Spencer Tracy plays a scheming promoter who takes nothing and parlays it into a fortune--mostly because he manages to lie and use people to his own selfish ends. At the same time, they show Spencer as a devoted family man--an odd juxtaposition indeed! I am amazed when I read the other reviews. It sounds almost like I saw an entirely different film. Because of this and the very respectable score of 7.0, I guess I am definitely in the minority in seeing this as a second-rate film.
My problems with the film have little to do with the plot idea. According to one interesting review, apparently this is all based on a real-life man! No, my problems lie more in the execution, as I rarely have seen a trashier and more ridiculous film in my life.
The film begins by introducing us to the poor guy played by Spencer Tracy before he became a first-tier star. He plays the ultimate selfish heel--a lazy guy who'd rather cut corners and risk others lives than do the right thing. Repeatedly throughout the film, you'd think that Tracy would turn his life around and do the right thing, but this only happened in the very end. Up until then, it was years of selfish pursuit of money at the expense of others. Now I didn't dislike this aspect of his character--but just felt his redemption at the end was completely out of character and this hurt the film considerably. Many years later, Tracy made a similar film (EDWARD, MY SON) but it benefited from playing the heel up through the end--a much more realistic and less hokey film all the way.
Another serious problem with the film is that again and again and again, the most horrible tragedies occurred due to Tracy and yet people somehow emerged almost totally unhurt! My favorite part was when his amusement park attraction "Dante's Inferno" was a safety hazard and Tracy paid off the fire inspector instead of closing down the building. Only moments later, the entire huge attraction literally fell on top of his father-in-law and appeared to kill dozens--it was a very spectacular scene. Yet, oddly, despite tons of material falling directly on him, the in-law was just fine and there was no mention of any deaths or injuries!! Another instance was when the passenger ship at the end of the film caught fire. Hundreds should have died and the most surely doomed was Tracy himself. Yet, at the very end, he's apparently okay and everyone seems ready to live happily ever after!!! What about the victims and lawsuits?!
The final serious deficit of the film is the lengthy and rather interesting (but pointless) segment where you go on a trip to Hell. It's like a scene from Dante come to life and the film makers managed to film hundreds of naked extras and yet hide all their "naughty bits". The scene also was reminiscent of a Bosch or Dali painting and was amazing to watch....but also very, very, very preachy. Subtle this film was not. In fact, it's one of the least subtle films I have seen and it's chock full of sledgehammer symbolism and predictable plot devices.
Had they instead allowed Tracy to be true to his character, eliminated the overly preachy and sentimental aspects of the film and allowed SOME semblance of realism to pervade the film, it would have been much, much more watchable. Instead, it just came off as a very bizarre and ridiculous curio in Tracy's otherwise excellent film career.
My problems with the film have little to do with the plot idea. According to one interesting review, apparently this is all based on a real-life man! No, my problems lie more in the execution, as I rarely have seen a trashier and more ridiculous film in my life.
The film begins by introducing us to the poor guy played by Spencer Tracy before he became a first-tier star. He plays the ultimate selfish heel--a lazy guy who'd rather cut corners and risk others lives than do the right thing. Repeatedly throughout the film, you'd think that Tracy would turn his life around and do the right thing, but this only happened in the very end. Up until then, it was years of selfish pursuit of money at the expense of others. Now I didn't dislike this aspect of his character--but just felt his redemption at the end was completely out of character and this hurt the film considerably. Many years later, Tracy made a similar film (EDWARD, MY SON) but it benefited from playing the heel up through the end--a much more realistic and less hokey film all the way.
Another serious problem with the film is that again and again and again, the most horrible tragedies occurred due to Tracy and yet people somehow emerged almost totally unhurt! My favorite part was when his amusement park attraction "Dante's Inferno" was a safety hazard and Tracy paid off the fire inspector instead of closing down the building. Only moments later, the entire huge attraction literally fell on top of his father-in-law and appeared to kill dozens--it was a very spectacular scene. Yet, oddly, despite tons of material falling directly on him, the in-law was just fine and there was no mention of any deaths or injuries!! Another instance was when the passenger ship at the end of the film caught fire. Hundreds should have died and the most surely doomed was Tracy himself. Yet, at the very end, he's apparently okay and everyone seems ready to live happily ever after!!! What about the victims and lawsuits?!
The final serious deficit of the film is the lengthy and rather interesting (but pointless) segment where you go on a trip to Hell. It's like a scene from Dante come to life and the film makers managed to film hundreds of naked extras and yet hide all their "naughty bits". The scene also was reminiscent of a Bosch or Dali painting and was amazing to watch....but also very, very, very preachy. Subtle this film was not. In fact, it's one of the least subtle films I have seen and it's chock full of sledgehammer symbolism and predictable plot devices.
Had they instead allowed Tracy to be true to his character, eliminated the overly preachy and sentimental aspects of the film and allowed SOME semblance of realism to pervade the film, it would have been much, much more watchable. Instead, it just came off as a very bizarre and ridiculous curio in Tracy's otherwise excellent film career.