In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Whether leading a jury to find in favor of his client, getting the big scoop or telling John Barrymore that he sagged like an old woman, Lee Tracy was always someone to keep your eye on, whether you are the D.A. trying his case, the victim of his tell all journalism or even just as a member of the audience. You don't want to miss a minute of anything he says, because it seems so fresh like it wasn't written, plain spoken as only a big city smart Aleck like Tracy could say. Here, he calls boozy doctor Frank Morgan a "drunken bat", and it seems to roll off his lips as if he was the one who thought of it. If Tracy didn't ad-lib, then he must have had writers clamoring to write to him, because his delivery is superb.Tracy's character here is an attorney commonly referred to as an "ambulance chaser", and along with Morgan, his racket includes veteran trickster Charles Butterworth who gets settlements for accidents he sets up. He meets his match in the wise to his ways Madge Evans who sets him up to bring him down, getting the way information from a drunk Morgan. This leads to a confrontation where Tracy blames him for the leaks, leading to tragic consequences and tearing Evans up for her part in it. It only briefly sinks to melodrama, finding its best moments when it is comic. One of Tracy's clients is the newly widowed Greta Meyer who upsets his plans by planning to get married days afterward. "He was an old miser", Meyer says matter of factly as fiancée Herman Bing comes in. This script is right on target, even getting a dig in at Hitler, showing that the Hollywood propaganda machine was ready even just as Nazi Germany was rising. Sometimes a great film doesn't have to be excellent. It just has to have the spark to immediately gain and keep your interest.

Seeing The Nuisance for the first time cured me of at least one illusion I had. That Walter Matthau in his Oscar winning performance as Whiplash Willie Gingrich had created something original. Billy Wilder when he did The Fortune Cookie must have seen this undeservedly forgotten MGM film with Lee Tracy in the title role.In fact I'll bet Matthau probably clerked in Tracy's office before taking the bar and learned everything well. Tracy is the shyster lawyer that shyster lawyers make jokes about. But he's cleaning out the insurance companies and in those Depression years they've decided to do something about it.What they've done is hire Madge Evans, a female PI to fake an accident and become a Tracy client. But as things go in these films of course she falls for the guy.Some other familiar faces populate the cast. Most familiar are Frank Morgan as an alcoholic doctor who treats Tracy like a son and helps Tracy with his fraudulent injury cases. And also there's the ever droll Charles Butterworth who makes a living faking being hit by automobiles for insurance settlements. He's running out of big cities to pull that racket.Still if you watch The Nuisance you'll know what inspired Billy Wilder in The Fortune Cookie.

Lee Tracy is perfect as an ambulance chaser who plagues a streetcar company with phony lawsuits that prove so successful, the business strikes back with an undercover beauty (Madge Evans).This sharply written comedy/drama takes a tragic turn at one point, and the Tracy-Evans relationship gets convincingly intense toward the end when one of the characters runs afoul of the law."The Nuisance" boasts strong performances from Tracy and Evans, with standout support from Frank Morgan as an alcoholic doctor who's Tracy's partner in unethical behavior and from Charles Butterworth as a con man.Strongly recommended to all Tracy fans.

J. Phineas Stevens is THE NUISANCE, an ambulance-chasing, authority-defying, woman-ogling lawyer. Pushy & loud, he's the first at the scene of any accident, handing out his cards & demanding his clients' rights. Both charming & crooked, Stevens usually wins his court cases with street smarts & trickery. But now his powerful legal adversaries have baited a trap, using a very pretty young woman as a spy, to catch Stevens while up to his old tricks.Lee Tracy was perfectly cast in the title role of this fun, forgotten film. With his energetic, go-get-'em, in-your-face acting style, always mixed with a hint of the shady character, Tracy was ideal as talent agents, reporters or shyster lawyers. With his new stardom cemented at Warners, Tracy arrived at MGM in 1933 and immediately appeared in 5 films. He was well on his way to becoming a major star, MGM's answer to Cagney, when he had a spectacular fall from grace in 1934. He spent most of the rest of his career at minor studios, never reaching his full potential. Today he is all but forgotten, but those fortunate enough to see his films find him to be one of the most refreshing & enjoyable movie actors of the early 1930's.Here, Tracy receives good support from his co-stars: beautiful love interest Madge Evans, a girl with a secret; Charles Butterworth, funny as an accident faker; Samuel S. Hinds, John Miljan & David Landau as Tracy's enemies; Greta Meyer & Herman Bing, hilarious as an amorous Teutonic twosome. Virginia Cherrill has a tiny part as one of Tracy's alluring clients. Movie mavens will spot Nat Pendleton as a street car guard. And Frank Morgan is nothing short of wonderful as the pathetic old alcoholic doctor who loves Tracy like a son and helps him with his schemes.