I Take This Woman

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.