Michael_Elliott Cass Timberlane (1947) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Glossy MGM production of a good-hearted judge (Spencer Tracy) who goes against his rich friends by marrying a woman (Lana Turner) from across the tracks. The woman tries her best to fit into the higher class lifestyle but soon she begins to hate the life and sees what she thinks is a new life in another man (Zachary Scott). For the first eighty-minutes of this thing I was really enjoying it as the entire cast and especially the two leads were doing a terrific job and made for some great entertaining. Even though all of this you could tell that the screenplay was offering nothing new and after eighty-minutes of this the final forty just became too much. The final forty-minutes of this thing contains one boring bit of melodrama after another and by the time the film ends you feel as if you've spent three hours with these characters instead of just two. I thought the film started out wonderful as we got some nice bits of comedy with Tracy being introduced to Turner due to a court case where she was a simple witness. This leads to an incredibly charming date sequence as well as a terrific baseball sequence where Tracy fills in as an umpire. The two actors are so incredibly charming together that you can overlook all the issues with the screenplay. Tracy does another great job in a role that he could play in his sleep. The guy has a great heart and does what he believes is right even when those around him begin to doubt his heart. Tracy brings that certain dignity to the role and in the end makes it his own. Even better is Turner who is simply magnificent in the role. In the early scenes with her playing the poor but happy girl she brings so much sunshine to the character where it was easy to believe that Tracy's judge would fall for her. Turner handles the lighthearted material so well but she's even better in the more dramatic stuff including her love for two men. Scott also comes off quite charming but that snake feeling is also there. Tom Drake, Mary Astor, Albert Dekker and Margaret Lindsay are all fine in their supporting roles. You can also look quickly for a cameo by Walter Pidgeon playing himself and Cameron Mitchell has a small role. Sidney's direction is pretty good throughout but even fine direction and great performances can't overcome a screenplay that offers up one predictable move after another. There are several twists and turns to the love triangle but they're all things we've seen countless times before and after a while it just gets downright boring.

bkoganbing Cass Timberlane is a surprising piece of work coming from the pen of Sinclair Lewis. Lewis's reputation as American novelist comes from such polemical work as It Can't Happen Here, Main Street, and Elmer Gantry. The novel Cass Timberlane plays more like a Ross Hunter type soap opera.To be sure there are some of the Sinclair Lewis that we know in the class conscious town where Cass Timberlane is a judge. And I certainly can't comment on the book, possibly it was more polemical and political than what we got in the film.Spencer Tracy plays the title role, a judge in an average size midwestern town that has its good and bad, though it seems that how much money you have determines how good you are. Tracy has been a widower for many years and a pretty lonely fellow away from court.But one day in court, young Lana Turner pops up as a witness in a negligence case before the judge. She's from the other side of the tracks so to speak. And there's a considerable age difference. Despite that Tracy and Turner fall in love and are married.At this point the film becomes a soap opera with weak chinned heel Zachary Scott making a big play for Turner who's not happy with the way Tracy's high toned friends are treating her.Tracy's good, he always is and Turner is luminescently beautiful. Scott has the heel role down pat, it's just a carry over from the part he did in Mildred Pierce. Look for a good performance also from Albert Dekker the corrupt leading citizen in the town.This is a film that should have waited a decade and have Ross Hunter produce it.

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.

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....