Cass Timberlane (1947)

There is a whole genre of films about accomplished men who know diddly-squat about women, and this is one of them. If not for the acting chops of Spencer Tracy, it wouldn't be worth viewing. Tracy plays the oddly named Cass Timberlane, a judge who is a well-respected member of the upper crust of his small community. One day a minor witness in his court catches his eye, and it's the beginning of an unlikely May-December romance with Virginia (Lana Turner), a too-perky-to-be-believed blonde from the wrong side of the tracks. We're supposed to believe that there is chemistry between "Tim," played by a 47-year-old Tracy, and "Ginny," while Ms. Turner was 26 when she played the role. Yeah, his judgeship has a sumptuous home, complete with perfectly well-mannered maid, as well as a beautifully decorated country lodge, but money has nothing to do with this match. Then we have the character of Brad (Zachary Taylor), supposedly the boyhood friend to Tim. This slick and smarmy lawyer never makes any secret of having the hots for Ginny and he almost succeeds in seducing her. Ms. Turner's performance is consistently annoying. I hated her demure, overly polite presentation and didn't find it believable, given her roots. According to the script, Ginny learns some harsh lessons along the way and eventually finds her way back to the affections of her principled older spouse. "You're the only consistent thing in this whole cockeyed world," she tells Tim. Tracy does of a good job of portraying a man who stands for something and learns from his experiences along the way. When he got angry, however, I was reminded of his portrayal of Jekyll/Hyde only a few years earlier and that was unsettling. (I even thought it might have been Ms. Turner who played his victim in that film, but that had been Ingrid Bergman.) This film is long and boring at times but is probably worth the effort, again, for Tracy's admirable example.

Spencer Tracy is judge Cass Timberlane, in this film adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel. He has carved out a nice little niche for himself and settled into a nice community with a steady girl, played by Margaret Lindsay and has some high society friends. But perhaps he gotten too used to his surroundings. Maybe he isn't as happy as he thinks (he is.) His cases have gotten a little monotonous, when a witness to an elderly lady falling on a city sidewalk is artist/designer Lana Turner, who lives outside of his social circle. She piques his interest with her looks, her youthful perspective on life, and her pictures of him. They form a friendship that leads to marriage, surprising his society friends who were expecting him to marry Chris (Margaret.) Attorney and friend Zachary Scott takes an instant liking to her as well. When she grows tired of trying to fit in and exasperated with her situation, arguing about it with Spencer, she winds up going to New York with Zachary. I don't how faithful this is to the book, but this is an example of how Hollywood would write themselves into a corner or a bad situation and then slap a pat or forced happy ending on it. People argue, can't get along and want their way until the final reel, where they say "we're so happy, let's live happily ever after." The viewers have to be placed in their situation and allowed for the natural feelings to be evolved and addressed for some final good closure. We do have this to a point, but just the same the scene with Lillian (Josephine Hutchinson) talking to Lana and the scene of Spencer and Lana's final confrontation feels a little bit like an afterthought. Being a Lana Turner fan, I may be kinder to this than a lot of others; I have always liked this film on the whole, but also felt the pat ending was a major flaw. Granted, we want them to be together but it somehow rings a little false.

Cass Timberlane (1947) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Glossy MGM production of a good-hearted judge (Spencer Tracy) who goes against his rich friends by marrying a woman (Lana Turner) from across the tracks. The woman tries her best to fit into the higher class lifestyle but soon she begins to hate the life and sees what she thinks is a new life in another man (Zachary Scott). For the first eighty-minutes of this thing I was really enjoying it as the entire cast and especially the two leads were doing a terrific job and made for some great entertaining. Even though all of this you could tell that the screenplay was offering nothing new and after eighty-minutes of this the final forty just became too much. The final forty-minutes of this thing contains one boring bit of melodrama after another and by the time the film ends you feel as if you've spent three hours with these characters instead of just two. I thought the film started out wonderful as we got some nice bits of comedy with Tracy being introduced to Turner due to a court case where she was a simple witness. This leads to an incredibly charming date sequence as well as a terrific baseball sequence where Tracy fills in as an umpire. The two actors are so incredibly charming together that you can overlook all the issues with the screenplay. Tracy does another great job in a role that he could play in his sleep. The guy has a great heart and does what he believes is right even when those around him begin to doubt his heart. Tracy brings that certain dignity to the role and in the end makes it his own. Even better is Turner who is simply magnificent in the role. In the early scenes with her playing the poor but happy girl she brings so much sunshine to the character where it was easy to believe that Tracy's judge would fall for her. Turner handles the lighthearted material so well but she's even better in the more dramatic stuff including her love for two men. Scott also comes off quite charming but that snake feeling is also there. Tom Drake, Mary Astor, Albert Dekker and Margaret Lindsay are all fine in their supporting roles. You can also look quickly for a cameo by Walter Pidgeon playing himself and Cameron Mitchell has a small role. Sidney's direction is pretty good throughout but even fine direction and great performances can't overcome a screenplay that offers up one predictable move after another. There are several twists and turns to the love triangle but they're all things we've seen countless times before and after a while it just gets downright boring.

"Cass Timberlane" is a film about unexpected love and the choices you have to make when you're in love. Directed by George Sidney and starring Spencer Tracy as Cass, a judge in small-town Minnesota who is part of the middle-aged country club set. He's generally living a comfortable and content existence when he meets Virginia (Lana Turner), a woman who is at first a witness for a small claims case and later runs into. They strike up a friendship and then a romance, culminating in their marriage. When their child dies while being born, Virginia finds herself more and more restless and spending more time with Cass' best friend, the younger and handsome attorney Bradd (Zachary Scott). The country club set sees them getting closer, and collectively send Bradd to New York under the guise that he is being transferred for his job, just as Cass is starting to wonder if something is up between Bradd and Virginia. Virginia convinces him that there is nothing going on, and eventually Cass offers to move them to New York so she isn't so bored. Cass is then forced to choose between the love he has for his town and his job, and his love for his wife and her needs.Spencer Tracy is excellent in this film, as he is in all of his films, and Lana Turner is also quite good. The scenes between she and Zachary Scott have enough heat in them to make us wonder if they are guilty of adultery as well. The story is a pretty straightforward drama, nothing special, but it is a good script and offers up enough conflict to satisfy without resorting to overload and ridiculous emotion. This is an average film that was well worth looking up. 6/10 --Shelly