In his seventh picture with Fox Film Corporation, and the first to achieve box office success since his debut in 1930’s Up The River, Spencer Tracy broke free of the typecasting that had relegated him to roles as crooks, con men and mugs played for comedic effect, and took on the role of good-natured but embattled lead in this morally complex police melodrama.
As payback for refusing a bribe from a bootlegging racket and arresting an influential politician’s daughter for speeding, ambitious but brusquely honest motorcycle cop Dick Fay (Tracy) is demoted to patrolman and banished to a distant precinct. Disillusioned by the corrupt system that punishes him, Fay lapses into crooked and reckless behavior, challenging the authority of precinct captain Tom Manning (Ralph Bellamy) and accepting graft from a gambling den. Fay’s relationship with Manning, known in the department as “Honest Tom,” becomes increasingly adversarial, as a cynical Fay scoffs at exhortations to be on the level. Their animosity flares over Manning’s fiancée, who happens to be none other than Phyllis Crawford, the entitled young lady who brought about Fay’s downfall. A police raid on the gambling hall causes events to escalate out of Fay’s control, and leads to tragedy as the racketeers seek vengeance for Fay’s double-dealing. Remorseful for his role in the events, Fay seeks to mend his crooked ways and redeem himself.
Though still largely unknown to the public—a contemporary Variety survey of the 133 top box office talents neglected to include Tracy at all—critics picked up on Tracy’s “highly commendable performance,” and his pivotal scene at the height of film’s tragedy proves a marker for his tensely wound, internalized performance style, and a harbinger of the acclaimed career and roles yet to come. —Nina Rao
Director: John W. Considine Jr. Production: Fox Film Corp. Distribution: Fox Film Corp. Screenwriter: William Anthony McGuire. Cinematographer: Ray June. Art Direction: Duncan Cramer. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sally Eilers, El Brendel, Dickie Moore, Ralph Bellamy. 35mm, b/w, 82 min.
Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and 20th Century Fox from a 35mm nitrate composite print. Laboratory services by YCM Laboratories, Chace Audio by Deluxe. Special thanks to: Schawn Belston, Caitlin Robertson—20th Century Fox.
