Strictly average movie

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

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

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

When Spencer Tracy played the Portugese fisherman in MGM's "Captains Courageous", he dealt with wags laughing at him for his Chico Marxx hairdo. Here, Edward G. Robinson has the same job and the same issue. If, unlike, Spencer Tracy, he didn't win an Oscar for his performance, he still rates an "A" for giving an excellent portrayal in an entertaining if sometimes over-the-top and gruesome melodrama.The story of Portugese fisherman Robinson starts when he is revealed to be one of three survivors of a capsized boat off the coast of Baja California in shark infested waters. Robinson immediately disposes of one of them into the briny sea after attempting to steal their water supply. The other sole survivor is young Richard Arlen who fights off the sharks right before one of them bites off Robinson's hand, leaving him an American version of Captain Hook. Robinson and Arlen become buddies and share many adventures together. Later, Robinson must visit young Zita Johann to tell her that her father was killed at sea, and ends up marrying her. But Arlen strikes her fancy in spite of her initial rejection of him, and when Robinson sees them in a romantic clinch, he plots revenge.Set on the Mexican Pacific coast for its fishing sequences and near San Diego for its dramatic story, "Tiger Shark" is an enjoyable mix of action and melodrama. Robinson provides a very layered performance as the rather ruthless fisherman who is loyal to his crew members but deadly to his foes. His final scene really sums up what is inside this character as he faces his own mortality. The film was remade several times by Warner Brothers, most notably as "Manpower" (1941), where Robinson played basically the same role, co-starring George Raft and Marlene Dietrich. That version switched the story from deep sea fishing to the world of men who repair electrical lines, and was used as a major plot device in the Warren Beatty gangster bio "Bugsy".

The plot of this film is nothing to write home about. Other reviewers have aptly summed it up as the quintessential love triangle. There are two things that make this film rise above 4 or 5 stars out of ten.The first is the great footage of commercial fishing as it was practiced circa 1930. It really was man versus the sea back in those days. There is also some footage of how the fish is delivered and then processed once the fishing boat docks.The second thing that makes this an interesting film is the odd combination of Edward G. Robinson on the way up, Richard Arlen on the way down, and Zita Johann in one of her few film appearances before she shrugged her shoulders and walked away from film after she decided she didn't need all the irritation she had to deal with as a Hollywood star.Edward G. Robinson was a newcomer to talking films, having only one credited film appearance in silents, that being in 1916. Not a classicly good-looking man, he was fascinating to watch in almost any role because of his talent for drama as well as comedy. Richard Arlen was a great leading man over at Paramount, and even retained his position at that studio for a few years after sound came in. He had the looks, he had the voice, but his popularity fizzled nonetheless. Zita Johann does not have, as others have mentioned, a thick accent. Her diction is perfect, and she has exotic looks that can only be compared to Kay Francis.Thus these three are thrown together in this film in exactly the way you'd believe them to be. Robinson as the likable fisherman, Mike, with a big heart who can't get a girl to love him because he is missing a hand that was taken by a shark. Zita Johann is the daughter of a fisherman on Mike's boat who falls overboard and is killed by a shark. Mike nurses her back to health - she is ill at the time her father dies - and takes care of her in general so that she feels beholden to marry him, plus she thinks she is through with love and feels that Mike will do as well as any man. Finally there is Arlen as Pipes, handsome friend of Mike. He and Mike's new wife fall in love but do not want to hurt someone that they feel has been very good to them.There are two big problems with this plot. In execution, the problem is that we don't see any relationship build between Mike's wife and Pipes. She just announces to Pipes one night that she loves him and that is that. I realize there is not much room for character development in a 75 minute film, but they could have let this build a little bit. In concept, the whole fact that someone as likable as Mike would not be able to attract a woman just because he is missing a hand is a bit much. Women have not now nor have they ever been attracted to men just because of looks. Character counts a good deal more. This is a case of a man writing about women as though they were men.In summary, if you run across this one it is always worthwhile to see Edward G. Robinson in action, but don't lose any sleep if it never comes your way.

Those of us who read the entire book "Moby Dick" will remember interminable scenes devoted to descriptions of whale hunting and harvesting. That's how "Tiger Shark" seems: lots of extended scenes of tuna fishing and processing the catch. It really does serve to set a mood, and of course it juxtaposes the everyday life of a fisherman with the out-of-the-ordinary plot. And anyone with an interest can see how tuna fishing was actually performed in the Thirties. Big deal.For me, the movie started dragging from the git-go. I found Edward G. Robinson's unconvincing Portuguese patois boring from the first line, and his mother-lode of innocent jibber-jabber seemed grafted artificially onto the Robinson persona while never actually gelling. (John Wayne had a more successful outing with an accent when he played a Swede in an early film.) Then this Pipes-Quita romance comes along. Comes from out of nowhere. Suddenly she's in love. PUH-leese. A little poetic motivation might help things.Add the sappy ending. Yep, a solid "3".

Edward G. Robinson is Mike, a Portugese immigrant who makes his living as a fisherman in "Tiger Shark," a 1932 movie also starring Richard Arlen and Zita Johann. Mike loses his hand while trying to save Quita's (Johann's) father from a shark, but he does manage to save his buddy Pipes. He falls in love with Quita when they meet, and, seeing that she is alone, he eventually proposes. She accepts but says that she does not love him. He apparently doesn't notice that one of his mates, Pipes,(Richard Arlen) has a crush on Quita, so Pipes is around a lot.This is a very dated and movie with stiff performances from everyone but Robinson. The character of Mike is very stereotypical now, but probably wasn't back then - the paunchy immigrant, kind of dumb, with false bravado, and don't forget about the hook for a hand. Very similar to "They Knew What They Wanted." There are endless scenes of fishing, which these men did with poles and harpoons, not nets. It looked dangerous, and I guess if Quita's father died and Mike lost his hand, it was.The pretty Roumanian actress Zita Johann, who was married to John Houseman, is effective as Mike's shy, young and grateful bride - but after she spots handsome Pipes, she realizes gratitude can only take one so far. Here she's dressed plainly with little makeup - but one can see that with the Dorothy Lamour treatment, she probably looked very exotic. Arlen, of "Wings" fame, is pretty hunky. He died in 1978 and worked practically until his last breath, giving him a career span of 57 years. His heyday, however, was in the silent era.Edward G. Robinson is excellent as always, but the film just doesn't hold up today. Robinson proved early on that he could do just about anything, though in the '30s, he was most often cast as a thug. When you see Mike in action toward the end of the movie, you'll realize this role isn't that far from what he did as Little Caesar.I can't really recommend this unless you're interested in fishing circa 1932.