I Take This Woman (1940) User Reviews

Hedy has to choose between two men

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 13 April 2006]

Hedy Lamarr is married to Spencer Tracy, but does her heart really belong to another? This is the big question in "I Take This Woman" which boasts a great cast that includes Verree Teasdale, Laraine Day, Louis Calhern, Paul Cavanaugh, and Kent Taylor. Hedy is from the upper class and when her affair with a married man (Taylor) goes sour, she tries to commit suicide on board ship and Tracy, a doctor returning from research in the Yucatan, saves her. Not surprisingly, he also falls madly in love with her. Not too long afterward, they're married, though Tracy realizes that she's still in love with her married, uptown boyfriend. She works with him in his downtown clinic and they're very happy - until the "uptown" life beckons both of them.

What can be said about Hedy - she's exquisitely beautiful, charming, and a natural actress who is excellent in the film. Though one of the comments was that Tracy came off as overly naive and a fool, I thought he was wonderful as a warm and good man. If he acts exuberantly in love, the character is just that. He's an unmarried, lonely man devoted to his work as a doctor and researcher. He meets a dream woman whom he describes as "something you'd see in a jeweler's window on black velvet - you just look and walk by" - and she agrees to marry him. How should he have acted? I loved the remark by one of the patients: "Is that your wife? What did you do, dope her?" The two make a charming couple though it's hard to watch anyone but Hedy when she's on screen.

Laraine Day plays the troubled daughter of Paul Cavanaugh - it's a small role but pivotal to the plot. The best supporting role and performance comes from Verree Teasdale, who plays Lamarr's best friend - she's a delight, popping off Charles Macarthur's witticisms with no problem.

A very enjoyable and heartwarming film. Cynics need not apply.

watch it for hedy

[cheeseplease · 7/10 · 18 March 2006]

I liked this movie; it's one of those sentimental movies I like to watch late at night. The reason this film works is Hedy Lamarr. She is a jewel. Naive and vulnerable, she makes bland look exotic. The plot is classic Hollywood melodrama. Spencer Tracy plays the fatherly role he often plays. Their chemistry together is questionable. But I think the key to the romance of this movie is the portrayal of each character's individual experience of love and infatuation, and how obsessive love is not about the relationship but how each person feels. For this reason Tracy and Lamarr's purported disconnect off the set may work to the film's advantage.

The "problem picture" that really isn't...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 11 April 2008]

Adaptation of Charles MacArthur's short story "A New York Cinderella" has Spencer Tracy cast as a barrios doctor (so committed to his work that he spends his vacation doing medical research!) who saves Park Avenue beauty Hedy Lamarr from shipboard suicide. Once in New York City, she locates him (eating in a cafeteria!) and discovers his neighborhood hospice is the perfect place for her to recover and take stock of her life. Their eventual marriage (which appears platonic in nature, with barely a kiss between them) isn't fraught with many anxieties, and a subsequent move uptown seems to make them both happy, but the scenarists have invented a "former flame" for the woman who turns up at every restaurant and nightclub she goes to. This poor man is just a plot device (a bad one), unconvincingly written and only present to give the good doctor some doubts. Yet, if the movie goes out of its way to cause cracks in the marriage, it bends over backwards to give the two principals a happy ending (one that must be seen to be believed). It raises a happy tear or two, though the movie is so flimsily constructed and rudderless, it evaporates from memory before you can even recall the title. Tracy--playing both doctor and daddy to Lamarr--throws away much of his dialogue (charmingly), holding together most of the picture even as its fairy tale plotting takes the slow boat to China. **1/2 from ****

Hedy was a jewel

[bruno-32 · 31 May 2000]

