On the one hand, he played it safe: Mannequin returned Joan to her role as a poor working girl who becomes a rich wife (as in Possessed, Sadie McKee and Chained)—a formula that was always a surefire Depression-era crowd pleaser. This time, she left a shiftless, opportunistic husband (Alan Curtis) for a generous and adoring tycoon (Spencer Tracy), whom Mankiewicz deliberately cast because Tracy was less “movie-star handsome” than Curtis. But
