UP THE RIVER (Fox, 1930), directed by John Ford, has nothing to do with a show boat floating through place to place on the Mississippi River, but in convict's terms as someone who's "sent to prison." Basically a comedy-drama, the movie itself has very little significance except for it being the feature film introduction to future screen legends, Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart, in their only movie together. Being a buddy/buddy type of movie in the tradition of Fox's own Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe, UP THE RIVER uses the same premise of sorts between Tracy and fellow studio contract player, Warren Hymer, as both leading man's good friend and comic foil.
At a state's prison in the south, Saint Louis (Spencer Tracy) and Dannemora Dan (Warren Hymer) are making a prison break. As they enter an automobile, Louis takes off leaving Dan behind after tricking him into checking the back tire. Later in Kansas City, Dan is seen with a band of Salvation Army people preaching goodness and forgiveness for others, only to forget himself when he sees Louis in the crowd of spectators, followed by a fight. Back in prison, this time at Bensonatta in the Midwest, Louis and Dan share the same cell with a baseball coach called "Pop" (William Collier Sr.) and Steve Jordan (Humphrey Bogart), a rich young man serving time for murder, leaving his family back home to believe he's away in China. About to be paroled in a few months, Steve, who has an office job, meets and interviews a new inmate, Judy Fields (Claire Luce, in movie debut), sentenced to three years in the woman's section of the nearby prison. Steve falls in love with Judy and wants to marry her upon her release. After Steve's parole, he returns to his New England home, unaware he's being followed by Frosby (Morgan Wallace), the man who framed Judy, and is out to blackmail him or expose his whereabouts to his family. When Louis learns of Steve's situation through Judy's letter, he and Dan make another escape to help their former cellmate out of a jam. Other members of the cast consist of George MacFarlane (John Jessup); Louise MacIntosh (Mrs. Massey, the social worker); and Richard Keene (Dick). Look fast for familiar faces in smaller roles as Ward Bond as the prison bully, and Bob Burns as an inmate named Slim.
While the plot about prison inmates bonding and helping one another in their time of need is believable, the original story by Maurine Watkins, asks its viewers to accept this to be a prison which seems more like a college campus. Other than having a baseball team as a recreation, and a annual show consisting of minstrels named Black and Blue doing comedy routines, and Morris (Gaylord Pendleton) singing a sad "Mother" song, there's also a child named Jean (Jean Marie Lawes), the warden's (Robert Emmett O'Connor) little daughter, who both plays with the convicts and asks and replies to their riddles.
Being a sort of movie one would never believe would ever get to see again, UP THE RIVER has finally surfaced on cable television, including BRAVO (1987); The Disney Channel (1988); Fox Movie Channel and finally Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 10, 2007, and availability on DVD with John Ford's other feature, WHEN WILLIE COMES MARCHING HOME (1950) on its flip side. (On a personal level, the DVD edition should have had on the flip side, BORN RECKLESS (1930), also directed by John Ford with Warren Hymer in the cast instead). The major flaw and concern with circulating prints of UP THE RIVER is its constant jumping both in dialogue and story actions, indicating missing material in between scenes, shortening its original 92 minute length to its now available 84 minutes.
While Tracy and Hymer collaborated again in GOLDIE (Fox, 1931) opposite Jean Harlow, the idea of their future pairing ended there. No longer a team, Hymer appeared in other Tracy starring movies as 20,000 YEARS IN SING-SING (First National, 1933), DANTE'S INFERNO (Fox, 1935) and SAN FRANCISCO (MGM, 1936), either in smaller or uncredited bit parts. Revamped with same title by 20th Century-Fox (1938) starring Preston Foster, Phyllis Brooks and Tony Martin, the original UP THE RIVER remains a major curiosity due to the presence of both Tracy and Bogart under its direction by John Ford more than anything else. (***)
At a state's prison in the south, Saint Louis (Spencer Tracy) and Dannemora Dan (Warren Hymer) are making a prison break. As they enter an automobile, Louis takes off leaving Dan behind after tricking him into checking the back tire. Later in Kansas City, Dan is seen with a band of Salvation Army people preaching goodness and forgiveness for others, only to forget himself when he sees Louis in the crowd of spectators, followed by a fight. Back in prison, this time at Bensonatta in the Midwest, Louis and Dan share the same cell with a baseball coach called "Pop" (William Collier Sr.) and Steve Jordan (Humphrey Bogart), a rich young man serving time for murder, leaving his family back home to believe he's away in China. About to be paroled in a few months, Steve, who has an office job, meets and interviews a new inmate, Judy Fields (Claire Luce, in movie debut), sentenced to three years in the woman's section of the nearby prison. Steve falls in love with Judy and wants to marry her upon her release. After Steve's parole, he returns to his New England home, unaware he's being followed by Frosby (Morgan Wallace), the man who framed Judy, and is out to blackmail him or expose his whereabouts to his family. When Louis learns of Steve's situation through Judy's letter, he and Dan make another escape to help their former cellmate out of a jam. Other members of the cast consist of George MacFarlane (John Jessup); Louise MacIntosh (Mrs. Massey, the social worker); and Richard Keene (Dick). Look fast for familiar faces in smaller roles as Ward Bond as the prison bully, and Bob Burns as an inmate named Slim.
While the plot about prison inmates bonding and helping one another in their time of need is believable, the original story by Maurine Watkins, asks its viewers to accept this to be a prison which seems more like a college campus. Other than having a baseball team as a recreation, and a annual show consisting of minstrels named Black and Blue doing comedy routines, and Morris (Gaylord Pendleton) singing a sad "Mother" song, there's also a child named Jean (Jean Marie Lawes), the warden's (Robert Emmett O'Connor) little daughter, who both plays with the convicts and asks and replies to their riddles.
Being a sort of movie one would never believe would ever get to see again, UP THE RIVER has finally surfaced on cable television, including BRAVO (1987); The Disney Channel (1988); Fox Movie Channel and finally Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 10, 2007, and availability on DVD with John Ford's other feature, WHEN WILLIE COMES MARCHING HOME (1950) on its flip side. (On a personal level, the DVD edition should have had on the flip side, BORN RECKLESS (1930), also directed by John Ford with Warren Hymer in the cast instead). The major flaw and concern with circulating prints of UP THE RIVER is its constant jumping both in dialogue and story actions, indicating missing material in between scenes, shortening its original 92 minute length to its now available 84 minutes.
While Tracy and Hymer collaborated again in GOLDIE (Fox, 1931) opposite Jean Harlow, the idea of their future pairing ended there. No longer a team, Hymer appeared in other Tracy starring movies as 20,000 YEARS IN SING-SING (First National, 1933), DANTE'S INFERNO (Fox, 1935) and SAN FRANCISCO (MGM, 1936), either in smaller or uncredited bit parts. Revamped with same title by 20th Century-Fox (1938) starring Preston Foster, Phyllis Brooks and Tony Martin, the original UP THE RIVER remains a major curiosity due to the presence of both Tracy and Bogart under its direction by John Ford more than anything else. (***)