Once again I find myself disagreeing with a film being placed in the genre of comedy. In my view, this version of the old chestnut "The Show-Off" has a definite slant toward drama. Yes, there is humor in it, but it is primarily a rather sad story about a man who is well-meaning, but comes off as being pompous and overbearing...due to his being inwardly insecure.
This film was additionally interesting to me because I am a tremendous admirer of both Spencer Tracy and Red Skelton, and Skelton made a new version of this film (also for MGM) in 1946. The difference, of course, being that Skelton's version is a comedy with serious overtones. Both films cover the same general territory, but there are enough differences that you can enjoy both versions from the two different perspectives.
This film was made in 1934, and it has one thing missing that modern audiences like in a film -- background music...and it shows. My other criticism is about 16 minutes into the film where we sharply go from a first meeting between Tracy (the show-off) and his girl friend (Madge Evans), to a scene where Amy's mother (Clara Blandick) is talking about their many dates and his many visits to their home. It is so abrupt that it almost seemed as if a reel was missing.
The cast here is mostly pretty good. Tracy, as he almost always does, shines. Madge Evans, with whom I was not at all familiar, is quite good as the love interest. And Clara Blandick, as the disgusted mother, is priceless. I wish I could say the same for "Pa" (Grant Mitchell), who is very unimpressive here. Although his part is not big, it's always a pleasure to see Claude Gillingwater.
I guess I prefer the Skelton version. It's a little more sophisticated. But it's nice to see Tracy early in his MGM career.
This film was additionally interesting to me because I am a tremendous admirer of both Spencer Tracy and Red Skelton, and Skelton made a new version of this film (also for MGM) in 1946. The difference, of course, being that Skelton's version is a comedy with serious overtones. Both films cover the same general territory, but there are enough differences that you can enjoy both versions from the two different perspectives.
This film was made in 1934, and it has one thing missing that modern audiences like in a film -- background music...and it shows. My other criticism is about 16 minutes into the film where we sharply go from a first meeting between Tracy (the show-off) and his girl friend (Madge Evans), to a scene where Amy's mother (Clara Blandick) is talking about their many dates and his many visits to their home. It is so abrupt that it almost seemed as if a reel was missing.
The cast here is mostly pretty good. Tracy, as he almost always does, shines. Madge Evans, with whom I was not at all familiar, is quite good as the love interest. And Clara Blandick, as the disgusted mother, is priceless. I wish I could say the same for "Pa" (Grant Mitchell), who is very unimpressive here. Although his part is not big, it's always a pleasure to see Claude Gillingwater.
I guess I prefer the Skelton version. It's a little more sophisticated. But it's nice to see Tracy early in his MGM career.