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Face in the Sky (1933);
She Wanted a Millionaire (1932)

Face in the Sky (1933)
January 13, 2012 - 7:30 pm


Print courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art

Face in the Sky (1933)

Directed by Harry Lachman

Tracy demonstrates an easy felicity for light comedy in this fanciful story of a traveling sign-painter and aspiring artist who dreams of marrying a rich benefactress, but becomes captivated by country girl Marian Nixon, ultimately making her his artist model. Misadventures at the girl’s down-home farm, at a nearby carnival, and finally in New York City, serve to separate the young lovers and bring them back together again.

Fox Film Corp. Screenwriter: Humphrey Pearson. Based on a story by Myles Connolly. Cinematographer: Lee Garmes. Editor: Ralph Dietrich. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Marian Nixon, Stuart Erwin, Sam Hardy, Lila Lee.

16mm, b/w, 77 min.

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive. Funded by the American Film Institute/National Endowment for the Arts Preservation Grants Program, The Stanford Theater Foundation and La Biennale di Venezia

She Wanted a Millionaire (1932)

Directed by John G. Blystone

Regular guy William (Tracy) loves Jane (Bennett) but she’s seeking a millionaire lover. When she actually ropes one, William’s predictions of disaster prove more than justified as hedonistic Roger menaces and intimidates Jane with vile sado-masochistic suggestions. What’s significant here is Tracy’s self-sacrificing character: Oddly passive in an otherwise steamy plot, William is an intriguing precursor to future roles that call on Tracy’s stolid nobility.

Fox Film Corp. Producer: John W. Considine, Jr. Based on a story by Sonya Levien. Screenwriter: William Anthony McGuire. Cinematographer: John F. Seitz. Editor: Louis Loeffler. Cast: Joan Bennett, Spencer Tracy, Una Merkel, James Kirkwood, Dorothy Peterson.

35mm, b/w, 74 min.