2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!

Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

mark.waltz Harlow's a big hearted working class same who is employed at a fish cannery. Tracy's an aggressive strike breaker, often at odds with Harlow who nearly knocks his block off with a flying mackerel. He is publicly humiliated by her, but secretly they are crazy about each other. The only thing that stands in their way (besides his arrogance and her feistiness) is waterfront organized criminal leader Leo Carrillo. In spite of that, Spencer and Jean make it to the altar, but the road to happiness and security won't be easy thanks to their hot tempers.Fighting only minutes after they tie the knot, Tracy and Harlow are a delight, and this slice of life drama with many comic moments is extremely enjoyable. There's also Una Merkel and Mickey Rooney as her siblings, and it's obvious that Mickey was destined for stardom. Harlow's platinum hair is a bit darker here, yet she's extremely lovely. She gets above the title billing and he's under the titles, but it's obvious that they are equal in talent. This takes on some serious social issues among the taming of the shrew subplot, with waterfront boss Carrillo gregarious but ruthless, a sore loser over Tracy getting Harlow. The comic first half smoothly moves to social drama in the second half, yet the mood is not jarring. A musical moment featuring "You are my Lucky Star" which leads into a sudden burst of fireworks (thanks to the pranksterish Rooney) is one of the great single sequences, with the shot of Mickey with firecrackers in his ears edited into "Babes in Arms". Even lacking the MGM gloss as it emulates a Warner Brothers film, this is an exceptional A film that deserves to be more well remembered.

classicsoncall This film has all the pacing and dialog of a screwball comedy, but it's emphasis is on drama and the fiery up and down relationship between it's principals. Personally, I couldn't wrap my head around the chemistry between Dutch Muller (Spencer Tracy) and his fiancé/wife Hattie (Jean Harlow), though obviously stranger pairings have occurred both in movies and real life. But just to quickly make my point, take note of the Fourth of July party on the Fairy Queen - Dutch gets miffed at Hattie and shoves her away with a hand in her face, while she spits on him in response. Boy, talk about a budding romance.The story involves Dutch Miller's ambition to rise to the top of the local fisherman's union to thwart cannery owner Nick Lewis (Joseph Calleia) from taking advantage of his position against the tuna men. There's an interesting sequence showing the operation of a cannery assembly line, though I was amazed to see one of the female workers packing a can of tuna by hand! That didn't seem very probable to me but with just a quick glimpse there's no way to tell how normal that was. Other aspects of the assembly line required no hands-on involvement.As one of those cannery workers, Hattie must have left work each day smelling like fish, thereby adding some resonance to Dutch's remark while dancing closely next to her - "That's swell stink-up you got in your hair". It was meant as a compliment obviously, though I'd be wary of using one like that today. If you try it though, get back to me and let me know how it went over.The thing that really blew me away in the story was Hattie getting sent up to Sorena Valley Prison for ripping off her boss at the cannery. Geez, how much could she have stolen to get sent to the slammer? Then, when the picture segues to her prison life, she's in her jail cell with a baby! Come on, when was that ever the case? Okay, the film makers were going for a little pathos here, but that was just too in-your-face. But I guess it served it's purpose to bring Dutch back down to Earth from his high-hat ambition as a union boss.The picture is peppered with it's share of colorful characters with names like Flytrap (Victor Kilian), Ratsy (Arthur Housman), Brains McCall (J. Farrell MacDonald), and Hattie's Dad Pops (Roger Imhoff). However the one to really keep your eye on and ear tuned into was the sleazy cannery owner Nick, who's dialog always kept you guessing. Case in point, one of his conversations with attorney Markis (George Givot) commenting on everything that's happened in the story - "What is past is gone out and over done". It sounded like something Stan Laurel would say.

st-shot Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy find love on the waterfront in this MGM production that has a Warner's look and feel. With its hardboiled and run down backdrop it also addresses contemporary issues of labor unrest, Red union infiltration as well as managing to sneak some risqué moments by the censor.Dutch Muller (Tracy) is the best fisherman on the dock and he knows it. A bit of a charmer he has no problem with the ladies as well. Cannery worker Hattie (Harlow) has her sights on him but the pugnacious and confident Dutch isn't about to get tied down and the exchanges between the two are usually filled with invective. They weather and eventually wear each other down before getting hitched. When labor problems arise Dutch's arrogance and pride get's the best of him and he finds himself living in aq track side hobo camp. Faithful Hattie attempts to right him but instead ends up being sentenced to a long stretch at a women's prison. Dutch in turn vows to spring her.Tracy and Harlow display a nice down to earth terse chemistry driven by pride and desire. Muller's thickheadedness seems impervious to penetrate but the resourceful Hattie's drive is not to be denied and while there is perhaps an overabundance of shouting between the two the tenderness comes across as natural and genuine. A trio of scene stealers Una Merkle, Joseph Calleia and Mickey Rooney doing a waterfront Puck also add to the story's humor and rhythm.Riffraff does get a little improbable during its climax but Tracy and Harlow's dogged persistence and interplay give it an irascible verve.

kyle_furr The main problem i had with the film is the screenplay. It was just badly written and you didn't believe a lot of the things the characters did. The plot really doesn't come together like it should and the movie is just pretty bad. It stars out with Spencer Tracy talking some workers out of a strike that would of hurt them and he also p***es off his boss. Both Tracy and the boss are interested in Jean Harlow but Harlow only goes with the boss because, i just forget and who really cares anyway. Mickey Rooney is also in here and Spencer Tracy is a great actor but he's only OK in here. Jean Harlow does a pretty good job and you should watch Libeled Lady instead.