Whipsaw

It's a very complicated story about cross and double-cross. Spencer Tracy is an undercover cop masquerading as a crook. He picks up Myrna Loy to lead him to the the mugs who have stolen some very expensive pearls. She makes him immediately, and tries to use him to throw off the tails. What she doesn't known is that she is carrying the pearls herself.

Sam Wood directs for romance rather than laughs, and it doesn't quite work. Tracy is not a romantic lead, no matter how James Wong Howe lights the leads. Apparently this was intended as a role for William Powell, and you can see the sort of romantic lushness that would have echoed ONE-WAY PASSAGE, but second-rate hotels in Kansas City, whether it's Kansas or Missouri, don't do much for the ambience, nor does Tracy spending much of show talking slang out of the side of his mouth help, no matter how beautiful Miss Loy is.

MGM Studio execs. may have have wondered whether Director Sam Wood wasn't taking something of a risk when he hired Spencer Tracy (recently released by Fox, and known primarily for his action-packed B films) to play a tough-guy romantic lead in "Whipsaw" opposite Myrna Loy (fresh off a big success the previous year in "The Thin Man") but Wood knew what he was doing. The result is excellent. Tracy and Loy have terrific screen chemistry together in this 1935 cops-and-robbers movie. It doesn't even matter that the plot isn't particularly fresh, or that the dialogue doesn't always sparkle; the pleasure to be had in "Whipsaw" lies in watching these two screen pros slowly build a portrait of completely disparate characters who overcome their prejudices and their "better" judgments and fall in love. Since Spencer Tracy always played Spencer Tracy (no matter who the character he was portraying may have been) Myrna Loy had the more difficult transformation to accomplish here, and she comes up aces. Her performance is nuanced and understated and she's an elegant, intelligent foil to Tracy's more down-to-earth, beefy, good-guy persona. There's fine supporting work, too, from the secondary characters with John Qualen taking standout honors as a mild-mannered Midwestern farmer; and appropriately "noirish" cinematography from James Wong Howe. But the real story here is the performance by Loy and Tracy. In the flood of terrific movies that the '30's gave to us, "Whipsaw" is often overlooked. It shouldn't be.

A trio of thieves plans to steal a set of pearls. They follow them across the Atlantic and abscond with them in New York City. But their actions are being monitored by the Department of Justice and a rival gang.

Vivian Palmer (Myrna Loy), who is one of the jewel thieves, teams up with Ross McBride (Spencer Tracy) to elude the police and their other ruthless pursuers. But neither trusts the other. Circumstances force them to pool their resources and efforts, and they learn more about each other. The term "whipsaw" relates to McBride's feeling of being torn between two opposing allegiances.

Myrna Loy really holds this film together. She displays layers of emotions and confusion as her character attempts to play both sides against the other. This is a good romance; the chemistry between Loy and Tracy is strong.

Ed Dexter and Harry Ames are a jewel thief team. Doc Evans and Steve Arnold lead a rival team. They threaten Ed and Harry over a valuable target. Ed and Harry turn them in with an anonymous call to the cops. Ed and Harry manage to steal the jewels while their rivals are in custody. The cops know that Vivian Palmer (Myrna Loy) is connected to the thieves. Agent Ross McBride (Spencer Tracy) goes undercover as a crook named Danny Ackerman and makes contact with Vivian.

Vivian is too obvious with her disbelief of Danny right from the start. She should hide it a lot better than that. Also I don't buy their romance. That's the biggest issue. It feels forced. The whole story feels a bit forced. I do love Tracy and Loy as individual performers. In another movie, they may be a good pairing.

Spencer Tracy is an FBI man who pretends he's a con man to capture Myrna Loy and her fellow criminals in "Whipsaw," a 1935 film. When Loy's confederates steal valuable pearls, Tracy attaches himself to her so she will lead him to the robbers and the pearls. The only problem is, Loy is onto him.

This is a meandering story and not up the level of either actor. Loy is very beautiful and Tracy is appealing, but they're burdened by a silly plot that has them driving, riding in an airplane, and staying in hotels without much else going on. There is a nice sequence when a horrible rainstorm traps them at a farmhouse where they help an expectant mother give birth to twins. That whole section is the best part of the film.

The stars are very good together and probably in 1935 this went over a lot better. But now we know what Tracy and Loy were capable of, so "Whipsaw" is disappointing.