I don't know why, but "Man's Castle" made me irrationally angry. I mean, I know why I hate the movie, but I don't know why it got under my skin so much.
First I have to state that I've never seen Loretta Young once play a character I like. She is pathetic in everything I've seen her in. That includes "Loose Ankles," "The Devil to Pay!," "Beau Ideal," "Platinum Blonde," "Taxi," "Play Girl," "They Call It Sin," "Grand Slam," "The Life of Jimmy Dolan," "Heroes for Sale," "Midnight Mary," and now "Man's Castle." Not that I disliked all of these movies, I just disliked her character in them.
In "Man's Castle" she plays Trina, a homeless woman who meets Bill (Spencer Tracy) on a park bench. Bill was wearing a tuxedo so Trina made the assumption he was rich. She cozied up to him in hopes that he'd give her money or buy her something to eat. He took her to dinner where we find out that he's as poor as she is, the tuxedo was part of a uniform he wears with a light-up sign for advertisement.
It didn't matter to Trina. Bill was there for her in a time of need and she appreciated it. That same night Bill brought her to the makeshift shanty town he lived in with other out-of-work folks who'd been crushed by the Great Depression.
In no time the two were playing house, but what was perplexing was Trina's adoration for Bill when he was a brute. When I say brute I mean that his idea of sweet talk was to mention how he'd smash her teeth in or calling her stupid. The more he insulted her and talked down to her the more she lit up like a Christmas tree.
I don't know what it was about his "charm." Maybe it was animal magnetism because it certainly wasn't his flowery words or his looks. Spencer Tracy is no heart throb. He looks like he just got out of a barroom brawl--all the time. But, for whatever reason, Trina was stuck on him something fierce. Not only that, Fay La Rue (Glenda Farrell) couldn't help herself around him either. He had 99 problems and getting a woman wasn't one.
I've long noticed that in the early 30's it only took a man being kind to a woman for her to be hopelessly in love. One act of kindness could erase days, months, or years of mistreatment. Bill was kind to Trina, hence all of his neanderthalic behavior thereafter was forgiven.
I just couldn't get over what a conundrum Bill was. He treated women like troublesome objects and they fawned over him. And as for Trina (Loretta Young), she was ready to abort her baby for him. Yes, you read that right. She wanted him so bad--his gruffness, poverty, struggle, and threat of leaving--that she told him she'd give up her baby "just to make him happy." And yes, I know "give up" her baby probably meant give it up for adoption, but I'm not ruling out abortion.
"Are you that lonely? Are you that worthless? Are you that low on self-esteem that you'd grovel, beg, put up with insults and mistreatment, and give up your child for this guy!?!" Loretta Young just exudes weakness in all of her roles and it's trying watching her. She was nothing but a pretty face and no more.
The only reason I don't give this movie a 1/10 is that there was one character who had a line I liked. Her name was Flossie (Marjorie Rambeau). She pulled a gun on a snake named Bragg (Arthur Hohl). When he said, "You're not going to murder me are you?" she responded with, "This isn't murder. This is house cleaning." It was such a gangster line I had to pay homage. Too bad it was wasted on such a putrid movie.
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First I have to state that I've never seen Loretta Young once play a character I like. She is pathetic in everything I've seen her in. That includes "Loose Ankles," "The Devil to Pay!," "Beau Ideal," "Platinum Blonde," "Taxi," "Play Girl," "They Call It Sin," "Grand Slam," "The Life of Jimmy Dolan," "Heroes for Sale," "Midnight Mary," and now "Man's Castle." Not that I disliked all of these movies, I just disliked her character in them.
In "Man's Castle" she plays Trina, a homeless woman who meets Bill (Spencer Tracy) on a park bench. Bill was wearing a tuxedo so Trina made the assumption he was rich. She cozied up to him in hopes that he'd give her money or buy her something to eat. He took her to dinner where we find out that he's as poor as she is, the tuxedo was part of a uniform he wears with a light-up sign for advertisement.
It didn't matter to Trina. Bill was there for her in a time of need and she appreciated it. That same night Bill brought her to the makeshift shanty town he lived in with other out-of-work folks who'd been crushed by the Great Depression.
In no time the two were playing house, but what was perplexing was Trina's adoration for Bill when he was a brute. When I say brute I mean that his idea of sweet talk was to mention how he'd smash her teeth in or calling her stupid. The more he insulted her and talked down to her the more she lit up like a Christmas tree.
I don't know what it was about his "charm." Maybe it was animal magnetism because it certainly wasn't his flowery words or his looks. Spencer Tracy is no heart throb. He looks like he just got out of a barroom brawl--all the time. But, for whatever reason, Trina was stuck on him something fierce. Not only that, Fay La Rue (Glenda Farrell) couldn't help herself around him either. He had 99 problems and getting a woman wasn't one.
I've long noticed that in the early 30's it only took a man being kind to a woman for her to be hopelessly in love. One act of kindness could erase days, months, or years of mistreatment. Bill was kind to Trina, hence all of his neanderthalic behavior thereafter was forgiven.
I just couldn't get over what a conundrum Bill was. He treated women like troublesome objects and they fawned over him. And as for Trina (Loretta Young), she was ready to abort her baby for him. Yes, you read that right. She wanted him so bad--his gruffness, poverty, struggle, and threat of leaving--that she told him she'd give up her baby "just to make him happy." And yes, I know "give up" her baby probably meant give it up for adoption, but I'm not ruling out abortion.
"Are you that lonely? Are you that worthless? Are you that low on self-esteem that you'd grovel, beg, put up with insults and mistreatment, and give up your child for this guy!?!" Loretta Young just exudes weakness in all of her roles and it's trying watching her. She was nothing but a pretty face and no more.
The only reason I don't give this movie a 1/10 is that there was one character who had a line I liked. Her name was Flossie (Marjorie Rambeau). She pulled a gun on a snake named Bragg (Arthur Hohl). When he said, "You're not going to murder me are you?" she responded with, "This isn't murder. This is house cleaning." It was such a gangster line I had to pay homage. Too bad it was wasted on such a putrid movie.
Free on Odnoklassniki.