The film is pleasant enough, with Tracy and Laraine Day. But Hedy, was a jewel. That opening scene where she is in her satin gown, with that perfect figure, contemplating suicide, was really a sight. I squirmed when Tracy had to sock that gorgeous puss, in order to prevent her suicide, as if anyone would want to disfigure that face. Being Italian, when she had to speak it to a distraught Italian women, the words were very authentic. I thought she was really Italian, until later I found out she mastered 6 languages. No wonder she had the brains to invent that product for guiding torpedo's during the war, and now put to use in cell phones. Some reviewers here made comments that Tracy and Lamarr didn't get along...that is not true. In fact, they made 2 other movies together after this. If there was a problem, Tracy had enough clout to tell MGM, he would not make another movie with Lamarr. The word got around that Hedy was new to American movie making, and also, new to the English language. Read Chas. Boyer bio where it is said that there were problems with her English in "Algiers", so they limited her dialogue. But as we all know, Hedy mastered the language as well as 5 others... .but the problem with Tracy was that she couldn't grasp Tracy's mumbling and fast talking as he has shown in so many of his movies. Imagine if she had to appear with Brando, the king of mumblers. There is a candid photo of them together during recess of making "Tortilla Flat"...a very intimate scene...on Ebay. See this movie for the jeweled Hedy.

Reminded me of "It's a Wonderful Life"

[CCsito · 7/10 · 9 August 2009]

The film involves the attempted suicide of a woman (Hedy Lamarr) who is involved with a married man. A doctor (Spencer Tracy) stops her from committing suicide on board a ship. After they both return to the US, Hedy goes to visit at Spencer's clinic in an effort to forget about her past and to start a new life. Spencer eventually gets the courage to propose to her, but harbors feelings that she still has ties to her past boyfriend. Hedy's character has ambivalent feelings on her previous boyfriend, but eventually breaks it off with him even though he is granted a divorce from his wife. Near the film's end, a suicide death brings Spencer back to his "senses" about trying to live like the rich and famous in order to impress his wife. A question of medical ethics comes up and Spencer decides to quit his fancy medical practice job and to go overseas to China as he sees his attempted lifestyle change as a failure both for his career and his marriage. He described Hedy like a perfect gem on black velvet and always harbored a deep feeling that he went after something outside of his "boundaries". Through a final scene involving local people who come to the clinic to express their gratitude for his medical service to the community, he has an eventual change of heart about leaving the area.

The movie ends with a scene that is reminiscent of "It's a Wonderful Life" and you feel that movie copied the final scene from this movie. In fact, even the ending song is the same (Auld Lang Syne).

Spencer and Hedy may appear to be a little miscast in this movie, but they still do an admirable performance in their roles in this film. Verree Teasdale gives an excellent supporting role in this movie and has several great one liners in this film.

The movie has several very familiar quotes - One is uttered by Hedy where she tells Spencer that when you save someone's life, you become responsible for that person. Verree Teasdale has a great one liner when she is talking to Hedy in a restaurant and mentions that "time wounds all heels" - a pointed reference to her former boyfriend.

They might have had better casting for the movie since it appears to have had several cast changes before it could be completed. But, the story of an "uptown" girl going to a "downtown" man's world still comes out as a pretty good storyline.

I TAKE THIS WOMAN (W.S. Van Dyke and, uncredited, Josef von Sternberg and Frank Borzage, 1940) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 10 March 2011]

Without planning them as such, I ended up watching a Wallace Beery and Spencer Tracy double-bill on consecutive days; in fact, this follows Tracy's QUICK MILLIONS (1931) and Beery's SERGEANT MADDEN (1939) and PORT OF SEVEN SEAS (1938) – see their reviews elsewhere.

Incidentally, in my comments on MADDEN, I had written that it was Josef von Sternberg's only picture on the MGM lot but, actually, he had been entrusted with the title under review as well – only he somehow got fired…and the same fate apparently befell his replacement (Frank Borzage), since a third director (W.S. Van Dyke, here denoted as "II") ended up receiving sole credit for it! For this reason, the film is a fairly maligned one but the result is surprisingly not as despicable as I had anticipated (incidentally, my twin brother had previously watched it as a Saturday matinée' on Italian TV years ago but could not recall what he had made of the picture back then); truth be told, I had completely forgotten about the Sternberg connection but, thankfully, managed to acquire it in time for my current retrospective of that director's work.

The narrative is typical MGM 'mass appeal' fare: a romantic melodrama boasting sophisticated trimmings but maintaining a social conscience (from a story by Charles MacArthur and an uncredited Ben Hecht). A tall order, therefore, and working one's way around it would have probably defeated any film-maker (not least in the icky finale involving a number of children); given the amount of time and money spent on the production – so much so that it was derisively referred to as "I Re-Take This Woman"! – it is small wonder, then, that it eventually ended up in the lap of the legendary "One-Take" Woody (Van Dyke)! As I said, however, the film is enjoyable enough (indeed, it gets by on sheer professionalism alone!) when not lapsing into pathos (with the medical expose' at the center of the last act, it does seem like the makers were trying to bite off more than they could chew!).

