Turn Back the Clock

It's not just because both Aunt Em and Uncle Henry from THE WIZARD OF OZ appear in this, the message: to be grateful for what you've got, is also the message of this fabulous 'if only you could re-live your life again' story.

I'd generally avoid anything with Lee Tracy in like the plague - I find him the most annoying actor of all time but in this he's surprisingly ok. Under the superb direction of Edgar Selwyn, Mr Tracy's usual crass obnoxiousness is completely transformed into a reasonably sympathetic and likeable character. The production of this from MGM is excellent - Edgar Selwyn is perhaps forgotten about these days but virtually all his films he made in the early thirties are brilliant. He also wrote many of them as well - for this film, he co-wrote it with possibly Hollywood's best writer, Ben Hecht.

Particularly in 1933, people might have wished that they could re-live their lives more so than other years. This film therefore, with its upbeat optimistic message would have been particularly poignant for its audience struggling through The Depression. Watched today it gives us a real sense of what Americans wanted to be told, what comforting reassurances they liked to hear as FDR took over the reins at the height - or rather lowest point of The Depression.

If BACK TO THE FUTURE is one of your favourite films (which of course it should be) then you should enjoy this 1930s take on that theme. Vastly underrated Edgar Selwyn gives us almost as much fun as Zemeckis did fifty years later but being from the early thirties there's a touch of cynicism there too. Although you'd normally associate an attack on snobbery, class division, greed and the exploitation of the ordinary working man with Warner Brothers, all that's included in this as Joe, our hero has the enviable but ultimately unenviable challenge of being wealthy. Fortunately for most of that unfortunate 1933 audience, he learns that love not wealth is the key to happiness To end with an appropriate few words from The Beatles: Money Can't Buy Me Love.

Joe Gimlet (Lee Tracy) owns a cigar store in New York along with his wife Mary (Mae Clarke). They aren't poor, but they do struggle to make ends meet. On March 6, 1933, in walks someone he knew when he was growing up, Ted Wright (Otto Kruger), now a banker. Ted invites Joe and Mary to dinner with him and his wife, Elvina, and tells Joe that if he will give him the four thousand he has in savings, he can turn it into twenty thousand in a few months. Joe wants to do this, Mary does not because it is all they have. They argue, and Joe says that if he could live his life over he would not have married Mary and would have instead pursued wealth. Joe then storms out of their apartment and into the street, and is hit by a car. While he's unconscious, he imagines he gets to live his life all over again, starting in 1910 when he is a young man.

In this alternate reality, Joe takes up Pete Evans (George Barbier) when he offers to let him in on a real estate deal in return for his 400 dollar life savings. He marries Pete's daughter, Elvina, to seal the deal. And since he knows everything that's going to happen through March 6,1933, he's a tremendous success in business, becoming not only a rich but a powerful man. Among the bad things he knew - He figured that his wife would probably two time him since he saw signs of her two-timing Ted in 1933. Joe didn't think he'd mind, but it turns out he does. And then March 6, 1933 comes and he no longer has the advantage of prescience. Complications ensue.

It's not like anything in this film is a big surprise, although time travel was not common story material at the time. It's all about learning to appreciate what you have or, in the words of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz "There's no place like home."

The make-up job done is pretty impressive for the time - MGM really does make the lovely Mae Clarke look like a middle aged frump at age 23.

MGM really "got" what worked as far as Lee Tracy vehicles. Starting with "The Nuisance" when he came over from Warner Brothers, they always gave him parts that used his penchant for fast talking comedy while letting him show his dramatic chops as well. An example of the latter in this film is when Tracy realizes he's back in 1910, in his boyhood home, and goes downstairs to see his mother cooking breakfast. In 1933 she must have been dead for years, because here he embraces her like he hasn't seen her for years - he hasn't - and tells her he's never leaving her side again. It's a very touching moment that, if you've lost a parent, you can easily relate to.

Lee Tracy ended up throwing away his own career at MGM, as did Buster Keaton, but at least MGM gave Lee Tracy the sporting chance that they never gave Buster Keaton.

I pretty much guessed the ending (which I won't reveal here), but that didn't stop me enjoying the story! Lee Tracy does a good job in the role of Joe Gimlet, frustrated and discontent store owner, who wishes his life had turned out different, especially after running into his old friend Ted (Otto Kruger), who's now wealthy and married to the boss's daughter, Elvina (Peggy Shannon) that could have been his wife, if things had been different.

Instead, he married girl next door Mary (Mae Clark), whose practical outlook on life is making him feel stifled and resentful. When he storms out into the street after an argument, it appears he may get his wish for all he missed out on, as he finds himself 20 years younger, and trading places with Ted. Joe breaks up with Mary and marries Elvina and proceeds to make his money/success dreams come true, while Ted marries Mary and seems content with the simple life.

And then the words "be careful what you wish for" come back to haunt him!

I think some parts were overdone, like Joe's drinking and shooting off his mouth, especially about things he remembers from the past/future that hasn't happened yet, making some people think he's flipped his lid. But all in all, it's an enjoyable film.

Lee Tracy earns a meager living as a cigar store owner with his wife Mae Clarke. One night, after a fight with his wife over money, he's hit by a car and wakes up in the hospital to find he's twenty years in the past. Now he can do things differently, including marrying wealthy Peggy Shannon. Armed with knowledge of the future, he becomes successful and powerful. But over time he comes to realize how good he had it in his other life.

A good role for Lee Tracy, a largely forgotten star from the 1930s. Tracy was a versatile actor, equally great at both comedy and drama. Mae Clarke and Peggy Shannon are both excellent here. Fine support from Otto Kruger, C. Henry Gordon, and Clara Bandick. Look out for the cameo from the Three Stooges. It's the first film appearance of the Stooges after Curly had joined. Love those MGM sets. A compelling tale of "what might have been," years before It's a Wonderful Life and countless other movies used similar ideas. Especially interesting for history buffs as the movie offers insights on views back then regarding a variety of topics from World War I on up to the Great Depression.

I had never heard of this movie until just catching it on TCM. What a pleasant surprise, as I've always loved alternative reality stories, whether "It's A Wonderful Life, the "Back to the Future" series or the several Twilight Zone episodes that this movie seemed to be a model for.

This is not literally a time travel movie, and I kind of like that it's made clear this is all a dream (induced by anesthesia). But it still has a lot of dramatic impact. The idea of "what if I had my life to live over again, knowing what I know now" seems to have a universal appeal. The very clever screenplay spins several variations on this theme, and even if the "lesson" learned by the hero is predictable, there are enough plots twists to maintain viewer interest. And as another reviewer commented, the script makes great use of true historical event. This movie is actually a pretty good history lesson. Probably a lot of viewers are unaware that our entry into World War I was very controversial and not at all universally favored at the time.

The script is particularly clever in it's parallel construction between the "real" story and the dream. The roles of the rich guy vs. the struggling storekeeper are reversed, but in both cases, there is the concept of changing one's life with a bold and maybe risky investment of one's life savings.

My only quibble is that the movie seems to end abruptly after the Lee Tracy character regains consciousness and finds that he's still married to Mary and back to reality. I actually thought there would be another plot twist, with him discovering that Otto Kruger is a con man trying to get his $4,000, and not really a rich success. That would've added another wrinkle to the "be happy with what you have" message.