Whipsaw *** (1935, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, Harvey Stephens) – Classic Movie Review 10,243

MGM’s entertaining 1935 romantic crime drama Whipsaw stars Myrna Loy as a jewel thief and Spencer Tracy as a government agent hot on her trail.

Director Sam Wood’s 1935 romantic crime drama Whipsaw stars Myrna Loy as a jewel thief called Vivian Palmer and Spencer Tracy plays a government agent named Ross McBride who is hot on her trail, in this entertaining gangster story, with a dash of romance and humour.

Sam Wood (Goodbye, Mr Chips) directs at a cracking pace, and the two stars shine brightly, with vintage support, helping to make this lightweight tale an audience favourite and a box-office winner.

It cost $238,000, took $574,000 in the US and Canada and $391,000 elsewhere,  and earned MGM a profit of $404,000.

It is the first film of the two stars together.

Also in the cast are Harvey Stephens, Clay Clement, William Harrigan, Robert Gleckler, Robert Warwick, Georges Renavent, Paul Stanton, Wade Botelier, Don Rowan, John Qualen, Irene Franklin, Lillian Leighton, J Anthony Hughes, Charles Irwin, Edward Peil Sr, Arthur Loft, William Pawley and Halliwell Hobbes.

The screenplay is by Howard Emmett Rogers from the story by James Edward Grant.

Whipsaw is directed by Sam Wood, runs 86 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Howard Emmett Rogers, based on a story by James Edward Grant, is shot in black and white by James Wong Howe, is produced by Harry Rapf, and is scored by William Axt.

It was shot from 22 October to 20 November 20 1935, and released on 18 December 1935 in the US.

It was planned to star Myrna Loy and William Powell, who was unavailable so Spencer Tracy stepped in.

The original title was Unexpected Bride.

MGM boss E J Mannix attacked photographer James Wong Howe for filming Myrna Loy in a scene without makeup and with messy hair, as MGM had spent millions glamourising her, and the scene was cut.

During shooting Loy and Tracy had a secret affair, which resumed a year later during Libeled Lady. Loy said in her autobiography that Tracy fell in love with her and harassed her during the filming.

Sam Wood is remembered as director of A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Goodbye, Mr Chips, The Pride of the Yankees, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Kings Row (1942) and Ivy (1947).

There is something else he is remembered for. Sam Wood became an ardent Anti-Communist in the late 1940s. In 1944, he founded, and was first president of, the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, ‘dedicated to seeking out and expelling those people it considered traitorous to American interests.’ It lobbied the House Un-American Activities Committee to examine alleged Communists in the movie industry. Wood kept a black notebook, noting those he considered subversive. He had a fatal heart attack after a 1949 Motion Picture Alliance meeting when he ranted over a liberal screenwriter suing the group for slandering him.

The cast are Myrna Loy as Vivian Palmer, Spencer Tracy as Ross McBride, Harvey Stephens as Ed Dexter, William Harrigan as Doc Evans, Clay Clement as Harry Ames, Robert Gleckler as Steve Arnold, Robert Warwick as Robert W Wadsworth, Georges Renavent as Monetta, Paul Stanton as Chief Hughes, Wade Boteler as Humphries, Don Rowan as Curley, John Qualen as Will Dabson, Irene Franklin as Mme Marie, Lillian Leighton as Aunt Jane, J Anthony Hughes as Bailey, William Ingersoll as Dr Williams, Charles Irwin as Larry King, Edward Peil Sr, Arthur Loft, William Pawley and Halliwell Hobbes.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,243

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