Marie Dressler gives a fine, sensitive and very touching performance in this second and last pairing with Wallace Beery. The movie was one of the top moneymakers of the depression era, and beloved by the public as well as the critics. Based on the Saturday Evening Post stories about a very capable female tugboat captain and her alcoholic but lovable husband.The plot has the couple's son ( Robert Young ) ashamed of his drunken father, and Annie trying to make a living and trying to keep up a good family appearance for the sake of her son. Wallace Beery settles into his role perfectly, but Marie Dressler's acting is absolutely darling as she is forever exasperated by her drunken husbands embarrassing antics. Wallace Beery tried teaming with actress Marjorie Main in an attempt to recapture the chemistry he'd had with Dressler, but it was not a successful pairing. No one could ever compare to the unique Marie Dressler.Tugboat Annie is an enjoyable example of this beloved actress at her best.
15 Reviews
On the Waterfront
wes-connors22 May 2011
Tugboat captain Marie Dressler (as Annie) manages to rear a son and run the family business, with only spotty help from alcoholic husband Wallace Beery (as Terry Brennan). "Tugboat Annie" sailed to the top of box office lists, helmed by the tremendous appeal of Ms. Dressler. This is one of her finest and most fondly remembered performances. Dressler would be good anyway, but gets terrific help from Mr. Berry. He and Dressler possess the chemistry and craft to pull off the slightly weak and episodic story.
The weakness is in the bland relationship essayed by Robert Young (as Alexander "Alec" Brennan) and pretty Maureen O'Sullivan (as Patricia "Pat" Severn). Frankie Darro (as young Alec) is fine, studying algebra and history with Dressler in the early scenes, but you wonder how Dressler plus Berry (or anyone) could have netted Mr. Young. The relationship between Dressler and Berry is the story's strength, with the co-stars putting comic pathos in the classic "love triangle" involving wife, husband and alcohol.
******* Tugboat Annie (8/4/33) Mervyn LeRoy ~ Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Robert Young, Maureen O'Sullivan
The weakness is in the bland relationship essayed by Robert Young (as Alexander "Alec" Brennan) and pretty Maureen O'Sullivan (as Patricia "Pat" Severn). Frankie Darro (as young Alec) is fine, studying algebra and history with Dressler in the early scenes, but you wonder how Dressler plus Berry (or anyone) could have netted Mr. Young. The relationship between Dressler and Berry is the story's strength, with the co-stars putting comic pathos in the classic "love triangle" involving wife, husband and alcohol.
******* Tugboat Annie (8/4/33) Mervyn LeRoy ~ Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Robert Young, Maureen O'Sullivan
Come Aboard the USS Narcissus
bkoganbing17 May 2011
Tugboat Annie reunited Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler for a second time after the big hit they made with Min And Bill. Although that first film was more dramatic and Dressler got her Best Actress Award for Min And Bill, Tugboat Annie still has a lot of laughs and heart in it as Marie Dressler cares for her husband, child, and business which is running a salvage tug out of Puget Sound.
Marie of course is in the title role and she skippers the USS Narcissus and works in a man's world. She lives on the tug with her husband and child Frankie Darro who grows up to be Robert Young. Beery is her shiftless drunken husband, but she's determined to raise their son to make something of himself.
Flashing forward several years, Robert Young is now captain of an ocean liner and working for a former rival of Dressler's, Tammany Young who has worked his way up from the salvage business. Young is engaged to Tammany's daughter Maureen O'Sullivan, but he's not that crazy of his parents stepping into society, Marie doesn't fit and she knows it, and Beery is just Beery.
Who periodically goes off on a toot and always lets his family down. However in the end during a crisis on the Narcissus, Beery does come through. It's why she loves and puts up with him.
MGM put a little money into Tugboat Annie doing a whole lot of location shooting in Puget Sound. I don't know whether the cast got up there or their footage was done on the sound stage, but it certainly was blended in nicely with background shots.
In real life Beery and Dressler hardly got along, then again Wallace Beery got along with very few people in the world. Still their on screen chemistry is not to be denied in Tugboat Annie which holds up every bit as good for today.
Marie of course is in the title role and she skippers the USS Narcissus and works in a man's world. She lives on the tug with her husband and child Frankie Darro who grows up to be Robert Young. Beery is her shiftless drunken husband, but she's determined to raise their son to make something of himself.
