Mannequin

source: Mannequin

As directed by Frank Borzage (the veteran of silent pictures who directed Janet Gaynor onto the first every Best Actress Oscar), this view of the New York City tenement life shows Joan Crawford with flawless hair but dreary second hand dresses who is determined to get out of the lower east side and find a better life. She marries long-time sweetheart Alan Curtis whom she thinks has the guts to move onto better things but then realizes that he is as shiftless and lazy as her father (Oscar O'Shea) and brother (Leo Gorcey). Having watched her mother (Elisabeth Risdon) struggle with her strength all these years and end up resigned and tired to a life she hates, Crawford becomes enamored of the ambitious Spencer Tracy, a shipping tycoon of questionable morality and realizes that she can't continue to die a slow death, something she sees her mother heading to. Working hard as a model has hardened Crawford into seeing what she wants through the phony glamour of her occupation. This is a different take on the type of film that usually cast Sylvia Sidney in such parts as Sidney never compromised her morality and always loved someone from her own world. Crawford isn't an amoral character, just more ambitious than those fragile parts Sylvia played in "Street Scene" and "Dead End". The only pairing of Crawford and Tracy, this shows them in a situation that compromised the censors and screams to have been made in the pre-code where the situations could have been a lot dicier. It's obvious whom Crawford will have the chemistry with. The performance of veteran character actress Elisabeth Risdon is excellent, reminding me of tired mothers played by Marjorie Main and Clara Blandick, yet adding more depth and strength in a scene where she confesses her feelings about the men in the family to Crawford. There's a glamorous modeling show where Crawford is ogled by Tracy while wearing top notch fashions that isn't quite the fashion show that the ladies would attend in "The Women", but it is typical MGM gloss none the less. People always talk about Tracy and Hepburn, and Gable and Crawford, and while Hepburn and Gable never crossed paths, Tracy and Crawford's one teaming shows them a perfect pair. George Chandler has a good small part as a supposed professional boxer who is intimidated by the short in stature Gorcey, basically playing another variation of Slip from "The Bowery Boys" movies.

The Joan Crawford Experience 23 / 59 Joan Does The Rags-To-Riches Thing Again Jessie Cassidy (Joan Crawford) is a hard-working girl from the raggedy tenements on Hester Street in NYC. She slaves away in a textile factory to support her harried mother, her lazy out-of-work father, and her shiftless, smart-ass, out-of-work little brother. She dreams of getting out of that dump with her boyfriend, the boxer Eddie Miller (Alan Curtis). Eddie is obviously the lazy con-man type; he talks a big talk and makes lots of promises he can't keep ... but Jessie is in love! Jessie convinces Eddie to marry her and while they celebrate with their wedding party at a Chinese restaurant, they run into John L. Hennessey (Spencer Tracy). He's originally from the tenements on Hester street but has made a fortune by becoming a shipping magnate. Hennessey is smitten with Jessie. Jessie and Hennessey cross paths again when Jessie has a job in the chorus line as a Gebhart Girl at the "Gebhart Frolics", and the entire gang is invited to a cocktail party at Hennessey's penthouse suite. Hennessey makes a play for her but she is a married woman, so she slaps him! The rest of the film involves Hennessey's pursuit of Jessie, Jessie's realization that Eddie is small time two bit hood looking for easy money, and Eddie's nasty little plan to get some of that money from Hennessey by using Jessie as bait. This is a pretty darn good film. The story is engaging, the cast is great, and Adrian really went all out on some of the fashions at the fashion show (where Jessie is a model / mannequin). I wonder how many animals died for Joan's fabulous fur coats and wraps? Oh well. Doesn't matter. She looked fierce! Recommended!

This was one of the slowest and dullest films made by either of these icons. The little conflict is tepid and passionless. The two stars have no on screen chemistry at all. Crawford looks beautiful and the art deco sets are interesting. That's about it.

. . . as shipping magnate Spencer Tracy and his trophy wife Joan Crawford are forced by Union Solidarity to liquidate every last boat and piece of jewelry in their coffers. This pair of resource-hoarding malingering miscreants also are impelled to surrender palatial offices and living quarters in favor of a three-room slum flat filled with rotten smells and a jarring cacophony of yelling neighbors, rumbling el trains and yowling infants. (Their lavatory's at the end of the hall, but if the wait proves too long they can go squat in a basement stairwell.) Surely casting Ms. Crawford and Mr. Tracy in their MANNEQUIN roles represents brilliant selections for a nation in the throes of a Great Depression, for this pair is hands down the People's Choice for the "I hope they lose everything, and wake up in the gutter" Award. What better flick to mark the occasion of Bernie I-Made-Off-with-17-billion-dollars' passing than MANNAEQUIN?

Mannequin (1937) ** 1/2 (out of 4) John Crawford plays a poor girl living in a rundown apartment with her parents who begs her boyfriend (Alan Curtis) to marry her so that she can get out of where she lives. Hours after the marriage, a rich man (Spencer Tracy) gets talking to the couple and soon tries to get Crawford to leave with him. At first she refuses but then her husband starts showing signs of her father in that he has no big plans for the future. THis film isn't anything special but the performances make it worth watching. Crawford comes off very believable here as the poor girl who wants something in her life yet has to struggle with her family and then husband to get it. Tracy is also very charming here and comes off quite strong. His calm and cool touch comes off very well for the character. Ralph Morgan has a nice supporting role and Leo Gorcey plays Crawford's lazy brother. The screenplay is pretty weak and predictable from start to finish but that doesn't keep the entertainment value down.

