Arguably the best novella ever written gets both a reading from Spencer Tracy and a dramatization - neither of which quite mesh with each other. There is a great deal of unnecessary narration, probably owing to the fact that no one thought Hemingway's words could be improved upon. I wish this movie had been made ten years later, when the sparse style of the prose could have been matched by the sparseness of the period.
All that aside, it's a beautiful movie and Tracy is excellent. You wouldn't think that an old-hand white guy actor would be able to carry off being a old-hand white guy actor doing an old Cuban man without looking silly. But he does, without trying to do anything besides portraying an aging fisherman. This is the key to his performance - he looks so comfortable in the role that you absolutely believe him as that fisherman. One of his greatest roles.
All that aside, it's a beautiful movie and Tracy is excellent. You wouldn't think that an old-hand white guy actor would be able to carry off being a old-hand white guy actor doing an old Cuban man without looking silly. But he does, without trying to do anything besides portraying an aging fisherman. This is the key to his performance - he looks so comfortable in the role that you absolutely believe him as that fisherman. One of his greatest roles.