Me and My Gal (1932)

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The movie was not successful when it was released but is interesting in that it shows how Spencer Tracy, at the start of his movie career, Joan Bennett and Raoul Walsh are able to make the most of relatively weak material. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the script, which has many witty moments, but there is little to take the film out of the ordinary and it is often mistaken for, and overshadowed by, the oh so similarly named 'For Me and My Gal', made ten years later and starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland.

The storyline concerns a New York cop, played by Spencer Tracy, who meets and falls in love with a wise-cracking waitress, played by Joan Bennett. Complications ensue when her family get invloved with a gangster, played by George Walsh, (brother of Raoul).

There are plenty of twists to keep the audience's attention and many laughs, particularly from the fast repartee and sparkling chemistry between Tracy and Bennett, (who would be reunited twenty years later in 'Father of the Bride'). Tracy, as always, steals the show, even though, with his brilliant, economical style, he never appears to be acting.