Flashing forward several years, Robert Young is now captain of an ocean liner and working for a former rival of Dressler's, Tammany Young who has worked his way up from the salvage business. Young is engaged to Tammany's daughter Maureen O'Sullivan, but he's not that crazy of his parents stepping into society, Marie doesn't fit and she knows it, and Beery is just Beery.
Who periodically goes off on a toot and always lets his family down. However in the end during a crisis on the Narcissus, Beery does come through. It's why she loves and puts up with him.
MGM put a little money into Tugboat Annie doing a whole lot of location shooting in Puget Sound. I don't know whether the cast got up there or their footage was done on the sound stage, but it certainly was blended in nicely with background shots.
In real life Beery and Dressler hardly got along, then again Wallace Beery got along with very few people in the world. Still their on screen chemistry is not to be denied in Tugboat Annie which holds up every bit as good for today.
Tugboat Annie was a nice vehicle for Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler
tavm16 March 2016
This is one of the few movies I've seen with Marie Dressler, and the only talkie I've yet seen of hers. This was her second teaming with Wallace Beery. He's her often-drunk husband who co-captains the sea ship Narcissus. Robert Young is their now-grown son and Maureen O'Sullivan is his fiancé. There are both some funny scenes and some more dramatic moments. There's no music score as this was an early talkie so sometimes, one may feel bored with some of the silences. The film meanders quite a bit though since the running time is less than 90 minutes, it doesn't wear out its welcome by much. Ms. Dressler would die about a year after this movie, but it's obvious by her performance she's not that easy to forget. So on that note, I recommend Tugboat Annie.
Another big cheer for Marie Dressler!
mark.waltz19 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I'll always remember this film for the opening scene where Marie Dressler, looking more like Frankie Darro's grandmother than his mother, helps him prepare for a test by going through his text book and quizzing him on things he might be asked about. Dressler mispronounces words with such hilarity and even insults herself unknowingly by referring to her own chin as the jawbone of an ass. Even confusing "Philistine" with "Philippine" or outlandishly mispronouncing both will have you in stitches, as well as the scene where with husband Wallace Beery in a taxicab, she silently mouths shock over the increasing fare. Then when she drunkenly accuses obvious alcoholic husband Beery of being drunk, it is even more funny as she slurs her words, and her reaction to his reaction adds greatly to the results of the scene.
But where there is Dressler, there are also pathos, and nobody could be alternately funny or touching like her. Those big hound dog eyes of hers showed a soul deep inside a woman whose life had passed her by and yet had not taken away her sense of humor. It's easy to get past the fact that she seems far too old to be the mother to either Frankie Darro or his character's older self (Robert Young), because even with her advanced age, Dressler was timeless in her ability to make the audience bring her into their hearts. The basic story involves the estrangement of grown son Young with his parents over his father's constant failures and drunkenness and his mother's reaction to his verbal attack on Beery (a slap in the face, just like Jane Fonda got from Katharine Hepburn in "On Golden Pond"), attempts by Young's fiancee (Maureen O'Sullivan) to reconcile them, and eventually Beery's near fatal burn in a storm on their tugboat, being utilized to collect trash.
Beery allows Dressler to dominate the film (and his character here) because it is very apparent that Beery is a childish old man who needs guidance (and less booze) even to go brush his teeth. Dressler isn't some harpy fishwife; She obviously loves her husband and son unconditionally, and like Hepburn in "On Golden Pond", regrets her slap, but can't bear to see her husband disrespected. Everybody gives excellent performances, and the proper mixture of pathos and comedy makes this truly touching. Like their characters in "Min and Bill" (a very similar film in its setting and mix of emotions), but this has a much lighter tone than the tragic events that unfold in Dressler's Oscar Winning performance, even if it does end with a near disaster. Dressler would follow this up with her very grand performance in "Dinner at Eight" (where she was briefly reunited with Beery for one scene), but after one more film (the impossible to find "Christopher Bean"), she would retire due to her terminal illness. Dressler's performances all stand the test of time, because her personality is a guidance to what we all wish we could live up to try to be: strong and compassionate, yet funny in spite of all of our tribulations.