Anyway, Tracy brings his customary intelligence to the fold, while leading lady Hedy Lamarr supplies the glamor (for the record, the two stars would be reteamed soon after in BOOM TOWN [1940] and, again, in TORTILLA FLAT [1942]). He is a doctor with a modest practice who runs into a lovelorn socialite aboard ship (at least in this the picture resembles Sternberg's THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK [1928], with which it also happens to share cinematographer Harold Rosson!). Their life together is fraught with complications relating, first and foremost, to her persistent attachment to a married gigolo (played by the bland Kent Taylor, replacing Walter Pidgeon!) but also his 'defection' to an upper-crust hospital; incidentally, Sternberg's appointment would seem to have aimed at endowing Lamarr with a Dietrich-like mystique (a vaguely weird scene has the woman's lover keep a private shrine in her honor!). The supporting cast is notable too: Verree Teasdale (as Lamarr's fashion-designer best friend, a garrulous sort in the Rosalind Russell vein), Paul Cavanaugh (forever epitomizing high society), Frances Drake (from MAD LOVE [1935], as the latter's alluring but venomous companion), Laraine Day (from SERGEANT MADDEN, as his rebellious daughter), Louis Calhern (as Tracy's unscrupulous boss when he comes up in the world), Jack Carson (as one of his many patients – despite a one-shot appearance, his credit suggests much of the role ended up on the cutting-room floor!) and Willie Best (again, a stereotyped characterization as the hero's lazy black janitor Sambo!).

Spencer & Lamarr Burn Up the Screen

[whpratt1 · 6/10 · 11 April 2008]

Always enjoy pictures starring Hedy Lamarr, (Georgi Gragore Decker) who is a woman in love with a man who is married and Georgi is sailing on a ship and decides to take her life and jump over board and is saved by a Dr. Karl Decker, (Spencer Tracy). Georgi is very grateful to Dr. Karl for saving her life and they both become very attracted to each other, however, Georgi has been a model for some very rich clients and has some very rich people who like her very much. Dr. Karl Decker is a doctor who works in a clinic that deals with the poor and is loved by the average simple people. Karl asks Georgi to marry him and this is when the story becomes very interesting which turns into quite a romantic film story. Enjoy.

Pretty good but not particularly outstanding despite the cast

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 13 May 2008]

This picture isn't a bad film--something you might expect if you read through the trivia on IMDb and all the production troubles this one had. However, at the same time, it certainly isn't a great film--offering a plot that was at times difficult to believe as well as some genuinely dislikable characters.

The film begins on the seas, as Spencer Tracy is returning to New York on a cruise ship. Out of the blue, Hedy Lamarr attempts suicide and Spencer saves her. It turns out he's a doctor and he gives her a sedative and sends her on her way once they reach New York (hardly the way doctors would usually handle such a case). However, her life is a mess and she soon seeks out Tracy--who is a poor doctor at a poor neighborhood clinic. One reviewer compared his character to Father Flanagan in BOYS TOWN and this isn't far off--though in I TAKE THIS WOMAN, Spencer has romantic notions for Hedy. It's not surprising in some ways, since Miss Lamarr seems like a great catch. However, considering she was suicidal and carries a flame for a louse of a boyfriend (who is married), I really felt myself rooting for Tracy to find another woman!! Predictably, due to Lamarr's flightiness, their marriage is far from perfect and in the process Tracy loses sight of his mission in life to treat the truly needy.

While Tracy's performance as a caring doctor is actually pretty good (playing a very decent and likable guy), his part could have used a little more grit. You'll probably like him but wish he'd be a little LESS nice! As for co-star Hedy Lamarr, I know I'll get a lot of flack for saying this, but after a month of Lamarr films on Turner Classic Movies, I was amazed at what a bland actress she really was. While it is true she was very beautiful, she was also blessed with a very limited acting range--possibly the result of silly scripts and an over-reliance of wardrobe changes. It's a shame, really, as Ms. Lamarr was a genius in real life (knowing several languages, speaking English with very little accent and obtaining a patent for a guidance system for torpedoes) and must have been capable of better performances. Here in I TAKE THIS WOMAN, her character seemed extremely shallow and difficult to like until near the end of the film.

