Whipsaw (1935) is a Romantic Comedy/Drama starring Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy, directed by Sam Wood.
Vivian Palmer (Loy) is the third in a trio of jewel thieves, run by impressive thief, Dexter (Harvey Stephens) and Harry Ames (Clay Clement). When Dexter’s daring theft of valuable pearls from millionaire Wadsworth (Robert Warwick) comes through, he hides the pearls with Vivian and goes on the run. Vivian doesn’t know the pearls are hidden in her toilette mirror and is actively trying to find a way to Dexter (who’s in hiding) to get her cut of the pearl job.
However, undercover FBI agent, Ross McBride (Tracy) is on her tail. He pretends to be a lowlife criminal who unwittingly involves Vivian in an assault against a cop. They go on the run all the while McBride is hoping that Vivian will lead him to the pearls.
Romance ensues between the two, complicating matters for both.
Tropes:
- Batman Gambit: McBride knows that Vivian will eventually lead him to Dexter because she needs to a) get rid of the gangsters on her tail and b) go to him to get her cut, so his ruse as a criminal will lead him to the pearls. What McBride doesn’t realize is that Vivian knows he’s a detective from the start.
- Break the Haughty: Part of McBride's plan is to warm up to Vivian so that she can give up the whereabouts of the pearls.
- Chained Heat: When McBride finds the pearls and erroneously believes that Vivian was purposefully hiding them, he handcuffs her to him while they sleep.
- The Con: The film begins with Vivian intentionally crashing her car into millionaire, Wadsworth (the soon-to-be buyer of rare pearls worth $500,000). It seems that the crew were looking to create a con but Wadsworth didn’t take the bait.
- Empathic Environment: When Vivian realizes she won’t be able to escape McBride, it begins to rain heavily.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Knowing he’s a detective, Vivian keeps her distance from McBride. However, his charm soon wins her over.
- Hidden Depths: When Vivian and McBride are at the Dabson farmhouse and helping the sick newborn, they both show a tender side neither had seen before.
- MacGuffin Escort Mission: Vivian unknowingly carries the pearls in her toilette mirror's handle which was planted by Dexter.
- Meet Cute: Deliberately engineered by McBride so he could get close to Vivian.
- Only in It for the Money: McBride believes that Vivian is a common crook but finds out that she’s a class act that got in with the wrong crowd.
- One Last Job: Vivian wanted the pearl theft to be her last job before using the money to become a respectable person again.
- Revealing Hug: During their Love Confession, McBride, having taken hold of Vivian’s mirror while hugging, drops the mirror and it breaks, revealing that she had them all along. Enraged, McBride quickly assumes that Vivian was lying the whole time and was stringing him along.
- Romance Ensues: An undercover FBI agent and a criminal are on the run. They spent a lot of time together.
- Smithical Marriage: Since they’re technically on the run, Vivian and McBride pretend to be married to get a hotel room.
- Spinning Paper: When the pearls are stolen, we get a flash of newspaper headlines.
- The Stool Pigeon: Dexter avoids sharing the proceeds of the pearls with gangsters by stooling on them. The gangsters begin to follow Vivian because they also know she can lead them to Dexter.
- There Is Only One Bed: While at the Dabson farmhouse pretending to be a married couple, McBride and Vivian are given a room with only one bed. Trying to be nice since he got the couch in the hotel, Vivian takes up the couch. McBride quickly lifts her and puts her on the bed. Cue sexual tension.
- Third-Act Misunderstanding: When McBride believes Vivian has lied to him, he immediately puts her under arrest when he had just minutes ago agreed to explain her innocence to his bosses.
- Title Drop: When expressing his sudden love for Vivian, McBride describes himself as being "whipsawed".
- Undercover Cop Reveal: Vivian knows McBride is a cop/detective, and his reveal to her is anti-climatic.
