L'éternel tourment

I seem to be a dissenting voice, looking at the other comments on this film. I didn't find it tedious at all. It is a warm, leisurely paced story. Spencer Tracy turns in a sterling performance as a judge who holds firm to old-fashioned values, though his commitment to friendship does blind him to his friends' shortcomings. Lana Turner does OK as a woman from "the wrong side of the tracks" who loves the judge but mistakes his principles for a lack of courage. There are some weak points in the film. Zachary Scott is not convincing at all as the cad who seduces Jenny away from her husband. There is a slightly cardboard quality of the scenes with the judge's society friends. And the subplot of friends wanting the judge to fix a trial in their favor slides so much into the background that it might as well not be in the film at all. But on the whole, I found this to be one of the better May-December romance films I have seen.

Spencer Tracy is a hard-nosed small town judge who meets feisty, attractive young Lana Turner in his courtroom one day and finds himself smitten; they date and he soon proposes, but there's an immediate problem: Lana's from the poor side of town and doesn't have the judge's class (she bowls and plays baseball) while all the judge's high society friends mingle at cocktail parties and gossip on the phone. From the way the film is written and directed, we are to assume Lana is really benefiting from this marriage, but she's never as happy as she was in those early scenes of "poverty" and, worse, she never returns to her roots, just goes around in circles finding the judge's money, power and friends a chore. The script is actually rather condescending in its approach to Turner's character; it has been written by people with money who have no idea what the "poor side of town" even looks like, and the filmmakers can't even grasp the fact that Turner (and maybe even judge Tracy) would be much happier away from all the champagne and telephone gossips and get involved in some low-income fun (like bowling!). Instead of focusing on the class-issue, they throw another man in Lana's path, which is the oldest issue in the book. This movie doesn't have any courage, and only the early courting scenes have spark. Tracy and Turner do all they can, but it's a lost cause.

Story opens on a court trial, with Spencer Tracy as the Judge, presiding. Some other big names in here... Zachary Scott (from Mildred Pierce), Lana Turner, and the (now blonde) Mary Astor. At one point, the judge umpires a game in which Virginia (Turner) pitches, but he's standing BEHIND the pitcher, which they actually did for many years. So the Judge and Virginia start dating, and get hitched. But.. .she gets bored. Kind of like in Postman Always Rings Twice. Blonde beauty is married to older man, and gets bored. by Sinclair Lewis. and she made this one just a year AFTER Postman. Also the recurring theme of the cat; they keep showing up in court and at the Judge's home, and he is determined to get rid of them.Mildly entertaining, but no big deal. Z. Scott had a pretty interesting story in his personal life... his first wife left him for Steinbeck. He later hit his head on a rock (rafting accident...), which may have led to the brain tumor, from which he croaked at age 51. and one of the earliest actors to wear an ear-ring in one ear. Directed by George Sidney, who had made so many big, giant, magnificent musical shows.

Cass Timberlane is one of the only movies in which I don't detest Spencer Tracy. In fact, I actually like him in this film. He's a respectable judge who falls in love with the beautiful yet low-class Lana Turner. In a particularly touching scene, Lana miscarries their child, and Spence is tasked with telling her. He holds her hand and speaks tenderly, an emotion he rarely showed in his performances.

As you might expect, since Spence is older, cultured, and moral, and his bride is not, they have marital problems. Spence is frequently embarrassed by Lana's ignorance and free-spiritedness, and Lana is often bored by his stodginess. Before long, a younger man, Zachary Scott, catches her eye. But, in order to find out how this well-done drama turns out, you'll have to rent it. And since it's one of the only Spencer Tracy movies I like, I recommend that you do.

The combination of Lana Turner and Spencer Tracy is an interesting one in "Cass Timberlane," a 1947 film based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis. I have a sneaking suspicion the emphasis in the book was a bit different, but maybe I'm wrong.

This story concerns a judge (Tracy) who falls for the beautiful witness (Turner) in an accident case and ends up marrying her. She's from the wrong part of town. The two are in love, but she doesn't like the town they're living in and wants something more exciting.

The judge seems wedded to his good old boys network; what he doesn't know is that his friendship is being used to help his friends cover up illegalities in wartime contracts their company received.

The story is fairly predictable. One of the reviewers here didn't understand the attraction Tracy had for Turner. Well, she says right up front that he reminds her of her father. I think he represented security and real love to her.

Turner and Tracy are likable, and the acting is uniformly good. Zachary Scott is on hand as a crooked lawyer who falls for Turner. Albert Dekker and Mary Astor have supporting roles.

This might have been a stronger film with the emphasis elsewhere, possibly on the subplot of the Wargate company. As it is, it's a little too formula.