I Take This Woman (1940 film)

Plot and central themes

The narrative follows a woman who tries to take her own life after an affair collapses. She is rescued and treated by a physician, who becomes a pivotal figure in her rehabilitation and in the film's moral framework. The plot examines themes common to romantic dramas of the period: emotional fragility, social expectations of women, and the redemptive potential of compassion. The attempted suicide functions as the inciting incident that brings the characters into closer contact and forces choices about loyalty and care.

Principal cast

• Spencer Tracy appears as Dr. Karl Decker, the physician whose intervention shapes much of the film's moral center.
• Hedy Lamarr plays Georgi, the young woman at the heart of the story.
• Laraine Day portrays Linda Rogers, one of the supporting characters who figures in the romantic and social tensions.

Production and release

The film was completed and distributed by its producing studio, opening in February 1940. It reflects production values and storytelling conventions of late 1930s–early 1940s Hollywood, including star-driven casting and a blend of intimate scenes with studio-scale sets. Contemporary promotion emphasized the actors and the film's dramatic central incident—her attempted suicide—as the emotional hook.

Reception and legacy

Upon release, the film drew attention chiefly for the performances of its leads rather than for radical innovations in plot or technique. Modern viewers and film historians reference it when discussing the careers of its stars and as an example of period attitudes toward romance, crisis, and medical intervention in narrative cinema. While not universally cited as a classic, it remains of interest to those studying studio-era melodrama and the filmography of its principal actors.

Notable facts

• The picture is often discussed in film reference works because of its principal casting and its release during a prolific era for the participating stars.
• Its treatment of emotional collapse and recovery illustrates how mainstream films of the time framed personal crisis within moral and social terms rather than modern psychological language.