TUGBOAT ANNIE (1933). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.
Annie Brennan (Marie Dressler) lives and works on her tugboat, along with her often-drunk and lazy husband, Terry (Wallace Beery), whom she dearly loves. The only thing that comes between them is their son Alec (Robert Young), a successful captain of a luxury liner, who is disgraced by his father's behavior and wants his mother to leave him. This causes an estrangement between son and parents that is painful for all. Tugboat Annie features that swell team Dressler and Beery in top form. (Although Young is okay, he's rather one-note and out-classed in this company). Maureen O'Sullivan is excellent as Alec's girlfriend, and Frankie Darro is fine as Alec as a boy in the earlier scenes. Tugboat Annie and its leads never let you forget the pathos underneath the comedy. The only debit is that the climactic storm-at-sea sequence goes on a little too long, and is a bit confusing as well.
Verdict: Dressler and Beery at their best. ***.
Ahh, yes, has been years since I saw this but your great review brings it all back. Dressler was a genius, she could do comedy and tragedy at the same time…so compelling to watch. My favorites are Dinner at Eight and Anna Christie (stealing a talking Garbo’s thunder) but Tugboat Annie was her signature staring role. I think she won the Oscar for this one, but maybe in those days they gave the statue for more than one performance? Need to seek this out again.
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Yes, Dressler is one of my favorites, a superb actress, and someone who beat the odds and became extremely popular, an audience favorite, in her later years. She got the Oscar for "Min and Bill" and was nominated for "Emma."
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