Spencer Tracy is a sign painter, and Stu Erwin is his assistant. They're somewhere out in the country, doing the side of a barn for Guy Usher back in New York, when they come across Marian Nixon, the oppressed daughter of the farm. Tracy is a guy who can paint and has heard vaguely of some things, which he passes down to Erwin, and the most important thing is that to get ahead, you need to hitch your wagon to a star. Since Miss Nixon isn't one, when Usher calls them back to the city, they go without her.
It's one of those little-guys-on-the-make roles for Tracy, his meat and potatoes when he was at Fox; the best he ever did was for Borzage in MAN'S CASTLE, the most entertaining in ME AND MY GAL. Working from one of those meandering scripts that showed how badly run the writers' department was at Fox in this period, director Harry Lachman seems unable to put more on the screen than the bare minimum. There's no chemistry between Tracy & Nixon, Erwin is present to make sure that Tracy isn't actually talking to himself, and the most human performances are from Usher and Lila Lee as Usher's daughter.
It's good to check another Spencer Tracy off the list, but doing so helps to explain why they vanished, why his contract was let to lapse, and why Mayer wasn't enthusiastic about hiring him at MGM. Seven features and two shorts to go!
It's one of those little-guys-on-the-make roles for Tracy, his meat and potatoes when he was at Fox; the best he ever did was for Borzage in MAN'S CASTLE, the most entertaining in ME AND MY GAL. Working from one of those meandering scripts that showed how badly run the writers' department was at Fox in this period, director Harry Lachman seems unable to put more on the screen than the bare minimum. There's no chemistry between Tracy & Nixon, Erwin is present to make sure that Tracy isn't actually talking to himself, and the most human performances are from Usher and Lila Lee as Usher's daughter.
It's good to check another Spencer Tracy off the list, but doing so helps to explain why they vanished, why his contract was let to lapse, and why Mayer wasn't enthusiastic about hiring him at MGM. Seven features and two shorts to go!