I had seen "mannequin" a long time ago,at a time when I hardly knew Borzage's name .Since I saw most of his talkies and some of his silent works,and when I saw "Mannequin" again,I was a bit disappointed: it is a good film,well played by Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy but it does not hold a candle to such works as "little man what now?""three comrades" "strange cargo" or the sublime "mortal storm" my favorite Borzage. In "mannequin" ,we feel the director's touch nevertheless.The first scenes depict a milieu where the heroine has got to fight to get out of it (see also "humoresque " (1920) " the seventh heaven" "street angel" (1927).The search for true love is a permanent feature in Borzage's canon,but Tracy/Crawford ,except in the moving final scenes are not given the same chance to shine as Margaret Sullavan /James Stewart or Janet Gaynor/Charles Farrell .Crawford becoming a mannequin is the main weakness of the plot.But in the end,anyway ,"the love you take is equal to the love you make" .Not a great Borzage ,but worth a watch.

JOAN CRAWFORD plays a tenement girl with a Park Avenue accent no matter how much she has to sweat in a factory for a living. She hates her tenement environment so much that she's willing to run off with boyfriend ALAN CURTIS at the drop of a hat. Of course, what seemed like a good idea changes drastically once she meets wealthy SPENCER TRACY and realizes what her life could be as "a lady". LEO GORCEY is a howl as her nasty kid brother. That's the main thrust of MANNEQUIN--a sort of "money can't buy happiness" theme that is played out in typical '30s style with Joan Crawford giving her fans a rags to riches story tailored to please depression weary audiences. Despite the fact that Crawford seems too cultured to be playing a girl from the city flats, she's convincing enough as the newly married woman who croons a song to Curtis on the dance floor, a little something called "Always and Always". Curtis has the role of a thankless heel and plays it to the hilt. Tracy is so enamored with "the awfully sweet kid" that you know the Curtis/Crawford marriage is headed for the rocks. Thanks to the natural performances of Tracy and Crawford, it all works better than it sounds on paper--due also to Frank Borzage's fine direction and ELIZABETH RISDON's performance as Crawford's hard-working mother who doesn't want her daughter to give up her dream. Whether slumming or enjoying the posh life among the idle rich, Crawford never loses her poise and gets to toss off some smart lines. No matter how poor she's supposed to be, her clothes never look like they came off thrift shop racks. She photographs attractively with a softer look than her later image would have, so this is a real treat for Crawford fans. Especially when she becomes a "mannequin" at a posh fashion show, attired in some of Adrian's most outrageous gowns. The good chemistry with SPENCER TRACY helps a lot. "It all started when you slugged me," says Tracy, proposing marriage to her. Will she or won't she find true happiness with a rich man? Hint: It ends with another slug. Summing up: Fun for true Crawford fans, but others may find it's all a little too artificial for comfort.

The main interest points in seeing 'Mannequin' were that it was directed by Frank Borzage, a director who deserved and still does deserve more credit, and the great cast, with Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy in their only collaboration together. That is perhaps the film's biggest draw, that they were great on their own is reason enough to see anything of theirs but seeing them together in a rare pairing is even more so. With those things taken into account, 'Mannequin' had all the makings to be a charming film. Which it on the most part is. Not perfect or great, and Crawford, Tracy and Borzage have all done better, but 'Mannequin' is a nice undemanding film that doesn't feel too simplistic or too challenging and doesn't try to do or be more than necessary. While not a must see 'Mannequin' does have more than enough to warrant more exposure. 'Mannequin' may have corny and melodramatic parts and moments that don't quite ring true, do not expect reality here and that is including the ending (which admittedly does also strike a chord emotionally). A few of the early scenes are a bit static. Alan Curtis does his best bringing smarmy charm to his role, but the character is too one-dimensional unpleasant for the charm to properly convince. However, 'Mannequin' is beautifully filmed, clearly loving Crawford (looking radiantly photogenic) and those costumes are to die for. While not one that will stay long in the memory, the score fits and complements the film well and doesn't feel like it should have belonged somewhere else. The script has wit and emotion, much of the film is far from dull once it gets going and the story has a lovely poignancy and intimacy (the dance floor scene is a lovely moment and interesting from an interaction stand-point, pointed out already) on the most part, Borzage directs with his usual sensitivity and he definitely seems at home here. What makes 'Mannequin' especially worth watching is the cast. Whether Crawford is believable as a young working class girl is debatable, but that doesn't matter when she gives a performance so charming and deeply felt. Tracy underplays sympathetically and more than appealingly, they make a lovely pairing. Shrewd Leo Gorcey and movingly sincere Elizabeth Risdon are particularly good in support. On the whole, nice pretty good film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I haven't seen too many of Frank Borzage's movies but the ones i have seen are just OK like The Mortal Storm and the only one i really liked came out the same year as this one called Big City, not too many people liked it but i did. This movie starts out with Joan Crawford working to provide for her family while her father says he's looking for a job but not really. Crawford can hardly take it anymore and marries her boyfriend, played by Alan Curtis, who she thinks has money but it's all a show. Crawford then meets Spencer Tracy who is a millionaire and he instantly falls for her. Crawford slowly begins to understand that her husband is just as bad as her family and Tracy wants to marry her but she doesn't love him. It's just an OK movie and the two stars made much better movies than this one.