Up the River

 (1930)
Directed by John Ford
Written by Maurine Dallas Watkins
Starring Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer, Morgan Wallace, Joan Lawes
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When sound came in, Hollywood brought in an influx of actors, hoping they would be successful on the screen. Up the River features two of the greatest names of the golden age of Hollywood, as well as one of the screen's greatest directors.

The film is set in a prison. Saint Louis (Spencer Tracy) is sent to prison, where he meets with Steve Jordan (Humphrey Bogart).  Steve is a trustee and helps with the intake of new prisoners, including Judy Fields (Claire Luce) in the woman's prison next door.*  She is there because she was innocently involved in a stock fraud scheme run by Frosby (Morgan Wallace). Steve and Judy develop feelings for each other, and when Steve is paroled, he promises to get together with Judy when she is released in a few months. 

Saint Louis learns that Frosby is going to Steve's home town, and breaks out of jail along with Dannemora Dan (Warren Hymer) to warn Steve. 

The movie was conceived as a dark prison drama, but the release of The Big House caused director John Ford to rethink it as a romantic comedy. The romance between Steve and Judy takes center stage, as does business among the inmates, who are concentrating on winning a baseball game against another prison. The movie even contains a musical sequence as a stage show put on by the inmates. At the same time, there are some dark moments, but they are off stage and only implied.

Bogart is quite bland as Steve, showing little of the personality that made him a star.** Tracy does show promise and his acting has the wonderful naturalness that made him a star.. Claire Luce was primarily a stage star*** and is perfectly fine. 

This is the only time Bogart and Tracy worked together. They spent their careers at different studios, and by the time they got out of the studio system, there was problems with billing that kept them from working together.

Of note is Joan Lawes as the warden's daughter. She is allowed to walk among the inmates, who treat her as though she was their own.

The film is a bit slow, but entertaining.

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*It doesn't seem a likely setup, though having woman around has been shown to help the male inmates to stay away from violence.

**This was the first of his films to be released.

***Even appearing with Fred Astaire in The Gay Divorce.