Up the River (1930)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writer:

Maurine Dallas Watkins (story)

Release Date:

12 October 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

Plot:

When paroled trustee Steve and former inmate Judy who try to put their criminal lives behind them are blackmailed, two career criminals come to their rescue.

Plot Keywords:

Welfare Worker | Convict | Warden | Marriage Proposal | Fraud

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Saint Louis
Claire Luce	...	Judy
Warren Hymer	...	Dannemora Dan
Humphrey Bogart	...	Steve Jordan
William Collier Sr.	...	Pop
Joan Marie Lawes	...	Jean (as Joan Lawes)

Runtime:

92 min | USA:85 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This is the first John Ford film in which Spencer Tracy appeared: their second collaboration took place three decades later, when Tracy starred in Ford's The Last Hurrah (1958). It is strange to realize that these two great Irish American icons only collaborated two times (Tracy narrated How the West Was Won (1962), one of the sequences of which was shot by Ford, but that doesn't count as a true collaboration), but for most of their careers, they were bound to different studios, Ford to 20th Century-Fox and Tracy to M.G.M. By the time the freelance era rolled around in the late 1950s, Tracy was appearing in very few movies.

Quotes:

Saint Louis: Well?
Dannemora Dan: Well, I ain't gonna go through with it, I tell you.
Saint Louis: Now, listen. I never break my word, and I gave my word to Judy - and we're goin' to New England, and we're goin' tonight!
Man: I can't go to New England, not tonight. I'm in the finale.
Man: [offscreen] Oh, St. Louis! What's the use?
Saint Louis: Say, if you don't do like I tell yuh, it's gonna be your finale!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bacall on Bogart (1988) (TV)

Soundtrack:

St. Louis Blues

Great Classic 1930 Film

The famous Director, John Ford presented a great 1930 film starring Spencer Tracy, (Saint Louis) who plays the role as a big time crook who has gone in and out of correctional facilities and he encounters Humphrey Bogart, (Steve) who is also a convict in the same prison. A pretty young blonde gal named Judy, (Claire Luce) becomes a prisoner and meets Steve and they become immediately attracted to each other and Steve has only a few weeks before he is released. There is plenty of comedy in this film and it is great to see how very young Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart appear in this film who were just starting out on their great careers on Hollywoods Silver Screen. John Ford made another film with Spencer Tracy after twenty-eight years and Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart never made another picture appearing in the same picture. There is great acting by the entire cast and do not miss this film, it is worthwhile to enjoy this great entertainment.