BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

mark.waltz The opening sequence of Spencer Tracy as a small-town judge denying a divorce to a couple who obviously can't stand each other seems straight out of an "Andy Hardy" film where Lewis Stone did practically the same thing. But unlike that MGM series of sometimes manipulative morality tales, this MGM drama (based upon a Sinclair Lewis novel) uses this opening as a point. This sets up Cass as a truly moral man who hasn't yet married and finds love with a working class girl (Lana Turner) from the opposite side of the tracks. This upsets the apple cart of his high society friends who find his fiancée to be beneath him. The age difference between Tracy and Turner doesn't matter to them, but her lack of supposed breeding does. They pretend to accept her, but go out of their way to sabotage Turner in society every chance they get. His male friends use their friendship with him to try and get away with shady business dealings, and as the marriage builds, it also crumbles as Turner finds it hard to deal with the small-town pettiness.A glossy women's drama with interest for the men (because of the business angle), this isn't a perfect movie by any means but one that lingers in the memory because of Tracy's nuanced performance. Every detail of his character is developed believably, from his allergy to a kitten to his dealings with people who approach his bench, the hypocrites of his society (lead by the imperious Mary Astor) and his tenderness to Turner in spite of everything. John Hodiak is the cad who almost breaks up the happy home while claiming to be Tracy's best friend, and Astor's society pals include Josephine Hutchinson as the wife of one of the rotten to the core businessmen using Tracy and Margaret Lindsay as the woman they prefer to see Tracy with.This is also memorable for a scene where Tracy, just taking his evening walk, comes across Turner playing baseball on the other side of the tracks and steps in as umpire. That scene alone says more about his noble character than the screenplays of a dozen MGM potpoilers.

MartinHafer To enjoy this film, you really have to suspend disbelief. I can often times do this, but if you just can't believe in the possibility of pairing an ordinary-looking middle-aged guy (Tracy) with an extremely sexy young woman (Turner), then you should probably just skip the film. In fact, the people around this strange pairing also have trouble accepting this marriage. My problem wasn't just the age differences, but the personality differences--I just couldn't understand why she was attracted to him (I have my suspicions why HE would be interested). The story itself apart from that is good and I like that Zachary Scott is there for support--he is great in his caddish roles. Not a bad but not an exceptional film--but sure to please fans of Tracy.

FilmOtaku "Cass Timberlane" is a film about unexpected love and the choices you have to make when you're in love. Directed by George Sidney and starring Spencer Tracy as Cass, a judge in small-town Minnesota who is part of the middle-aged country club set. He's generally living a comfortable and content existence when he meets Virginia (Lana Turner), a woman who is at first a witness for a small claims case and later runs into. They strike up a friendship and then a romance, culminating in their marriage. When their child dies while being born, Virginia finds herself more and more restless and spending more time with Cass' best friend, the younger and handsome attorney Bradd (Zachary Scott). The country club set sees them getting closer, and collectively send Bradd to New York under the guise that he is being transferred for his job, just as Cass is starting to wonder if something is up between Bradd and Virginia. Virginia convinces him that there is nothing going on, and eventually Cass offers to move them to New York so she isn't so bored. Cass is then forced to choose between the love he has for his town and his job, and his love for his wife and her needs.Spencer Tracy is excellent in this film, as he is in all of his films, and Lana Turner is also quite good. The scenes between she and Zachary Scott have enough heat in them to make us wonder if they are guilty of adultery as well. The story is a pretty straightforward drama, nothing special, but it is a good script and offers up enough conflict to satisfy without resorting to overload and ridiculous emotion. This is an average film that was well worth looking up. 6/10 --Shelly

Didier (Didier-Becu) This story used to appear in "Cosmopolitan" which reveals directly that this is a story for women who like to weep and after the first minutes you know you will have to watch your usual Hollywoodromance. Cass Timberlane is a judge in some small village who is part of the high society and his reputation of the bachelor that never will marry ends the day Jinn (Lana Turner) comes in his court. Soon both fall in love but Jinn is from the poor side of town and knows nothing about "society life" and just cares about playing baseball and going out... You got it, this looks pretty much like "Pretty woman" in the fourties. And of course the story has its typical twists (no acception from the high society, a new man coming up in Jinn's life, blah blah...). All by all a watchable movie but how good Spencer Tracy might be in other movies here you just hate him as he plays too much of a fatherrole (a judge seems to have answers to everything) and of course Jinn is nothing but a dumb blonde. Standard romantic that you can watch to fill up some rainy sundayafternoon but that's about it....