Spencer Tracy was getting quite old when he made this one. He can still show some power here in his lead role as a stubborn judge with the young girl friend. He does a good job with a challenging script. Lana Turner as the love interest is very effective here. Considering the film's script, she does well too.There are sparks in the cast besides. I think in this case Tracy deserved better script. That seemed to hurt him in his last films. Are there better Tracy films? Yes, but this one is pretty good.Judge Timberlane may not chop down trees but he does Dispense Jusice with authority from the bench.

Spencer Tracy is one of my two favorite film actors (the other being Cary Grant). That doesn't mean that I like every Tracy film ("Tortilla Flat" and "Woman Of The Year" being two good examples of Tracy films I didn't particularly like). But I do like two films which were fairly close together time-wise -- "Sea Of Grass" and this film, the former coming just before the latter. In "Sea Of Grass" we were introduced to the new "mature" Tracy, and that is reinforced in the opening courtroom scenes of this film. Clearly, perhaps because of his drinking, Tracy was aging quickly at this point in time. This is a Tracy that I really liked. The several opening scenes, including in his chambers (he's a judge in this film), were very pleasant, and got the film off to a good start.Lana Turner was at her peak of beauty around this time, and a much more assured actress than she had been 6 years earlier when she last co-starred with Tracy in "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde". She seems very natural in this part, in both the good times and the bad. I usually enjoy Turner, although I remember seeing her on an interview show in her later years and being disappointed to find that she didn't seem very bright. The scenes between Tracy and Turner are excellent, with the exception of the death scene (after which she doesn't die) and the reconciliation, both of which are not done very well.It is said that Zachary Scott enjoyed playing scoundrels, the most notorious of which was the "cradle-robber" in "Mildred Pierce". I guess because of his penchant for playing such roles, I never really cared much for him...so much for type-casting. But, in "Pierce" and this film, I have to admit he was excellent.This film also contains one of my favorite scenes, though very brief, and it isn't even involving one of the stars. Josephine Hutchinson, wife of the doctor in this film, breaks down about the truth of her marriage toward the end of the film and throws a glass of champagne in her husband's face. Not sure why, but this is a scene that stuns me every time I see it.There are a number of other very recognizable support players in the film. If you're not paying attention, you might not recognize Mary Astor, who gets little screen time. The most interesting support player was Selena Royale, with whom Tracy had been a frequent costar in his early days in the theatre, and may have had an affair with. There's also a cameo with Walter Pidgeon and excellent cinematography.I know that the ratings here on IMDb are not high for this film, but I find it very watchable, and I'm glad to have it on my DVD shelf.

Cass Timberlane (1947) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Glossy MGM production of a good-hearted judge (Spencer Tracy) who goes against his rich friends by marrying a woman (Lana Turner) from across the tracks. The woman tries her best to fit into the higher class lifestyle but soon she begins to hate the life and sees what she thinks is a new life in another man (Zachary Scott). For the first eighty-minutes of this thing I was really enjoying it as the entire cast and especially the two leads were doing a terrific job and made for some great entertaining. Even though all of this you could tell that the screenplay was offering nothing new and after eighty-minutes of this the final forty just became too much. The final forty-minutes of this thing contains one boring bit of melodrama after another and by the time the film ends you feel as if you've spent three hours with these characters instead of just two. I thought the film started out wonderful as we got some nice bits of comedy with Tracy being introduced to Turner due to a court case where she was a simple witness. This leads to an incredibly charming date sequence as well as a terrific baseball sequence where Tracy fills in as an umpire. The two actors are so incredibly charming together that you can overlook all the issues with the screenplay. Tracy does another great job in a role that he could play in his sleep. The guy has a great heart and does what he believes is right even when those around him begin to doubt his heart. Tracy brings that certain dignity to the role and in the end makes it his own. Even better is Turner who is simply magnificent in the role. In the early scenes with her playing the poor but happy girl she brings so much sunshine to the character where it was easy to believe that Tracy's judge would fall for her. Turner handles the lighthearted material so well but she's even better in the more dramatic stuff including her love for two men. Scott also comes off quite charming but that snake feeling is also there. Tom Drake, Mary Astor, Albert Dekker and Margaret Lindsay are all fine in their supporting roles. You can also look quickly for a cameo by Walter Pidgeon playing himself and Cameron Mitchell has a small role. Sidney's direction is pretty good throughout but even fine direction and great performances can't overcome a screenplay that offers up one predictable move after another. There are several twists and turns to the love triangle but they're all things we've seen countless times before and after a while it just gets downright boring.

This story used to appear in "Cosmopolitan" which reveals directly that this is a story for women who like to weep and after the first minutes you know you will have to watch your usual Hollywoodromance. Cass Timberlane is a judge in some small village who is part of the high society and his reputation of the bachelor that never will marry ends the day Jinn (Lana Turner) comes in his court. Soon both fall in love but Jinn is from the poor side of town and knows nothing about "society life" and just cares about playing baseball and going out... You got it, this looks pretty much like "Pretty woman" in the fourties. And of course the story has its typical twists (no acception from the high society, a new man coming up in Jinn's life, blah blah...). All by all a watchable movie but how good Spencer Tracy might be in other movies here you just hate him as he plays too much of a fatherrole (a judge seems to have answers to everything) and of course Jinn is nothing but a dumb blonde. Standard romantic that you can watch to fill up some rainy sundayafternoon but that's about it....