The Show-Off

bkoganbing wrote on IMDB:

Spencer Tracy was busy working at Fox Studio at this time, turning out a succession of B film programmers that gave very little indication of the star he would eventually become. Fox loaned him out occasionally and they did here to MGM where he would really hit the big time.

Watching The Show-Off today I thought of two early television characters that Tracy reminded me of. A little bit of Phil Silvers as Sergeant Bilko and a whole lot of Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden.

The film is of course based on George Kelly's play of the same name and in doing a little research on Kelly I found there was a live production on television in the Fifties that starred none other than Jackie Gleason. Red Skelton did a remake of this as a feature film, but I hope that Gleason's performance is not lost and a kinescope of the performance exists and is preserved.   [ show more ]

Tracy's a lovable mug with a gift for gab who like Ralph Kramden had every big scheme blow up in his face. And he's got his Alice here in the person of Madge Evans who Audrey Meadows could have played in a remake. Tracy's not a womanizer here, he really does love Madge and she him. But Madge is about at her wit's end with him.

During the course of things they have to move back with her mother. You remember Ralph's mother-in-law? Clara Blandick almost steals the film as Madge's mom who cannot stand her son-in-law. Like Bilko and Ralph he's always "on" all the time. I know I couldn't stand living with someone like that.

Tracy gives it a good try and the cast does well. But maybe the film needed a Norton character. [ show less ]

Neil Doyle wrote on IMDB:

SPENCER TRACY does about as well as can be expected in the role of a braggart who spends money that he doesn't have and marries the prettiest girl in town, MADGE EVANS, who worships him before she learns about his true nature.

He seems to be an impractical man but the script has him conjuring up a "get rich quick" scheme that actually works in time for a happy ending.

CLARA BLANDICK (Dorothy's Aunt 'Em in THE WIZARD OF OZ) does another one of her grumpy old lady impersonations, treating her son-in-law with disdain up until the very end. GRANT MITCHELL does well enough as the baffled father.

But it's hard to find anything offbeat or unusual enough to bring some creativity into this time-worn tale taken from a stage play. It is, however, a good character study of a man who makes himself pretty obnoxious throughout the story with his bragging ways and take charge personality when it comes to business matter. Tracy is convincing but fails to make the fellow likable enough for Evans to care so much about him.   [ show more ]

Passes the time, but nothing special. Remade and shaped into a Red Skelton comedy by MGM in 1946 with Marilyn Maxwell as the blonde girlfriend and faring only slightly better. [ show less ]

planktonrules wrote on IMDB:

This film is about an obnoxious blow-hard played by Spencer Tracy. This guy absolutely can't talk for more than a couple sentences without lying to make himself seem big and important and it's obvious to most people that he is a complete jerk. However, a young woman inexplicably falls for him despite the fact that he's a walking windbag. Her family hates him, but they know there's nothing they can do to stop the romance.

At first, life seems good for the newlyweds. However, since Spencer is so full of crap, he tries to look big in his wife's eyes by compulsively buying her lots of stuff--so much that he bankrupts them despite her trying to reform him. He also loses his job because of his obnoxious ways. His wife is forced to move back with her parents and Spencer is ultimately asked to leave--much to the delight of her parents! However, at this point I was very happy to see this guy's life fall apart. After all, he was FAR from likable. BUT, some nitwits at the studio liked the idea of him making it big and winning back his wife. This just didn't make any sense at all. Instead of a clichéd and ridiculous "happy ending" I wanted to see him dying in the gutter--he was THAT obnoxious and unlikable!   [ show more ]

By the way, this film was based on a play and was previously filmed in 1926 and 1930 as well as later with Red Skelton in 1946. The 1926 version is actually pretty good--probably because although the leading man is a jerk, they managed to tone him down a bit and making him less of a loud-mouth. Perhaps most of this was due to it being a silent film! This is one case where it's better when you can't hear the leading man!! [ show less ]