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!).

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.

Adaptation of Charles MacArthur's short story "A New York Cinderella" has Spencer Tracy cast as a barrios doctor (so committed to his work that he spends his vacation doing medical research!) who saves Park Avenue beauty Hedy Lamarr from shipboard suicide. Once in New York City, she locates him (eating in a cafeteria!) and discovers his neighborhood hospice is the perfect place for her to recover and take stock of her life. Their eventual marriage (which appears platonic in nature, with barely a kiss between them) isn't fraught with many anxieties, and a subsequent move uptown seems to make them both happy, but the scenarists have invented a "former flame" for the woman who turns up at every restaurant and nightclub she goes to. This poor man is just a plot device (a bad one), unconvincingly written and only present to give the good doctor some doubts. Yet, if the movie goes out of its way to cause cracks in the marriage, it bends over backwards to give the two principals a happy ending (one that must be seen to be believed). It raises a happy tear or two, though the movie is so flimsily constructed and rudderless, it evaporates from memory before you can even recall the title. Tracy--playing both doctor and daddy to Lamarr--throws away much of his dialogue (charmingly), holding together most of the picture even as its fairy tale plotting takes the slow boat to China. **1/2 from ****

With two Oscars already on his shelf (Boy's Town, Captains Courageous), Tracy looks lost here. And well he should, as this was a vehicle for promoting Hedy Lamarr. The interference by a major Hollywood producer resulted in three directors and 18 months of shooting. Naturally, a patchwork film like that wouldn't do well at the box office.

Tracy is a doctor in a downtown clinic that takes up with an uptown girl who is having men problems. He finds a diamond and steals it. But, he is out of his element.

Lamarr is glorious to look at and a fine actress, but this story just didn't wash and the ending is something Capra copied years later in It's a Wonderful Life. It was schmaltzy in both films.

I liked this movie; it's one of those sentimental movies I like to watch late at night. The reason this film works is Hedy Lamarr. She is a jewel. Naive and vulnerable, she makes bland look exotic. The plot is classic Hollywood melodrama. Spencer Tracy plays the fatherly role he often plays. Their chemistry together is questionable. But I think the key to the romance of this movie is the portrayal of each character's individual experience of love and infatuation, and how obsessive love is not about the relationship but how each person feels. For this reason Tracy and Lamarr's purported disconnect off the set may work to the film's advantage.