But where there is Dressler, there are also pathos, and nobody could be alternately funny or touching like her. Those big hound dog eyes of hers showed a soul deep inside a woman whose life had passed her by and yet had not taken away her sense of humor. It's easy to get past the fact that she seems far too old to be the mother to either Frankie Darro or his character's older self (Robert Young), because even with her advanced age, Dressler was timeless in her ability to make the audience bring her into their hearts. The basic story involves the estrangement of grown son Young with his parents over his father's constant failures and drunkenness and his mother's reaction to his verbal attack on Beery (a slap in the face, just like Jane Fonda got from Katharine Hepburn in "On Golden Pond"), attempts by Young's fiancee (Maureen O'Sullivan) to reconcile them, and eventually Beery's near fatal burn in a storm on their tugboat, being utilized to collect trash.
Beery allows Dressler to dominate the film (and his character here) because it is very apparent that Beery is a childish old man who needs guidance (and less booze) even to go brush his teeth. Dressler isn't some harpy fishwife; She obviously loves her husband and son unconditionally, and like Hepburn in "On Golden Pond", regrets her slap, but can't bear to see her husband disrespected. Everybody gives excellent performances, and the proper mixture of pathos and comedy makes this truly touching. Like their characters in "Min and Bill" (a very similar film in its setting and mix of emotions), but this has a much lighter tone than the tragic events that unfold in Dressler's Oscar Winning performance, even if it does end with a near disaster. Dressler would follow this up with her very grand performance in "Dinner at Eight" (where she was briefly reunited with Beery for one scene), but after one more film (the impossible to find "Christopher Bean"), she would retire due to her terminal illness. Dressler's performances all stand the test of time, because her personality is a guidance to what we all wish we could live up to try to be: strong and compassionate, yet funny in spite of all of our tribulations.
Marie Dressler & Wallace Beery Shine In Nautical Heart Warmer
Ron Oliver1 October 2000
TUGBOAT ANNIE, the `old sea cow,' pilots her beloved Narcissus around Puget Sound, constantly on the lookout for the shenanigans of her drunken husband. Their son strives to become the skipper of a great liner, but his success will imperil his father's life & break his mother's heart...
Marie Dressler & Wallace Beery are nothing short of wonderful in this funny, touching film. The roles are a comfortable fit - they wear them like old clothes. With their life-worn faces & rumpled bodies, they embody a decent commonality which gives their acting the little something extra that pushes it over the top and makes their performances very special.
Dressler was queen of the box office when she made this film, absolutely beloved by millions of American movie fans. Almost a force of nature, a cinematic Earth Mother, she was already carrying the cancer which would kill her the very next year. Beery would go on to other memorable roles, but his teamings with Dressler would always remain unique.
Robert Young & Maureen O'Sullivan nicely play the young people, but they are completely overshadowed by the two old pros.
Location settings help the movie's ambiance terrifically. The film is based on stories written by Norman Reilly Raine and published in the Saturday Evening Post.
Marie Dressler & Wallace Beery are nothing short of wonderful in this funny, touching film. The roles are a comfortable fit - they wear them like old clothes. With their life-worn faces & rumpled bodies, they embody a decent commonality which gives their acting the little something extra that pushes it over the top and makes their performances very special.
Dressler was queen of the box office when she made this film, absolutely beloved by millions of American movie fans. Almost a force of nature, a cinematic Earth Mother, she was already carrying the cancer which would kill her the very next year. Beery would go on to other memorable roles, but his teamings with Dressler would always remain unique.
Robert Young & Maureen O'Sullivan nicely play the young people, but they are completely overshadowed by the two old pros.
Location settings help the movie's ambiance terrifically. The film is based on stories written by Norman Reilly Raine and published in the Saturday Evening Post.
Courageous Dressler Proves Why She Was Hollywood's Top Attraction
springfieldrental1 February 2023
Marie Dressler was the most popular actress at the box office when she appeared in August 1933 "Tugboat Annie." The back-to-back top box office honors in 1932 and now 1933 were so impressive Time Magazine placed her on the cover of its August 7, 1933 issue.
Dressler's popularity was long in coming. After playing opposite Charlie Chaplin in 1914's "Tillie's Punctured Romance," her presence in film and stage was barely noticeable. The veteran actress, who first appeared on the stage in 1897 and in film ten years later, was so frustrated with the profession that she was considering working as a housekeeper on a Long Island estate. An old friend, screenwriter Frances Marion, contacted her to appear in a major role in 1927's 'The Callahans and the Murphy,' a part she felt the 59-year-old Dressler was a perfect fit. With glowing reviews, Dressler saw offers from Hollywood pour in, especially when they heard her forceful voice that was perfect for the emerging technology of sound. An Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930's "Min and Bill" solidified her Hollywood comeback.
