mark.waltz Whether leading a jury to find in favor of his client, getting the big scoop or telling John Barrymore that he sagged like an old woman, Lee Tracy was always someone to keep your eye on, whether you are the D.A. trying his case, the victim of his tell all journalism or even just as a member of the audience. You don't want to miss a minute of anything he says, because it seems so fresh like it wasn't written, plain spoken as only a big city smart Aleck like Tracy could say. Here, he calls boozy doctor Frank Morgan a "drunken bat", and it seems to roll off his lips as if he was the one who thought of it. If Tracy didn't ad-lib, then he must have had writers clamoring to write to him, because his delivery is superb.Tracy's character here is an attorney commonly referred to as an "ambulance chaser", and along with Morgan, his racket includes veteran trickster Charles Butterworth who gets settlements for accidents he sets up. He meets his match in the wise to his ways Madge Evans who sets him up to bring him down, getting the way information from a drunk Morgan. This leads to a confrontation where Tracy blames him for the leaks, leading to tragic consequences and tearing Evans up for her part in it. It only briefly sinks to melodrama, finding its best moments when it is comic. One of Tracy's clients is the newly widowed Greta Meyer who upsets his plans by planning to get married days afterward. "He was an old miser", Meyer says matter of factly as fiancée Herman Bing comes in. This script is right on target, even getting a dig in at Hitler, showing that the Hollywood propaganda machine was ready even just as Nazi Germany was rising. Sometimes a great film doesn't have to be excellent. It just has to have the spark to immediately gain and keep your interest.

MartinHafer While it's very hard to believe, this film is about a sleazy lawyer whose career consists of chasing ambulances (literally) and making fake claims for injuries to his clients. Joe Stevens (Lee Tracy) is a lawyer without scruples and you get the impression that the movie is supposed to be a comedy. However, oddly, later in the film is becomes a bit of a romance and by the end the audience is supposed to be pulling for Stevens! This really makes no sense and although he CLEARLY is a crook, the filmmakers seemed confused about what to do with the tone and focus of the picture.As far as the actors go, they did a nice job with the highly flawed material they were given. This sort of role was tailor-made for Tracy and he's ably supported by Charles Butterworth and Frank Morgan as well as Madge Evans as the obligatory love interest. But I'd rate this one no more than a 4 and a time-passer at best. The film has lots of great scenes but no coherence whatsoever.

David (Handlinghandel) I'd seen this before but was still knocked out by it. This holds true for "The Half-Naked Truth" too. To my great surprise it does not, for me, with "Blessed Event." The first time I saw that, I couldn't believe its brilliance. The second time, several years later, it still looked good but packed no real punch. (Tracy is also excellent in "Bombshell" with the sensational Jean Harlow and, decades later, in "The Best Man.") This movie is funny, starting, and touching. It moves with ease from one of these to another. Frank Morgan, another extremely versatile performer, is very touching as the alcoholic doctor who works with ambulance-chasing lawyer Tracy on his schemes.All the supporting cast is good, with special mention given to Charles Butterworth as floppy, the con many who was faking being hit by cars before Tracy meets up with him again and will probably be doing it till he finally really does get run over.

jaykay-10 Versatility is an attribute in any performer, but so is doing one thing exceptionally well. Perhaps if Lee Tracy's screen career had not met a premature, unfortunate ending, he and his public would have felt a need for him to play something other than the kind of role which he performed with such natural ease and remarkable skill: the brash, fast-talking, wisecracking, slithery, finger-jabbing, opportunistic, less than trustworthy (to put it mildly) rascal. As a tour de force, this picture ranks with his best, even if there may be more twists and turns of the plot than the story requires. Though Frank Morgan's poignant portrayal of an alcoholic doctor is not an altogether comfortable fit here, and Tracy's explanation of his loss of youthful ideals too pat to be convincing, the movie is consistently entertaining, with fine performances by all the supporting players aiding and abetting another memorable star turn by Lee Tracy.