This film has all the pacing and dialog of a screwball comedy, but it's emphasis is on drama and the fiery up and down relationship between it's principals. Personally, I couldn't wrap my head around the chemistry between Dutch Muller (Spencer Tracy) and his fiancé/wife Hattie (Jean Harlow), though obviously stranger pairings have occurred both in movies and real life. But just to quickly make my point, take note of the Fourth of July party on the Fairy Queen - Dutch gets miffed at Hattie and shoves her away with a hand in her face, while she spits on him in response. Boy, talk about a budding romance.
The story involves Dutch Miller's ambition to rise to the top of the local fisherman's union to thwart cannery owner Nick Lewis (Joseph Calleia) from taking advantage of his position against the tuna men. There's an interesting sequence showing the operation of a cannery assembly line, though I was amazed to see one of the female workers packing a can of tuna by hand! That didn't seem very probable to me but with just a quick glimpse there's no way to tell how normal that was. Other aspects of the assembly line required no hands-on involvement.
As one of those cannery workers, Hattie must have left work each day smelling like fish, thereby adding some resonance to Dutch's remark while dancing closely next to her - "That's swell stink-up you got in your hair". It was meant as a compliment obviously, though I'd be wary of using one like that today. If you try it though, get back to me and let me know how it went over.
The thing that really blew me away in the story was Hattie getting sent up to Sorena Valley Prison for ripping off her boss at the cannery. Geez, how much could she have stolen to get sent to the slammer? Then, when the picture segues to her prison life, she's in her jail cell with a baby! Come on, when was that ever the case? Okay, the film makers were going for a little pathos here, but that was just too in-your-face. But I guess it served it's purpose to bring Dutch back down to Earth from his high-hat ambition as a union boss.
The picture is peppered with it's share of colorful characters with names like Flytrap (Victor Kilian), Ratsy (Arthur Housman), Brains McCall (J. Farrell MacDonald), and Hattie's Dad Pops (Roger Imhoff). However the one to really keep your eye on and ear tuned into was the sleazy cannery owner Nick, who's dialog always kept you guessing. Case in point, one of his conversations with attorney Markis (George Givot) commenting on everything that's happened in the story - "What is past is gone out and over done". It sounded like something Stan Laurel would say.
The story involves Dutch Miller's ambition to rise to the top of the local fisherman's union to thwart cannery owner Nick Lewis (Joseph Calleia) from taking advantage of his position against the tuna men. There's an interesting sequence showing the operation of a cannery assembly line, though I was amazed to see one of the female workers packing a can of tuna by hand! That didn't seem very probable to me but with just a quick glimpse there's no way to tell how normal that was. Other aspects of the assembly line required no hands-on involvement.
As one of those cannery workers, Hattie must have left work each day smelling like fish, thereby adding some resonance to Dutch's remark while dancing closely next to her - "That's swell stink-up you got in your hair". It was meant as a compliment obviously, though I'd be wary of using one like that today. If you try it though, get back to me and let me know how it went over.
The thing that really blew me away in the story was Hattie getting sent up to Sorena Valley Prison for ripping off her boss at the cannery. Geez, how much could she have stolen to get sent to the slammer? Then, when the picture segues to her prison life, she's in her jail cell with a baby! Come on, when was that ever the case? Okay, the film makers were going for a little pathos here, but that was just too in-your-face. But I guess it served it's purpose to bring Dutch back down to Earth from his high-hat ambition as a union boss.
The picture is peppered with it's share of colorful characters with names like Flytrap (Victor Kilian), Ratsy (Arthur Housman), Brains McCall (J. Farrell MacDonald), and Hattie's Dad Pops (Roger Imhoff). However the one to really keep your eye on and ear tuned into was the sleazy cannery owner Nick, who's dialog always kept you guessing. Case in point, one of his conversations with attorney Markis (George Givot) commenting on everything that's happened in the story - "What is past is gone out and over done". It sounded like something Stan Laurel would say.