WHIPSAW

US, 1935, 88 minutes, Black and white.
Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, Harvey Stephens, Clay Clements, William Harrigan.
Directed by Sam Wood.

Whipsaw is a brief G-man action thriller of the mid-'30s and is of historical interest. Spencer Tracy was at the beginning of his most successful film career, soon to win Oscars for Captains Courageous and Boys' Town. Myrna Loy had been a star at M.G.M. but was coming into her own - at this time she began the Thin Man series with William Powell and a number of films co-starring With Clark Gable. The material is conventional - Spencer the G-man infiltrates a gang via the gangster's girlfriend played by Myrna Loy. He wanted to trick her into believing him. She sees through him but does not tell him. There is a gradual meeting of gangster, G-man and girl. A happy ending is inevitable. There is some tough dialogue, Spencer Tracy goes through the James Cagney style but it is all done with M.G.M.'s rather smooth and glossy production values. Direction is by Sam Wood, a competent and tasteful director whose work ranged from Marx Brothers' films A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races, to King's Row and For Whom The Bell Tolls. The film could be compared with the much slicker and tougher action gangster films made by Warner Bros at the same time.