Overall, because of Lamarr and many of her rather despicable friends, it's a movie that is, at times, hard to like. However, it ends well and is enjoyable throughout.

PS--Keep an eye out for the character played by Willie Best. In most of Best's movies, he played a stupid and lazy man--the absolute worst stereotype of a Black man. Here, the film makers actually called his character "Sambo" and I am sure this portion of the film will make viewers cringe. Fortunately, his appearances in the film are blessedly short.

One of only four collaborations between these two stars

[SHAWFAN · 8/10 · 16 March 2006]

Actually the most brilliant performance in this movie was that of Verree Teasdale as Madame 'Cesca' Marcesca, the jewel saleslady who acted the part of the raisonneuse. Her sarcastic comments and assessments of the psychological foibles of high society were priceless. The writing of this movie which supplied so many great one-liners was truly high level with the great Charles MacArthur starting things off. At first I swore Teasdale must have been Hedda Hopper because her character mimicked that lady's commentaries and attitudes. Whatever became of such a talented actress? Actually, in contradistinction to your other commentators I thought Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr were quite good in their acting. While at first I thought this must have been their only collaboration IMDb shows us that they made four movies together. I had never even heard of their movies and this one was the first one I'd ever seen. It was worthwhile and interesting seeing this movie despite its frequent moments of over-sentimentality.

Tracy The Only Highlight

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 6/10 · 27 March 2011]

It was very interesting reading the other reviews of this film. There isn't much agreement among the reviewers here. So I will add my take.

When I watch an old film, I often evaluate it as I watch it in terms of whether or not I'd like to add it to my collection. Despite Spencer Tracy being one of my two favorite actors (the other being Cary Grant), this is thumbs down, even though it has become available through the Warner Archives.

For me, the number one strike against this film is Hedy Lamarr. I've never understood the attraction with her films, and after seeing this one, I still don't. From my perspective, at best, she was attractive.

The second strike against this film, in my view, was the way in which the story progressed. I don't have a complaint about the general plot line -- dedicated doctor goes into a ritzy practice to make wife happy, but ultimately learns that he was happiest and most effective back in the poor neighborhood. Actually, good story line. But there was something SIMPLY glossy and glitzy about his temporary life in the big league that was very disappointing.

And then we come to Spencer Tracy's acting here. In my view, it may have been the one thing that saved the film. There was a time early in his career when Tracy wasn't very good at subtlety. And in my view there are two circumstances where Tracy realizes his full potential as an actor -- when he being subtle and when he is being fiery. In this film he is both, at appropriate points in the script.

To me there is not a single notable performance by a supporting actor in this film. That's not to say they are bad performances, just not notable. And there are a number of fine character actors here -- Laraine Day, Louis Calhern (one of two "bad guys" in the film), and even Marjorie Main in a rather atypical role. But, can you believe that Willie Best actually plays a character named "Sambo"????? And so, what rating do I give this film. A "6", and only because of Tracy's performance. It's one of the few Tracy films I doubt I'll watch again.

a train wreck

[sumrrain · 4/10 · 15 November 2002]

I adore Hedy Lamarr. I think she was vastly underrated as an actress during the 40s. She was the Nastassja Kinski of that era, and critics didn't take her seriously. Having said all that...this film is a BORE. When I watched it for the first time, I was shocked at the lack of continuity, not only in story, but in makeup and costumes. Hedy's makeup changes from shot to shot. So does hair length and style. Reason: This thing had so many writers and underwent so many stops and starts it's amazing they ever released it at all. Her "Lady of the Tropics" began filming AFTER this one began, yet it was released before "I Take This Woman." In fact, at the time, it was known in Hollywood as "I Re-Take This Woman." That should tell you something. I'm a Spencer Tracy fan as well, but he is AWFUL here. I've read in various film histories that he absolutely despised Hedy Lamarr, and that looks perfectly obvious on film. NO chemisty whatsoever. The story wanders around for reel after reel and finally just rolls to an end very strangely. I can't recommend this one at all.

enjoyable

[shadows1 · 10/10 · 28 January 1999]

One can become easily lost within this film. I did. I found myself caring for these characters and hoping that, as the film wore on, there weren't any really bad turns to be taken. Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr were exquisite together. Tracy did everything one would expect, but it was Lamarr's performance that was truly refreshing. The combination of "old world" style and young girl cuteness was put forth effortlessly. She was interesting and a joy to watch. In fact, the movie was very enjoyable. There are some scenes, when viewed through today's eyes, standards, one cringes. The problem is the movie was made in 1939. Things and views were different then, just as they will be 60 years from now.

