Tugboat Annie (1933)

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

A Brilliant Conflict

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Associate producer: Harry Rapf. Producer: Irving Thalberg. Copyright 25 July 1933 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. U.S. release: 12 August 1933. New York opening at the Capitol: 11 August 1933. U.K. release: 3 February 1934. 87 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Down-and-out tugboat skipper is determined that her young son will make the grade as captain of an ocean liner.NOTES: With a domestic rentals gross of $1.5 million, "Tugboat Annie" came in at 9th place (in which it tied with Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer stablemates Dancing Lady and Queen Christina) as one of the most popular movies of 1933.A sequel "Tugboat Annie Sails Again" was released in 1940. A 39- episode half-hour TV series The Adventures of Tugboat Annie with Minerva Urecal hit the airwaves in 1957.COMMENT: A very entertaining picture, at turns movingly sentimental (in a shamelessly tough sort of way), funny, sad, nostalgic and highly dramatic; splendidly produced on a no-holds-barred budget on real locations enhanced by absolutely thrilling special effects; and most entrancingly acted by all concerned, particularly Beery, Dressler, Young and the lovely, charming Maureen O'Sullivan. Even Frankie Darro is tolerable (admittedly his footage is brief). LeRoy's direction is a model of unobtrusive yet highly effective direction. When you let strong actors loose with a strong script and indulgent production values, you don't need assertively flashy, self-conscious direction. True, there are some low camera angles, but they are dramatically apposite points-of-view from one of the characters on screen. Toland's attractively gray-toned, atmospheric photography also conjures up exactly the right mood for each scene. In fact, "Tugboat Annie" doesn't look the least bit like an M-G-M picture at all. The cramped yet extensive sets, dingily realistic (not aggressively "modern" with lots of space and curved white lines) are the work of Merrill Pye, working alone without the usual supervision of Cedric Gibbons. When executive producer Thalberg died, M-G-M virtually abandoned this style of "A"-budget film-making to concentrate on "the stuff that dreams are made of."

I thought Marie Dressler was great and died too soon, and that's the main reason for my rating on "Tugboat Annie". She carries the picture and was better than she was in "Min and Bill", the one she won an AA for three years before. The narrative here is more a series of vignettes on the life of a tugboat skipper, strung together and concerning the same group of people. The plot seems disjointed and each episode is an end in itself.What is really annoying is the presence, or rather the character played by Wallace Beery. He was adept at playing a big slob but he overdoes it in 'Tugboat Annie", so much so that you wish he would get washed overboard or that she would leave him ashore, preferably on foreign soil. There is no way anyone could put up with incompetence and irresponsibility of this kind. He plays an unabashed drunk who nearly ruins her financially, and the ending barely justifies his behavior to that point.Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan are along for appearances but with little to do. But it is a chance to see one of the best comediennes ever to grace the Silver Screen and Hollywood was poorer for it when she passed on.

I saw this some years ago as a 'late night' flick. It's pretty standard 1930s gritty/humor stuff. Annie Brennan, (Marie Dressler), and husband Terry, (Wallace Beery), are tugboat runners in Puget Sound. They have a son, Alec,(Robert Young), who's now the skipper of a fancy ocean liner. They're proud of him, but, they stay out of his way, and his new life and sweetie, Pat,(Maureen, 'Jane', O'Sullivan). After all, they're only tugboat people. One night, during a terrible storm, they have the only tug available to save his ship. The Narcissus has always had problems, but, to accomplish their mission, Wallace has to enter the boiler, while it's fully stoked and fired, to patch some leaking water/steam tubes. Hard to watch for anyone, Marie has to. His pain, and her concern and horror, showcase what superb actors both were. For a prequel with both lead actors playing similar characters, check out Min and Bill.

The only film adaption ever done of the Saturday Evening Post "Tugboat Annie" stories. interesting depictions of the eating area, and engine room with its old triple expansion engine. the "Narcissus", was played by the real tugboat "Arthur Foss" which is preserved as a maritime museum after 101 years of work.