But at the height of her career, Dressler was diagnosed with terminal cancer, a condition she wasn't told for several months. MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, who just signed her to a three-picture contract, was told by her doctors the prognosis was not good. Mayer took a personal interest to make sure the actress' health followed a strict regimen. He restricted her travel, even though she groused at missing a New York City charity event she was headlining. When Mayer arranged for an experimental cancer therapy, Dressler finally understood his concerns.
During the filming of "Tugboat Annie," she was limited to three hours a day on the set. For long shots of her, a stand-in took her place. MGM arranged for most of the movie, set in Seattle, to be filmed in and around the Hollywood area. Despite a couch sitting on the side of the set for her whenever there was a break in filming, Dressler, in her autobiography, mentioned the storm scenes were the most physically challenging she ever went through as an actor. "One coastwise sailor in the cast told me that in twenty years' experience aboard tramp steamers he had never encountered rougher seas than those manufactured in our studios," she wrote. "Able-bodied men were slapped down by waves the script described as mild. There was more than one arm in a sling, and at least one leg in a plaster cast before we got through."
Her character, Annie Brennan, was based on Thea Foss, the founder of a successful Seattle-based tugboat company whose semi-fictitious personality was featured in a series of Saturday Evening Post stories by Norman Raine. The film portrays Annie's struggles with an alcoholic husband, Terry (Wallace Beery), while sustaining her loving relationship with her son Alec (Robert Young). Alec's engagement to a competitor's daughter, Pat Severn (Maureen O'Sullivan), causes trouble down the road. Director Mervyn LeRoy took his film crew up to Seattle to film the exteriors, making "Tugboat Annie" the first Hollywood movie to be shot in Seattle. MGM rented out one of Foss Launch & Tug Company's tugboats and called it the "Narcissus." The real tugboat seen in the film, renamed the "Arthur Foss," today is docked next to the Northwest Seaport Maritime Heritage Center.
With the marquee attraction of Dressler and Beery, "Tugboat Annie" made MGM a profit of over $1 million, the richest take for the studio that year. The movie was so popular there were two remakes, in 1940 with Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, and in 1945 with Ann Darwell. Meanwhile, Dressler was able to fulfill the three-picture deal with her final movie, November 1933's "Christopher Bean," which exists but has never been released for home or television viewing. A copy has reportedly been stored in the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, N. Y. She died on July 28, 1934, from cancer, at age 65. Dressler is interred in the Great Mausoleum in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Dressler's popularity was long in coming. After playing opposite Charlie Chaplin in 1914's "Tillie's Punctured Romance," her presence in film and stage was barely noticeable. The veteran actress, who first appeared on the stage in 1897 and in film ten years later, was so frustrated with the profession that she was considering working as a housekeeper on a Long Island estate. An old friend, screenwriter Frances Marion, contacted her to appear in a major role in 1927's 'The Callahans and the Murphy,' a part she felt the 59-year-old Dressler was a perfect fit. With glowing reviews, Dressler saw offers from Hollywood pour in, especially when they heard her forceful voice that was perfect for the emerging technology of sound. An Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930's "Min and Bill" solidified her Hollywood comeback.
But at the height of her career, Dressler was diagnosed with terminal cancer, a condition she wasn't told for several months. MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, who just signed her to a three-picture contract, was told by her doctors the prognosis was not good. Mayer took a personal interest to make sure the actress' health followed a strict regimen. He restricted her travel, even though she groused at missing a New York City charity event she was headlining. When Mayer arranged for an experimental cancer therapy, Dressler finally understood his concerns.
During the filming of "Tugboat Annie," she was limited to three hours a day on the set. For long shots of her, a stand-in took her place. MGM arranged for most of the movie, set in Seattle, to be filmed in and around the Hollywood area. Despite a couch sitting on the side of the set for her whenever there was a break in filming, Dressler, in her autobiography, mentioned the storm scenes were the most physically challenging she ever went through as an actor. "One coastwise sailor in the cast told me that in twenty years' experience aboard tramp steamers he had never encountered rougher seas than those manufactured in our studios," she wrote. "Able-bodied men were slapped down by waves the script described as mild. There was more than one arm in a sling, and at least one leg in a plaster cast before we got through."
