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Waste of time

hyped garbage

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

My parents lived through the depression, and they would have found themselves right at home in the world of Man's Castle. Bill's roughness is entirely appropriate for the times, given that he must live by his wits in a difficult world. Trina's sweetness seems a bit unreal, given the cynicism of our times, but I believed in it because Loretta Young gives a very natural and moving performance. She was only 20 and acts like a much more experienced performer.The romanticism of the movie is wonderful to see. Borzage--whose work I'd never seen before--believes in what he's doing and makes us believe in it too. Roosevelt is fresh in the White House and there is a spirit of hope and renewal in the country. I could criticize the editing for being a little too abrupt (cutting the film down to fit the B part of a double-bill), as an example the scene with Bill and Fay in her rooms, but that doesn't detract from my admiration.

Wearing a tuxedo during the Depression, smoking Spencer Tracy (as Bill) picks up starving Loretta Young (as Trina) while feeding popcorn to some curiously adorned pigeons in Central Park. He turns out to be poor, also, and was only dressed as an advertising street-walker. They go skinny-dipping in the Hudson River and shack up in New York City's "Hooterville". Ms. Young becomes thoroughly domesticated; she cooks, irons, and decorates Mr. Tracy's shanty with fancy curtains. Tracy treats Young badly in the shack and sees other women on the side, like sexy singer Glenda Farrell (as Fay La Rue)...At home, Young resists skuzzy neighbor Arthur Hohl (as Bragg) and befriends boozy Marjorie Rambeau (as Flossie). They add danger to our drama. Babe Ruth fan Dickie Moore (as Joey) and a reverend Walter Connolly (as Ira) are also in the cast. Tracy and Young connected in real life, too. Indeed irresistible, Young weathers the Depression looking never less than perfect in cinematographer Joseph August's soft focus. Director Frank Borzage's "fairy tale" romance is lauded in some quarters, not mine. There are some good production values, and Mr. Hohl contributes a good supporting performance.***** Man's Castle (10/27/33) Frank Borzage ~ Spencer Tracy, Loretta Young, Arthur Hohl, Marjorie Rambeau

Unfortunately, this film has long been unavailable (as other posters have noted), but this is one of the essential dramas of the Great Depression, a lyrical and touching drama of love set in a shanty-town. It features performances by Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young that are just about the finest of their careers, and it's a surpassing example of how the director, Frank Borzage, was able to create an almost fairy-tale aura around elements of poverty, crime, and horrendous social inequity, which just proves that how truly romantic and spiritual his talents were. This film shows how love survives amidst squalor and desperate need, and it is totally life-affirming. This is a real masterpiece of the period, and is a movie that deserves to be more widely known.

"Man's Castle" is one of the most important American films of the 1930s. As Andrew Sarris has noted, it's one of the few films that was able to capture the emotional nuances of the Depression. Borzage's sweet, ethereal love story concerns a tough-guy Bill (Spencer Tracy) and penniless girl Trina (Loretta Young) who are incurably optimistic lovers. They setup house together in a squalid shanty town. Their romance transcends, in Borzage's spiritual vision, the Depression and worst possible squalor. Borzage typically championed the proletariat no better than in this film with the tease of material success at the very beginning of the film with Tracy's self-indulgent character and then challenge to the audience to accept a different set of circumstances. What impressed me the most about "Man's Castle" was Loretta Young. She actually became that character Trina. Her devotion and innocence are heartbreaking. Not to mention she carries Bill's unborn baby, and it would be a crime if he doesn't return the love she expresses to him. Bill loves Trina but he does it in a tough or bullying manner that almost becomes annoying. One of the most moving moments in the film occurs when he buys her a stove that she always wanted to get. She couldn't believe it and falls down on his knees and cries. Bill cannot help but moved by what he did. Despite his tough mannerisms, he ultimately succumbs to Trina's fragility, as they ride the freight train at the end, transcending the Depression and its harshness.