They ReTook Hedy and Spence

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 9 November 2005]

Hedy Lamarr who may have been kept by more men on screen than any other actress, is again the kept mistress of Kent Taylor, society playboy and general all around rat. On a boat from the Yucatan after Taylor's given her the brush she tries suicide. But Doctor Spencer Tracy saves her from drowning in the Caribbean.

Tracy's quite the all around medical fellow. I guess he never heard the word specialist. He runs a clinic in Manhattan for the poor and his trip was a sideline into medical research. Lamarr and he marry and she tries to introduce him into her world and he even becomes a partner of society doctor Louis Calhern. Of course Kent Taylor reenters the picture and the Hollywood inevitable happens.

Watching I Take This Woman it seemed to me that the writers were very much influenced by Tracy's Oscar winning Boys Town. Unfortunately his role as Doctor Karl Decker ain't a patch on what he did as Father Flanagan. Maybe they were trying to give Father Flanagan a little romance in his life in this film so to speak.

Tracy and Lamarr did not get along too well. In fact this film was dubbed I Retake This Woman because the original director Joseph Von Sternberg walked off the film, presumably because Lamarr was not working out for him the way Marlene Dietrich did. She did Lady of the Tropics and then MGM went back to filming this with their contract director Woody Van Dyke who was known for the speed of his productions. And a whole new supporting cast was brought in.

Fortunately both Spence and Hedy had better roles in store for both of them.

Everything that happens is fair.

[lastliberal · 11 April 2008]

With two Oscars already on his shelf (Boy's Town, Captains Courageous), Tracy looks lost here. And well he should, as this was a vehicle for promoting Hedy Lamarr. The interference by a major Hollywood producer resulted in three directors and 18 months of shooting. Naturally, a patchwork film like that wouldn't do well at the box office.

Tracy is a doctor in a downtown clinic that takes up with an uptown girl who is having men problems. He finds a diamond and steals it. But, he is out of his element.

Lamarr is glorious to look at and a fine actress, but this story just didn't wash and the ending is something Capra copied years later in It's a Wonderful Life. It was schmaltzy in both films.

Beautiful Movie

[janice143 · 9/10 · 29 August 2006]

I watched I Take This Woman this morning on TMC. I am going to comment on the movie and the year it was filmed.

The year was 1940, and this country had just entered WW II. The mood in the country was somber and thousands of young men had just gone off to war. Many movies were made at this time to be up-lifting and romantic. Escapism movies, not realistic! I thought the chemistry between Tracy and Lamarr was fantastic! Was Tracy any more handsome, that expressive face of his. Lamarr was so beautiful, it almost hurt to look at her. I know it was kind of a rookie story, doctor saves the heroine on a boat from Yucatan back to the states. She has been scorned by her married lover. She tries to throw herself overboard. He saves her. How romantic is that! She gets a job in a clinic he works at in a poor neighborhood, and the story continues with a satisfying ending.

The only downer I have with this movie is "Sambo" the clinic janitor. Typical Hollywood stuff at that time about Blacks, that they should act like total morons. I felt very uncomfortable watching this movie with Sambo in the few scenes he was in the movie. Why was Hollywood projecting the image that all Blacks were nothing but nannies and janitors I am very offended by this, but then, so many movies of the time had this theme. That scene when Sambo was eating a piece of wedding cake was criminal! Anyway, a feast for the eyes, except for the Sambo stuff.

Historically troubled MGM soaper, Not bad for what it is.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 3 September 2013]

A standard theme for many a movie of Hollywood's golden age, this women's picture had a difficult production history, its original version scrapped and re-shot and becoming just another expose of Park Avenue's frivolous rich. Spencer Tracy is outstanding as a lower east side doctor who marries a suicidal débutante Hedy Lamarr and is forced into treating the silly society matrons for diet advice and cat bites rather than the malnutritioned poor just a few miles away. Lamar in the meantime runs into her old flame who had lead her to wanting to jump of a ship in the first place.