Her character, Annie Brennan, was based on Thea Foss, the founder of a successful Seattle-based tugboat company whose semi-fictitious personality was featured in a series of Saturday Evening Post stories by Norman Raine. The film portrays Annie's struggles with an alcoholic husband, Terry (Wallace Beery), while sustaining her loving relationship with her son Alec (Robert Young). Alec's engagement to a competitor's daughter, Pat Severn (Maureen O'Sullivan), causes trouble down the road. Director Mervyn LeRoy took his film crew up to Seattle to film the exteriors, making "Tugboat Annie" the first Hollywood movie to be shot in Seattle. MGM rented out one of Foss Launch & Tug Company's tugboats and called it the "Narcissus." The real tugboat seen in the film, renamed the "Arthur Foss," today is docked next to the Northwest Seaport Maritime Heritage Center.
With the marquee attraction of Dressler and Beery, "Tugboat Annie" made MGM a profit of over $1 million, the richest take for the studio that year. The movie was so popular there were two remakes, in 1940 with Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, and in 1945 with Ann Darwell. Meanwhile, Dressler was able to fulfill the three-picture deal with her final movie, November 1933's "Christopher Bean," which exists but has never been released for home or television viewing. A copy has reportedly been stored in the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, N. Y. She died on July 28, 1934, from cancer, at age 65. Dressler is interred in the Great Mausoleum in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Stand By Your Man
GManfred1 February 2014
I thought Marie Dressler was great and died too soon, and that's the main reason for my rating on "Tugboat Annie". She carries the picture and was better than she was in "Min and Bill", the one she won an AA for three years before. The narrative here is more a series of vignettes on the life of a tugboat skipper, strung together and concerning the same group of people. The plot seems disjointed and each episode is an end in itself.
What is really annoying is the presence, or rather the character played by Wallace Beery. He was adept at playing a big slob but he overdoes it in 'Tugboat Annie", so much so that you wish he would get washed overboard or that she would leave him ashore, preferably on foreign soil. There is no way anyone could put up with incompetence and irresponsibility of this kind. He plays an unabashed drunk who nearly ruins her financially, and the ending barely justifies his behavior to that point.
Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan are along for appearances but with little to do. But it is a chance to see one of the best comediennes ever to grace the Silver Screen and Hollywood was poorer for it when she passed on.
What is really annoying is the presence, or rather the character played by Wallace Beery. He was adept at playing a big slob but he overdoes it in 'Tugboat Annie", so much so that you wish he would get washed overboard or that she would leave him ashore, preferably on foreign soil. There is no way anyone could put up with incompetence and irresponsibility of this kind. He plays an unabashed drunk who nearly ruins her financially, and the ending barely justifies his behavior to that point.
Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan are along for appearances but with little to do. But it is a chance to see one of the best comediennes ever to grace the Silver Screen and Hollywood was poorer for it when she passed on.
sure it's campy---is that so bad?!
planktonrules2 March 2006
This film is awfully campy and is a pretty insignificant film. However, this isn't really that bad a thing, as the acting and writing make this movie so much fun. I loved Marie Dressler's wonderful performance in the title role--it was funny and incredibly entertaining. And, combining her with Wallace Beery was a brilliant idea--they worked well together. The only odd thing about this movie was casting Robert Young as their grown son. I can't imagine WHAT a child of this ugly union would look like, but I would imagine it would look more like Mike Mizurki or Victor McLaglen! A great example of wonderful old-fashioned fun from MGM.
an interesting story
zog-39 November 2001
The only film adaption ever done of the Saturday Evening Post "Tugboat Annie" stories. interesting depictions of the eating area, and engine room with its old triple expansion engine. the "Narcissus", was played by the real tugboat "Arthur Foss" which is preserved as a maritime museum after 101 years of work.
An overlooked gem from M-G-M!
JohnHowardReid22 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Associate producer: Harry Rapf. Producer: Irving Thalberg.
Copyright 25 July 1933 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. U.S. release: 12 August 1933. New York opening at the Capitol: 11 August 1933. U.K. release: 3 February 1934. 87 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Down-and-out tugboat skipper is determined that her young son will make the grade as captain of an ocean liner.
