It's a running joke in my house that every time I watch a Spencer Tracy movie, I'm known to shout at the screen, "Why doesn't he have any eyebrows?" at least five times. I Take This Woman proved to be no exception, even though he was paired up with the beautiful Hedy Lamarr; I thought they'd try to pretty him up so the match wouldn't be so jarring to the audience. Instead, the eyebrow-less, extremely grumpy, extremely conceited "baked potato" gets to marry the stunningly beautiful Hedy, and is supposed to be surprised when she still has feelings for her ex-boyfriend.
I'm mature enough to understand the script regardless of the actor's performance, and I can tell that James Kevin McGuinness's original creation intended for Spencer Tracy's character to be the classic "nice guy". He's an intelligent doctor who prefers to lend his services to poor people than the upper class, and he's very patient with his bride, refusing to spend the night in the same apartment with her until she truly gets over her last boyfriend. If Melvyn Douglas had been cast as the lead, I would have believed him, and I would have liked this movie so much more. I just can't get past Spencer Tracy's expressions that show his conceit and righteousness, qualities he was only rarely able to hide in his movies. However, if you like watching movies with real-life couples acting together, you might want to see the chemistry between the two leads, since they did have an affair offscreen.
I'm mature enough to understand the script regardless of the actor's performance, and I can tell that James Kevin McGuinness's original creation intended for Spencer Tracy's character to be the classic "nice guy". He's an intelligent doctor who prefers to lend his services to poor people than the upper class, and he's very patient with his bride, refusing to spend the night in the same apartment with her until she truly gets over her last boyfriend. If Melvyn Douglas had been cast as the lead, I would have believed him, and I would have liked this movie so much more. I just can't get past Spencer Tracy's expressions that show his conceit and righteousness, qualities he was only rarely able to hide in his movies. However, if you like watching movies with real-life couples acting together, you might want to see the chemistry between the two leads, since they did have an affair offscreen.