Moviecut—The Nuisance

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source: The Nuisance

The Nuisance

Lee Tracy is perfect as an ambulance chaser who plagues a streetcar company with phony lawsuits that prove so successful, the business strikes back with an undercover beauty (Madge Evans). This sharply written comedy/drama takes a tragic turn at one point, and the Tracy-Evans relationship gets convincingly intense toward the end when one of the characters runs afoul of the law. "The Nuisance" boasts strong performances from Tracy and Evans, with standout support from Frank Morgan as an alcoholic doctor who's Tracy's partner in unethical behavior and from Charles Butterworth as a con man. Strongly recommended to all Tracy fans.

Joe Stevens (Lee Tracy) is a sleazy ambulance-chasing lawyer among many others. He arrives at an accident site and tries to sign up beautiful Dorothy Mason (Madge Evans). She's actually an investigator working for the other side while pretending to be his client. Lee Tracy is fun as the fast talking sleazy lawyer. The two leads have a fun meet-cute at the accident. This is a fine rom-com although they get separated in the second half. This should concentrate solely on being a rom-com and keep these two together as much as possible. I also don't believe him going straight. It would be more fun if they both go crooked and that can only work if it's her idea.

Crooked lawyer Stevens always seems to be on the scene first, and talks the victim into suing someone for a huge amount of money. And his flam flam of a doctor Prescott (Frank Morgan) goes along with it and comes up with the phony diagnosis. Madge Evans is Dorothy, his latest case. After losing so many cases to Stevens, the streetcar company decides to start fighting back. And Dorothy isn't who she seems to be! Charles Butterworth is in here as a falling down con man, and of course he knows Stevens. We follow Stevens around as he tries one caper after another. It's silly, but kind of fun. Even a hitler joke, and this was only 1933. Directed by Jack Conway. No oscars, but he sure worked with some biggies: wallace beery, jean harlow, the barrymores. Butterworth always looked older, but actually died young at 49.

While it's very hard to believe, this film is about a sleazy lawyer whose career consists of chasing ambulances (literally) and making fake claims for injuries to his clients. Joe Stevens (Lee Tracy) is a lawyer without scruples and you get the impression that the movie is supposed to be a comedy. However, oddly, later in the film is becomes a bit of a romance and by the end the audience is supposed to be pulling for Stevens! This really makes no sense and although he CLEARLY is a crook, the filmmakers seemed confused about what to do with the tone and focus of the picture. As far as the actors go, they did a nice job with the highly flawed material they were given. This sort of role was tailor-made for Tracy and he's ably supported by Charles Butterworth and Frank Morgan as well as Madge Evans as the obligatory love interest. But I'd rate this one no more than a 4 and a time-passer at best. The film has lots of great scenes but no coherence whatsoever.

Fast-talking ambulance chasing lawyer Lee Tracy and his drunk doctor friend Frank Morgan have a pretty good set-up going. They get to accident scenes first and immediately convince the people involved they are hurt and need to sue. But the insurance company is onto their tactics, so they set Tracy up with investigator Madge Evans. Tracy is immediately attracted to lovely Ms. Evans and before long has fallen in love with her. Largely unknown little gem with a crackling script. Tracy is great in a part tailor-made for him. I continue to be impressed by Evans. She's one of those actresses with lots of talent and good looks that, for whatever reason, never made it big. Frank Morgan is terrific in a sympathetic role. Nice support by Charles Butterworth as a man named Floppy who throws himself in front of cars so he can sue. Also David Landau and John Miljan make good villains. This is an underrated and very enjoyable film.

I'd seen this before but was still knocked out by it. This holds true for "The Half-Naked Truth" too. To my great surprise it does not, for me, with "Blessed Event." The first time I saw that, I couldn't believe its brilliance. The second time, several years later, it still looked good but packed no real punch. (Tracy is also excellent in "Bombshell" with the sensational Jean Harlow and, decades later, in "The Best Man.") This movie is funny, starting, and touching. It moves with ease from one of these to another. Frank Morgan, another extremely versatile performer, is very touching as the alcoholic doctor who works with ambulance-chasing lawyer Tracy on his schemes. All the supporting cast is good, with special mention given to Charles Butterworth as floppy, the con many who was faking being hit by cars before Tracy meets up with him again and will probably be doing it till he finally really does get run over.