Like the radio serials of the time and television soaps yet to come, this film intertwines several troubled relationships around the main plot line, often resulting in becoming convoluted. The always scene- stealing Verree Teasdale plays Lamarr's self-absorbed best friend who always seems to hear only half of what anybody says to her, but it is very clear that underneath all that narcissistic persona is a woman scared to face reality out of society. The film is at its best when they are dealing with the simpler folk like chatty Marjorie Main and black handyman Willie Best whose slow-witted character of Sambo stares at the couple's wedding cake with child-like anticipation. The art direction is pretty to look at, particularly the outrageous nightclub setting with huge zebras on the wall. Plotwise, the film has too much going on as well as being a retread of a few other films that MGM made at the same time.

Offscreen and onscreen couple

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 19 October 2019]

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.

Mishmash of a movie

[umbraco-42719 · 4/10 · 10 December 2018]

Hedy Lamarr is my favorite actress of the Golden Age. But I have only been able to watch this movie ONCE from start to finish. God knows I have tried on subsequent occasions to try and find something redeeming about it. But the only thing I can come up with is Hedy Lamarr's face.

The continuity is horrible, which makes sense when you consider how many times production stopped and started, replacing Walter Pidgeon with Kent Taylor, and so on, etcetera etcetera ad infinitum.

In all honesty I think it would have better served everyone if it had been permanently shelved and then lost for all time.

BUT...

It is always pleasant to see her face photographed to perfection, so I give it a reluctant 4 stars out of 10.

hopeless

[cjasek · 4/10 · 9 November 2005]

I fully agree with the previous reviewer. There's no chemistry between Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr, and the focus of the film is on their relationship. Hedy Lamarr isn't at her best, and Spencer Tracy appears to be naive, simple and overly-hopeful -- both in love and life; an idealist role that played out best in 'Boys Town'. If you can make it through the ridiculous crowd scene by the train station...whoa...it's rather slapstick and not worthy of any actor in the cast. Not the best acting on anybody's part. Miscast and mismatched. Story is empty and various and disenfranchised input is apparent. Hedy Lamarr is her absolutely stunning herself, which is truly the best part of the film. Spencer Tracy can't match the sophistication of her beauty and wardrobe, and the film doesn't come off as believable for at least that reason.

See any other Spencer Tracy movie; don't bother with this one

[YakovDavid · 1/10 · 28 February 2002]

It's hard to know exactly what to say about this ever so bland and dull little film. The story is predictable when not completely laughable. It's all a matter of "dutiful gestures" which, as presented here, carry absolutely no conviction. Yes, the MGM "production values" are gorgeous, and yes, Ms. Lamarr was exquisitely beautiful, but she and the great Spencer Tracy have absolutely no "chemistry" together - and that's the only thing that would have made this parade of cliches at all effective... It's my understanding that this movie received poor reviews when it was originally released; the passage of time has not improved it.

Take This Woman, Please

[wes-connors · 2/10 · 7 May 2013]

After making herself look drop-dead gorgeous for the after-life, beautifully distraught Hedy Lamarr (as Georgi Gragore) attempts suicide at sea. Also on the cruise ship bound for New York City, kindly doctor Spencer Tracy (as Karl Decker) prevents Ms. Lamarr from tossing herself overboard. Depressed, but never looking less than glamorous, Lamarr longs for handsome Kent Taylor (as Phil Mayberry). Still, she is attracted to Mr. Tracy. They decide to hook up, but idealistic Tracy has trouble mixing with Lamarr snooty friends...

The co-starring couple can't act their way in or out of this story. Tracy is uninterested and Lamarr is unrehearsed. Their styles, he acting and she posing, do not mix. There is some fun in listening to Verree Teasdale (as Cesca Marcesca) spit out her lines. When the action moves to Tracy's clinic, the offensive character played by Willie Best appears. Racist to the extreme, "Sambo" is a most appropriate name for Mr. Best's character. Like an obedient pet, "Sambo" shows incredible restraint while waiting for a piece of wedding cake.

