LOOKING FOR TROUBLE (1934)

A year before he moved to MGM and shot to stardom, Spencer Tracy made this comic crime film, his only time working with director William A. Wellman. Where Wellman would enjoy solid relationships with stars like Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck and John Wayne, he and Tracy clashed repeatedly. They even got into a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub. Yet the film they made together was a polished, fast-moving yarn about two telephone line troubleshooters (Tracy and Jack Oakie) whose work leads them to unmask a criminal conspiracy and solve a murder.  Tracy’s easy comic rapport with Oakie is a highlight of the film, which also incorporates a combination of newsreel footage and recreations of the Long Beach, CA, earthquake of 1933. Darryl F. Zanuck’s Twentieth Century Films borrowed Tracy from Fox, where he was unhappy. He would leave them within a year to sign with MGM, his home for two decades.

d. William A. Wellman, 80m, 35mm

35mm courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.