Associate producer: Harry Rapf. Producer: Irving Thalberg. Copyright 25 July 1933 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. U.S. release: 12 August 1933. New York opening at the Capitol: 11 August 1933. U.K. release: 3 February 1934. 87 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Down-and-out tugboat skipper is determined that her young son will make the grade as captain of an ocean liner.NOTES: With a domestic rentals gross of $1.5 million, "Tugboat Annie" came in at 9th place (in which it tied with Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer stablemates Dancing Lady and Queen Christina) as one of the most popular movies of 1933.A sequel "Tugboat Annie Sails Again" was released in 1940. A 39- episode half-hour TV series The Adventures of Tugboat Annie with Minerva Urecal hit the airwaves in 1957.COMMENT: A very entertaining picture, at turns movingly sentimental (in a shamelessly tough sort of way), funny, sad, nostalgic and highly dramatic; splendidly produced on a no-holds-barred budget on real locations enhanced by absolutely thrilling special effects; and most entrancingly acted by all concerned, particularly Beery, Dressler, Young and the lovely, charming Maureen O'Sullivan. Even Frankie Darro is tolerable (admittedly his footage is brief). LeRoy's direction is a model of unobtrusive yet highly effective direction. When you let strong actors loose with a strong script and indulgent production values, you don't need assertively flashy, self-conscious direction. True, there are some low camera angles, but they are dramatically apposite points-of-view from one of the characters on screen. Toland's attractively gray-toned, atmospheric photography also conjures up exactly the right mood for each scene. In fact, "Tugboat Annie" doesn't look the least bit like an M-G-M picture at all. The cramped yet extensive sets, dingily realistic (not aggressively "modern" with lots of space and curved white lines) are the work of Merrill Pye, working alone without the usual supervision of Cedric Gibbons. When executive producer Thalberg died, M-G-M virtually abandoned this style of "A"-budget film-making to concentrate on "the stuff that dreams are made of."

Marie Dressler gives a fine, sensitive and very touching performance in this second and last pairing with Wallace Beery. The movie was one of the top moneymakers of the depression era, and beloved by the public as well as the critics. Based on the Saturday Evening Post stories about a very capable female tugboat captain and her alcoholic but lovable husband.The plot has the couple's son ( Robert Young ) ashamed of his drunken father, and Annie trying to make a living and trying to keep up a good family appearance for the sake of her son. Wallace Beery settles into his role perfectly, but Marie Dressler's acting is absolutely darling as she is forever exasperated by her drunken husbands embarrassing antics. Wallace Beery tried teaming with actress Marjorie Main in an attempt to recapture the chemistry he'd had with Dressler, but it was not a successful pairing. No one could ever compare to the unique Marie Dressler.Tugboat Annie is an enjoyable example of this beloved actress at her best.

Tugboat Annie reunited Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler for a second time after the big hit they made with Min And Bill. Although that first film was more dramatic and Dressler got her Best Actress Award for Min And Bill, Tugboat Annie still has a lot of laughs and heart in it as Marie Dressler cares for her husband, child, and business which is running a salvage tug out of Puget Sound.Marie of course is in the title role and she skippers the USS Narcissus and works in a man's world. She lives on the tug with her husband and child Frankie Darro who grows up to be Robert Young. Beery is her shiftless drunken husband, but she's determined to raise their son to make something of himself.Flashing forward several years, Robert Young is now captain of an ocean liner and working for a former rival of Dressler's, Tammany Young who has worked his way up from the salvage business. Young is engaged to Tammany's daughter Maureen O'Sullivan, but he's not that crazy of his parents stepping into society, Marie doesn't fit and she knows it, and Beery is just Beery.Who periodically goes off on a toot and always lets his family down. However in the end during a crisis on the Narcissus, Beery does come through. It's why she loves and puts up with him.MGM put a little money into Tugboat Annie doing a whole lot of location shooting in Puget Sound. I don't know whether the cast got up there or their footage was done on the sound stage, but it certainly was blended in nicely with background shots.In real life Beery and Dressler hardly got along, then again Wallace Beery got along with very few people in the world. Still their on screen chemistry is not to be denied in Tugboat Annie which holds up every bit as good for today.

TUGBOAT ANNIE, the `old sea cow,' pilots her beloved Narcissus around Puget Sound, constantly on the lookout for the shenanigans of her drunken husband. Their son strives to become the skipper of a great liner, but his success will imperil his father's life & break his mother's heart...Marie Dressler & Wallace Beery are nothing short of wonderful in this funny, touching film. The roles are a comfortable fit - they wear them like old clothes. With their life-worn faces & rumpled bodies, they embody a decent commonality which gives their acting the little something extra that pushes it over the top and makes their performances very special.Dressler was queen of the box office when she made this film, absolutely beloved by millions of American movie fans. Almost a force of nature, a cinematic Earth Mother, she was already carrying the cancer which would kill her the very next year. Beery would go on to other memorable roles, but his teamings with Dressler would always remain unique.Robert Young & Maureen O'Sullivan nicely play the young people, but they are completely overshadowed by the two old pros.Location settings help the movie's ambiance terrifically. The film is based on stories written by Norman Reilly Raine and published in the Saturday Evening Post.