La grande città

New York City cabdriver Spencer Tracy (as Joe Benton) picks up dewy-eyed Luise Rainer (as Anna Roya) on the street one evening and makes amorous advances. A policeman stops Mr. Tracy's aggressive moves, but Ms. Rainer jumps into his arms. As it turns out, the co-stars are happily married and enjoy role-playing. The real problem is with "independent" driver Tracy and a big taxicab company. A taxi war is going on and Ms. Rainer, a Russian immigrant, becomes a murder suspect. Future "My Three Sons" TV series favorite uncle William Demarest (as Beecher) stands out as the lead bad-guy. Near the end, Jack Dempsey and several sports figures appear...

"Big City" opens like a comedy, turns into a hard-boiled crime drama, then tries to merge events in a closing stolen by athletic fighter and manic speedster Eddie Quillan (as Mike Edwards). The film is a vehicle for Rainer, elevated to MGM stardom as studio chief Louis B. Mayer sought another Greta Garbo. More like Garbo's Russian ballerina from "Grand Hotel" than Tracy's working-class wife, Rainer recalls the Swedish superstar most in her telephone and ice cream cone scenes. The two-time "Oscar" winner has an interesting courtroom outburst and emotes unmercifully during her saddest scenes. Director Frank Borzage moves it along and captures some atmosphere.

***** Big City (9/3/37) Frank Borzage ~ Luise Rainer, Spencer Tracy, William Demarest, Eddie Quillan

A very funny film that stars Luise Rainer and Spencer Tracy as a taxi cab driver and his wife. The plot is basically two cab companies fighting over which one gets the territory or something like that. The two main stars are great and Luise Rainer has top billing over Tracy. I've read a lot of negative reviews but i think it's very funny.

Big City (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Incredibly off the wall and insane drama from MGM has an independent taxi service battling with a union led taxi service. When the union side has their placed bombed one of the indie guys (Spencer Tracy) has his wife (Luise Rainer) suspected and shipped out of the country. This film is all over the map that you could put it in any genre including a romantic comedy, a screwball comedy and an action film. Tracy and Rainer deliver very good performances and their chemistry together is right on the mark. They make for a very romantic couple and Tracy's big crying scene is incredibly touching. It's also great seeing NYC back in the day plus there's a scene inside Jack Dempsey's restaurant, which leads to a street fight with Dempsey himself plus other famous athletes including Jim Thorpe, Man Mountain Dean and various others.

A battle is heating up between different taxi factions in the big city. The Comet Taxi company owner John C. Andrews is reconsidering the hiring of thugs in his competition against the independents. Joe Benton (Spencer Tracy) is one of those independents and married to immigrant Anna (Luise Rainer). Anna announces that she's pregnant. She sends her brother to deliver a raincoat to the Comet garage. The thugs had planned a frame up for him. They shoot the brother after they bomb the garage to start a taxi war. Anna won't be a citizen for another six weeks and the authority decides to deport her to alleviate the public pressure.

The movie has two great Hollywood legends in Spencer Tracy and Luise Rainer. It starts like a rom-com and Spencer's charms really sell that. They're a great on-screen couple. Luise has an exotic beauty. The plot turns into a bit of a gangster thriller. There isn't much tension. It becomes a melodrama. It needs more action. Spencer wrongly continues his smiling charms which belies the dire straits of the situation. It's not a highlight for either of these legends but their star power cannot be denied.

After watching Big City a, TCM, television version of the movie, I felt cheated that I had not seen Luise Rainer before. She was magnificent, sweet, and believable. Because of my research on this 1930s two-time, back-to-back Oscar winner, I can't wait to see the other seven films in which she acted. She won an Academy Award in 1937 & 1938. She left acting at the peak of her career, and that is very sad. This woman had something "different" about her. Though she is now 102 years old and lives in England, she has a new American fan. Spencer Tracy was the male lead, and he was his usual incredible self, but Luise Rainer, in my opinion, upstaged the great Tracy!