** I Take This Woman (2/2/40) W.S. Van Dyke ~ Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, Verree Teasdale, Kent Taylor

Decent Melodrama Despite the Troubled Production

[Michael_Elliott · 24 April 2011]

I Take This Woman (1940)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The troubled production history has probably labeled this film with its negative reputation. While the end result can't be seen as anything other than disappointing the movie is still quite a bit better than many reviews would lead you to believe. The film starts off at sea as Dr. Karl Decker (Spencer Tracy) saves the beautiful but troubled Georgi (Hedy Lamarr) from killing herself. Back in NY the woman eventually looks the doctor up and sees what a nice, caring man he is as he spends most of his time doing research but when not doing that he's helping the poor. The two are quickly married but soon after wards the doctor's fears come true when he thinks his new wife is falling for her ex (Kent Taylor). Three directors were involved with this film at various time of its production and I think it's clear as the thing is quite uneven even if MGM stated that the final director (Van Dyke) pretty much re-shot the entire picture. I think what really keeps the film from being anything special is the screenplay, which is too much soap opera and it fails to ever cross the line with either character. We're introduced to Tracy and it's clear that he's a very good man without much grit to stand up to what eventually happens to him. The Lamarr character is clearly a very troubled woman who makes a lot of dumb decisions yet the screenplay never really shows her for how bad she really is. Whenever she tries to kill herself they do it in a beautiful way to make it look poetic. When she eventually runs back to the other man the film again gives her a very good reason so that she doesn't look too bad. Even stuff in between with her annoying friend is handled to where she just comes off as an innocent person. I'm not sure if Josef von Sternberg walked because of how holy and easy these characters were but it wouldn't shock me. I'm also not sure if the ending was re-shot but I'm going to guess it was because it's downright horrible and easy to tell that it had to have been forced by the studio. I won't ruin the ending for people but it feels out of place not only for this film but just about any movie ever made. The saving grace are clearly the performances as Tracy and Lamaar at least do a nice job together. They certainly have a strong chemistry together and it really feels as both actors are trying extremely hard to make this movie work. Tracy has no problems playing the good-hearted man and Lamaar does a good job with her "troubled" character. Verree Teasdale has no issues with her annoying society girl and we get some fine supporting work by Taylor, Laraine Day and we get character actor George E. Stone in a couple scenes. Fans of the stars will probably check this movie out but I'd say just about everyone else could skip it and not really miss anything special. The movie isn't bad but at the same time when you consider the talent involved you've got to expect something better.

Totally unworthy of Tracy and Lamarr...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 21 March 2011]

I TAKE THIS WOMAN is a movie in search of a plot. No wonder there was so much turmoil in getting this project off the ground. For awhile, it was called "I Re-Take This Woman" when the original director walked off and Woody (one take) VanDyke took his place.

It drags on aimlessly while we're supposed to feel sorry for characters that never come to life. SPENCER TRACY seems hopelessly miscast as a doctor who tends to the poor while his wife (HEDY LAMARR) tries to forget her upper class friends and her unhappy affair with KENT TAYLOR. VERREE TEASDALE is her bubbly friend who seems to be performing in another film, so lively is her work here. But Tracy and Lamarr are never able to give the film the boost it needs to help it rise above a tedious and boring script.

All of the camera angles favor Hedy's beauty and she meets all of these close-ups in fine form. LARAINE DAY has a minor role that she's unable to infuse with any life and others in the supporting cast suffer the same fate, even LOUIS CALHERN as a wealthy business man. The less said about WILLIE BEST the better.

Tracy and Lamarr almost reach a point of divorce, until he realizes that she hasn't betrayed him with Kent Taylor. But the coy ending adds a touch of Frank Capra sentiment to the finale when his loyal lower class clients break into "Auld Lang Syne" when he decides to resume his job as their caretaker.

It doesn't work. Nothing about the film seems real--most of all, Miss Lamarr in all of her "out of this world" splendor trying to bring some sense of reality to a trite script that should never have been produced in the first place.

Was the character "Joe" really Jack Carson?

[grissgut · 26 February 2002]

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. After watching the entire movie and reading the credits at the end I noticed the character Joe was portrayed by Jack Carson and I could not believe it. Keep an eye out for him because you probably will not recognize that it is him. I am still bewildered how different he looks in this film. Just a bit of trivia.