Riffraff

...but I guess the title "Riffraff" would do as well as anything else MGM could have come up with - but it's not very descriptive. Hattie (Jean Harlow) is a cannery worker in love with Dutch (Spencer Tracy), a very good fisherman and also a tremendous blow-hard. He fancies himself the leader of some future workers' revolution. Hattie lives with her extended family including sister Lil (Una Merkel) and Lil's husband and two kids, with the son being played by a mischievous Mickey Rooney. Dutch doesn't treat Hattie very well - they spend most of their time arguing, and to complicate matters she has caught the eye of wharf boss Nick (Joseph Calleia).

However, between arguments, Dutch and Hattie do manage to get married. Some have asked whatever Hattie saw in a selfish windbag like Dutch, but if a coherent 500 word essay was a prerequisite for love it would be the end of the human race, and I have seen odder pairings in real life that worked. They are married only a few months when Dutch decides he was meant for bigger and better things, and he tells Hattie he is leaving her - for awhile - to find his destiny. She understandably doesn't take this well, and he gets the last word in by saying that it's goodbye for keeps. Thus begins the long melodrama of these two apart as Dutch's plans don't exactly work out as he figured and an impulsive act by Hattie meant to aid Dutch in a time of trouble and that act's repercussions show Dutch how selfish he has been and how much she really means to him.

In spite of the melodrama, there really are no bad guys here. Even lecherous Nick is likable in his own way, and his conversations with his lawyer are particularly humorous. Thus this film is pure Depression-era entertainment in the MGM tradition. It has many of the familiar building blocks of 30's MGM dramas, but they are assembled in a rather quirky way such that this is nothing that will change the world, but it's still very interesting. The cast is outstanding with good performances by all. Especially notable is Una Merkel's performance as loyal sister Lil who manages to be simultaneously feisty and frumpy.

"Riffraff" stars Spencer Tracy in an odd role for him and the lovely Jean Harlow as his wife in a story involving the tuna fishermen set, unions, prison, hobos and the like.

It's a true potboiler with Harriet (Harlow) sacrificing everything for her man, an egotistical, bombastic fellow named Rudolph Muller. He's determined to make good but his stubbornness and big mouth get in the way.

Tracy is ill-suited for this role, though at the time, he was mainly playing character roles, and this certainly is one. But the actor comes off as too smart to be playing such a dumb lug.

A year later, his stock at MGM would begin to rise, and he would transition out of this type of role into leading man parts as Bogart did. Tracy is much better in the second part of the film, where he's called upon to show his emotive range, than in the first part where his character is established.

Though Harlow plays a cannery worker turned wife, she still gets to be glamorous in a couple of scenes where the big boss, Nick (Joseph Calleia) takes her out.

Harlow comes off tough and streetwise enough to be right for the role, and she does it well. Actually, she seems more comfortable than Tracy.

MGM at that point was trying to expand the range of this incredibly popular actress. The film was made in 1935, and of course, by 1937 she would be dead, but not before doing another -- and far superior - film with Tracy, "Libeled Lady."

All in all, there's nothing special about "Riffraff" except the two stars, but Tracy and Harlow were always special, so it's worth a look.

In watching Riffraff again I'm struck with the burning question, what did Jean Harlow see in Spencer Tracy?

Both are working class people, he's a commercial fisherman she's his sweetheart who works in the cannery owned by Joseph Calleia. He's a blustering, pigheaded, egomanaical boorish lout of a human being, kind of lovable in his own crude way. But stack him up against Joseph Calleia, foreign accent and all, there ain't a contest. Calleia is the guy all the fishermen deal with as independent contractors with their catch. He's shrewd and clever, ruthless at times, but definitely not stupid.

Frankly if it were me in Harlow's place, there's no contest. Take up with Joseph Calleia and give Spence the old heave-ho. But if Jean did that there'd be no movie.

Tracy's taking a part that normally would have been given to Wallace Beery at MGM. Maybe before San Francisco that's how MGM executives saw Tracy, a B picture Beery. It's similar to some of the roles he played at Fox. But I can't recall another film where he played a guy so dumb.

In fact the film is an odd property for MGM. This thing should have been made at Warner Brothers with Cagney and O'Brien.

But Jean loves her man through thick and thin, even goes to jail to protect him. I can hear Fanny Brice singing in the background.

Riffraff doesn't belong at the top of the list of film credits for either Tracy or Harlow. Mickey Rooney as Harlow's younger brother, Joseph Calleia as the boss, and J. Farrell MacDonald as the wise and compassionate head of the fisherman's union have the best roles.

But you want to see Tracy and Harlow sparkle? Go buy or rent Libeled Lady.

Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy find love on the waterfront in this MGM production that has a Warner's look and feel. With its hardboiled and run down backdrop it also addresses contemporary issues of labor unrest, Red union infiltration as well as managing to sneak some risqué moments by the censor.

Dutch Muller (Tracy) is the best fisherman on the dock and he knows it. A bit of a charmer he has no problem with the ladies as well. Cannery worker Hattie (Harlow) has her sights on him but the pugnacious and confident Dutch isn't about to get tied down and the exchanges between the two are usually filled with invective. They weather and eventually wear each other down before getting hitched. When labor problems arise Dutch's arrogance and pride get's the best of him and he finds himself living in aq track side hobo camp. Faithful Hattie attempts to right him but instead ends up being sentenced to a long stretch at a women's prison. Dutch in turn vows to spring her.

Tracy and Harlow display a nice down to earth terse chemistry driven by pride and desire. Muller's thickheadedness seems impervious to penetrate but the resourceful Hattie's drive is not to be denied and while there is perhaps an overabundance of shouting between the two the tenderness comes across as natural and genuine. A trio of scene stealers Una Merkle, Joseph Calleia and Mickey Rooney doing a waterfront Puck also add to the story's humor and rhythm.

Riffraff does get a little improbable during its climax but Tracy and Harlow's dogged persistence and interplay give it an irascible verve.

How much you like "Riffraff" depends on whether you're a fan of Jean Harlow or Spencer Tracy. Fans of Jean Harlow will find a lot to like. For fans of Tracy, not so much. Harlow is cute and sexy in her playful innocent way, while Spencer Tracy is strident and overbearing as the union organizer of a fishing fleet. His onscreen persona was not yet solidified and here he strikes a discordant note with his dogmatic portrayal of Dutch Muller, a man who is never wrong. He marries dock denizen Harlow in a wedding that misfires - due mainly to Tracy's intransigence.

It is not really a good story and at times is a chore to watch. A bright spot is Joseph Calleia, the boss and owner of the fishing fleet. He speaks with an Italian accent and is very funny as he mangles the English language. Good cast support from Mickey Rooney, Una Merkel and J.Farrell MacDonald among others. Outside of the good cast it is a potboiler with minimal interest. It plays like a B picture.

5/10 - Website no longer displays my star rating.