Tugboat Annie

Amiable and amusing comedy-drama, uniting for the second time (after Min and Bill) MGM's older and uglier alternatives to the likes of Garbo and Gilbert: the admirably cynical, world-worn Dressler and the rumbustious but surprisingly subtle Beery. Most delightful are their scenes of brawling and quarrelling as the husband-and-wife skippers of a tugboat, although Dressler also manages to inject a more sentimental touch into her scenes with upwardly mobile son Young. For sheer uncomplicated professionalism of performance, the old-timers can't be beat.