TUGBOAT ANNIE
US, 1933, 86 minutes. Black and white.
Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Robert Young, Maureen O’ Sullivan.
Directed by Mervyn Le Roy.
Tugboat Annie is an enjoyable star vehicle for Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. They had appeared the year before in Min and Bill, Marie Dressler winning the Oscar for her performance. In the meantime Wallace Beery had won an Oscar for The Champ. They were to appear the next year in Dinner at Eight – just before Marie Dressler’s death.
Marie Dressler is a fascinating screen presence. Large, by no means beautiful, strong and tough. She is the captain of a tugboat on the west coast of the United States, married to Wallace Beery who is a genial drunk. Despite everything, she supports him and makes allowances for him. They have a young son whom she is trying to educate and who is sent away to college. He returns as the captain of a liner along the coast. As an adult he is played by Robert Young. Young had begun to appear in substantial roles in the early 1930s and was to continue on screen for many decades. The film is also an early film of Maureen O’ Sullivan who had come from Ireland and appeared in many MGM films.
The film recreates the atmosphere of the wharves, the coast as well as the life on the tug. It was directed by veteran Mervyn LeRoy?, who made I Was a Fugitive from the Chain Gang at this time, other films at Warner Bros but was to move to high-budget films at MGM, such films as Blossoms in the Dust in the 1940s.
The film is entertaining, and interesting to see the performances of the two central actors.
1. An entertaining MGM film of the 1930s? Star vehicle for Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery? Up-and-coming Robert Young and Maureen O’Sullivan?.
2. The coast, the tugs, the ships, the jobs? The early part of the 20th century? The transition to the 1930s and the liners along the coast? Authentic atmosphere? The interiors, the exteriors, the sea? The special effects for the boats – especially for the final storm? The musical score?
3. The focus on Annie Brennan, Marie Dressler’s presence? Strong-minded, able with the tug? Married to Terry, falling in love with him? Her making allowances? His deceit, his drinking? Bringing up Alec, teaching him, her own ignorance and wanting him to be educated? To be the captain of his own ship? His return, the captain? The welcome, her trying to get Terry there, her going onto the platform, her talk, welcoming him home? The rest of the film as a series of anecdotes and episodes about Annie and her troubles with Terry? The episode with the soap in the coleslaw? The going to the social function, her stopping him drinking, her own drinking, the dancing and her collapse? The sale of the boat? The auction? Her being offered the job, the garbage? Her son and his taking a stance against his father? Annie not deserting Terry? Terry and his crashing into the liner? The finale, the garbage, the storm, the rescue? The happy ending?
4. Terry, Wallace Beery and his style, manner of talking? The various ways in which he concealed the drinking? The effect on him? His letting himself off? With his son, his son’s criticism? His treatment of Annie? Pretending not to drink, hiding the drink? Welcoming his son home – and the trouble with getting dressed? The soap in the coleslaw? His being confronted by his son? Offering to leave? The crash into the liner? The auction? With Annie on the tug, during the storm, his heroics? The burns, hospital, the reconciliation?
5. Alec, as a young lad, earnestness? Wanting to support his parents? Critique of his father? His achievement, the photo in the paper, the captain, with Red Severn and his being promoted? With Pat? Coming back, the speeches, onto the tug, the dinner, the dance, his father’s collapse? His stance against his father? Not visiting? The storm, his father’s help, the visit to the hospital, the marriage to Pat?
6. Pat, as a young girl, the rivalry between the two boats, going to the rescue of the boat, finding that Terry had sold the rope to buy drink? Her growing up, love for Terry, visiting Annie, trying to get a reconciliation?
7. Severn, the company, Alec trying to get a job for his father, his father drinking, telling Severn off, losing the job? The whole background of the shipping industry? Building up to the storm? The rescue?
8. An entertaining piece of 1930s Americana?
