friend, a garrulous sort in the Rosalind Russell vein), Paul Cavanaugh (forever epitomizing high society), Frances Drake (from MAD LOVE [1935], as the latter's alluring but venomous companion), Laraine Day (from SERGEANT MADDEN, as his rebellious daughter), Louis Calhern (as Tracy's unscrupulous boss when he comes up in the world), Jack Carson (as one of his many patients – despite a one-shot appearance, his credit suggests much of the role ended up on the cutting-room floor!) and Willie Best (again, a stereotyped characterization as the hero's lazy black janitor Sambo!).

Hedy Lamarr is married to Spencer Tracy, but does her heart really belong to another? This is the big question in "I Take This Woman" which boasts a great cast that includes Verree Teasdale, Laraine Day, Louis Calhern, Paul Cavanaugh, and Kent Taylor. Hedy is from the upper class and when her affair with a married man (Taylor) goes sour, she tries to commit suicide on board ship and Tracy, a doctor returning from research in the Yucatan, saves her. Not surprisingly, he also falls madly in love with her. Not too long afterward, they're married, though Tracy realizes that she's still in love with her married, uptown boyfriend. She works with him in his downtown clinic and they're very happy - until the "uptown" life beckons both of them.

What can be said about Hedy - she's exquisitely beautiful, charming, and a natural actress who is excellent in the film. Though one of the comments was that Tracy came off as overly naive and a fool, I thought he was wonderful as a warm and good man. If he acts exuberantly in love, the character is just that. He's an unmarried, lonely man devoted to his work as a doctor and researcher. He meets a dream woman whom he describes as "something you'd see in a jeweler's window on black velvet - you just look and walk by" - and she agrees to marry him. How should he have acted? I loved the remark by one of the patients: "Is that your wife? What did you do, dope her?" The two make a charming couple though it's hard to watch anyone but Hedy when she's on screen.

Laraine Day plays the troubled daughter of Paul Cavanaugh - it's a small role but pivotal to the plot. The best supporting role and performance comes from Verree Teasdale, who plays Lamarr's best friend - she's a delight, popping off Charles Macarthur's witticisms with no problem.

A very enjoyable and heartwarming film. Cynics need not apply.

One can become easily lost within this film. I did. I found myself caring for these characters and hoping that, as the film wore on, there weren't any really bad turns to be taken. Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr were exquisite together. Tracy did everything one would expect, but it was Lamarr's performance that was truly refreshing. The combination of "old world" style and young girl cuteness was put forth effortlessly. She was interesting and a joy to watch. In fact, the movie was very enjoyable. There are some scenes, when viewed through today's eyes, standards, one cringes. The problem is the movie was made in 1939. Things and views were different then, just as they will be 60 years from now.

The film is pleasant enough, with Tracy and Laraine Day. But Hedy, was a jewel. That opening scene where she is in her satin gown, with that perfect figure, contemplating suicide, was really a sight. I squirmed when Tracy had to sock that gorgeous puss, in order to prevent her suicide, as if anyone would want to disfigure that face. Being Italian, when she had to speak it to a distraught Italian women, the words were very authentic. I thought she was really Italian, until later I found out she mastered 6 languages. No wonder she had the brains to invent that product for guiding torpedo's during the war, and now put to use in cell phones. Some reviewers here made comments that Tracy and Lamarr didn't get along...that is not true. In fact, they made 2 other movies together after this. If there was a problem, Tracy had enough clout to tell MGM, he would not make another movie with Lamarr. The word got around that Hedy was new to American movie making, and also, new to the English language. Read Chas. Boyer bio where it is said that there were problems with her English in "Algiers", so they limited her dialogue. But as we all know, Hedy mastered the language as well as 5 others... .but the problem with Tracy was that she couldn't grasp Tracy's mumbling and fast talking as he has shown in so many of his movies. Imagine if she had to appear with Brando, the king of mumblers. There is a candid photo of them together during recess of making "Tortilla Flat"...a very intimate scene...on Ebay. See this movie for the jeweled Hedy.

Actually the most brilliant performance in this movie was that of Verree Teasdale as Madame 'Cesca' Marcesca, the jewel saleslady who acted the part of the raisonneuse. Her sarcastic comments and assessments of the psychological foibles of high society were priceless. The writing of this movie which supplied so many great one-liners was truly high level with the great Charles MacArthur starting things off. At first I swore Teasdale must have been Hedda Hopper because her character mimicked that lady's commentaries and attitudes. Whatever became of such a talented actress? Actually, in contradistinction to your other commentators I thought Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr were quite good in their acting. While at first I thought this must have been their only collaboration IMDb shows us that they made four movies together. I had never even heard of their movies and this one was the first one I'd ever seen. It was worthwhile and interesting seeing this movie despite its frequent moments of over-sentimentality.