NOTES: With a domestic rentals gross of $1.5 million, "Tugboat Annie" came in at 9th place (in which it tied with Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer stablemates Dancing Lady and Queen Christina) as one of the most popular movies of 1933.
A sequel "Tugboat Annie Sails Again" was released in 1940. A 39- episode half-hour TV series The Adventures of Tugboat Annie with Minerva Urecal hit the airwaves in 1957.
COMMENT: A very entertaining picture, at turns movingly sentimental (in a shamelessly tough sort of way), funny, sad, nostalgic and highly dramatic; splendidly produced on a no-holds-barred budget on real locations enhanced by absolutely thrilling special effects; and most entrancingly acted by all concerned, particularly Beery, Dressler, Young and the lovely, charming Maureen O'Sullivan.
Even Frankie Darro is tolerable (admittedly his footage is brief).
LeRoy's direction is a model of unobtrusive yet highly effective direction. When you let strong actors loose with a strong script and indulgent production values, you don't need assertively flashy, self-conscious direction. True, there are some low camera angles, but they are dramatically apposite points-of-view from one of the characters on screen.
Toland's attractively gray-toned, atmospheric photography also conjures up exactly the right mood for each scene. In fact, "Tugboat Annie" doesn't look the least bit like an M-G-M picture at all. The cramped yet extensive sets, dingily realistic (not aggressively "modern" with lots of space and curved white lines) are the work of Merrill Pye, working alone without the usual supervision of Cedric Gibbons.
When executive producer Thalberg died, M-G-M virtually abandoned this style of "A"-budget film-making to concentrate on "the stuff that dreams are made of."
Copyright 25 July 1933 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. U.S. release: 12 August 1933. New York opening at the Capitol: 11 August 1933. U.K. release: 3 February 1934. 87 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Down-and-out tugboat skipper is determined that her young son will make the grade as captain of an ocean liner.
NOTES: With a domestic rentals gross of $1.5 million, "Tugboat Annie" came in at 9th place (in which it tied with Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer stablemates Dancing Lady and Queen Christina) as one of the most popular movies of 1933.
A sequel "Tugboat Annie Sails Again" was released in 1940. A 39- episode half-hour TV series The Adventures of Tugboat Annie with Minerva Urecal hit the airwaves in 1957.
COMMENT: A very entertaining picture, at turns movingly sentimental (in a shamelessly tough sort of way), funny, sad, nostalgic and highly dramatic; splendidly produced on a no-holds-barred budget on real locations enhanced by absolutely thrilling special effects; and most entrancingly acted by all concerned, particularly Beery, Dressler, Young and the lovely, charming Maureen O'Sullivan.
Even Frankie Darro is tolerable (admittedly his footage is brief).
LeRoy's direction is a model of unobtrusive yet highly effective direction. When you let strong actors loose with a strong script and indulgent production values, you don't need assertively flashy, self-conscious direction. True, there are some low camera angles, but they are dramatically apposite points-of-view from one of the characters on screen.
Toland's attractively gray-toned, atmospheric photography also conjures up exactly the right mood for each scene. In fact, "Tugboat Annie" doesn't look the least bit like an M-G-M picture at all. The cramped yet extensive sets, dingily realistic (not aggressively "modern" with lots of space and curved white lines) are the work of Merrill Pye, working alone without the usual supervision of Cedric Gibbons.
When executive producer Thalberg died, M-G-M virtually abandoned this style of "A"-budget film-making to concentrate on "the stuff that dreams are made of."
loving Marie Dressler
SnoopyStyle29 September 2023
Annie Brennan (Marie Dressler) is a salty tugboat captain and Terry (Wallace Beery) is her hard-drinking first-mate husband. They support their son Alec (Robert Young) who rises to be the captain of a big ocean liner. Alec is dating Pat (Maureen O'Sullivan), the bosses' daughter. He wants his mother to retire. He gets his father a good job, but the drinking quickly loses the job. He tells Annie to leave Terry.
I am loving Marie Dressler. Wallace Beery is both the loveable lout and a problematic drunk. They make for quite a romance. There is the love and the difficulties. It's a marriage. It's not all roses and wine. The story has a bit of an expected melodramatic ending. It's obvious early on that Terry would come to the rescue for the ending. More than anything, I just love Dressler.
