Le 4 perle

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.

Whipsaw (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Myrna Loy is in with jewel thieves when she runs into another mug (Spencer Tracy) who's actually an undercover cop. Loy, knowing his real identity, plays along and the two hit the road with Tracy hoping she'll lead him to her gang. Considering the talent involve you have to put this one down as a minor disappointment even though there's still a lot of stuff to enjoy. The biggest problem with the film is that it's rather flat and doesn't contain too much energy outside of the performances. It seems the film never knew if it wanted to be a drama, a romantic comedy or perhaps just a romantic melodrama. It doesn't really do any of them things very well as there aren't too many laughs and the drama isn't really there as the story is pretty predictable. What does work is the romantic angle thanks in large part to the wonderful performances by Loy and Tracy. Loy makes for a terrific leading lady and comes off quite sensitive to the point where you have no problem seeing why the agent Tracy would fall for her. Tracy plays it pretty tough and believable but has no trouble sinking into his wonderful charm. The two of them together makes for a great couple and they certainly keep the rather standard screenplay going. John Qualen plays a farmer who the leads meet half way through the film and he delivers nice work as well. While there's no question a stronger screenplay would have done wonders with the film there's also no doubt that Loy and Tracy really shine here. Fans of the stars will probably find themselves enjoying this a lot more due to them.

There are some good scenes but in general there's a forced contrivance to the playing, and the action scenes are amateurish. The plot of jewel thieves is preposterous and annoyingly depicted. Tracy and Loy are good as always but not enough to overcome a general feeling of lifelessness. However, John Qualen appears about 2/3 through and adds a spark by breathing life into the country-farmer cliche.

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.