I am loving Marie Dressler. Wallace Beery is both the loveable lout and a problematic drunk. They make for quite a romance. There is the love and the difficulties. It's a marriage. It's not all roses and wine. The story has a bit of an expected melodramatic ending. It's obvious early on that Terry would come to the rescue for the ending. More than anything, I just love Dressler.
The ending is not for the faint hearted.
GJValent14 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this some years ago as a 'late night' flick. It's pretty standard 1930s gritty/humor stuff. Annie Brennan, (Marie Dressler), and husband Terry, (Wallace Beery), are tugboat runners in Puget Sound. They have a son, Alec,(Robert Young), who's now the skipper of a fancy ocean liner. They're proud of him, but, they stay out of his way, and his new life and sweetie, Pat,(Maureen, 'Jane', O'Sullivan). After all, they're only tugboat people. One night, during a terrible storm, they have the only tug available to save his ship. The Narcissus has always had problems, but, to accomplish their mission, Wallace has to enter the boiler, while it's fully stoked and fired, to patch some leaking water/steam tubes. Hard to watch for anyone, Marie has to. His pain, and her concern and horror, showcase what superb actors both were. For a prequel with both lead actors playing similar characters, check out Min and Bill.
* Great Movie
dweilermg-127 February 2021
I saw a wonderful heart-warming movie. Despite Annie and drunken Terry being low-class tugboat operators their son albeit a now upscale USN Academy graduate & cruise-ship captain loves his parents and will not tolerate anyone else snubbing them and he wants them at his wedding perhaps spruced up a bit. Before seeing this movie I was more familiar with the Minerva Urecal TV series with Annie as a widow and the son never mentioned. That series had potential it never got to. As a youngster I enjoyed it on Saturday afternoon TV syndication.
Dressler and Beery Together Again
view_and_review15 December 2023
The first thing I want to say is that "Tugboat Annie" is not just a comedy. I wouldn't even say it's primarily a comedy. It is a drama first and a comedy second.
Annie Brennan (Marie Dressler) owned and operated a tugboat with her shiftless drunkard of a husband, Terry (Wallace Beery). The two had a son named Alec who grew up to be the youngest captain of an ocean liner and they couldn't have been more proud. Annie was a good mother and Alec (Robery Young) was an excellent son. Even after he'd made something of himself he didn't high hat his parents. Though they were still nothing more than unrefined tugboat operators Alec showed them off with pride.
If Annie had one flaw it was her loyalty to Terry. His drinking got them into one problem after another. It even put Annie on the rocks with her own son. She was hopelessly torn between her loyalty to both men when Alec told his mother she'd have to make a choice: leave Terry and live in a nice apartment inland or stay with Terry on the Narcissus (the name of their tugboat).
"Tugboat Annie" was touching, saddening, maddening, and even suspenseful. Yes, it was funny at times, but I'm glad it didn't try to make it as a straight comedy. Dressler and Beery make an incomparable combo. They also starred together in "Min and Bill" (1930) which was a good movie as well. Also of note in "Tugboat Annie" was Maureen O'Sullivan ("Skyscraper Souls" and "Payment Deferred") who played Alec's fiance, and Paul Hurst.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
Annie Brennan (Marie Dressler) owned and operated a tugboat with her shiftless drunkard of a husband, Terry (Wallace Beery). The two had a son named Alec who grew up to be the youngest captain of an ocean liner and they couldn't have been more proud. Annie was a good mother and Alec (Robery Young) was an excellent son. Even after he'd made something of himself he didn't high hat his parents. Though they were still nothing more than unrefined tugboat operators Alec showed them off with pride.
If Annie had one flaw it was her loyalty to Terry. His drinking got them into one problem after another. It even put Annie on the rocks with her own son. She was hopelessly torn between her loyalty to both men when Alec told his mother she'd have to make a choice: leave Terry and live in a nice apartment inland or stay with Terry on the Narcissus (the name of their tugboat).
"Tugboat Annie" was touching, saddening, maddening, and even suspenseful. Yes, it was funny at times, but I'm glad it didn't try to make it as a straight comedy. Dressler and Beery make an incomparable combo. They also starred together in "Min and Bill" (1930) which was a good movie as well. Also of note in "Tugboat Annie" was Maureen O'Sullivan ("Skyscraper Souls" and "Payment Deferred") who played Alec's fiance, and Paul Hurst.
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