The Seventh Cross
Tracy was particularly respected for his naturalism onscreen. Hume Cronyn, who worked with Tracy on "The Seventh Cross", admired his screen presence: "His method appeared to be as simple as it is difficult to achieve. He appeared to do nothing. He listened, he felt, he said the words without forcing anything." Joan Crawford likewise expressed her admiration for Tracy's seemingly effortless performances, stating that it was "inspiring" to co-star with him and that "his is such simplicity of performance, such naturalness and humor [...] he walks through a scene [and] makes it seem so easy". His four-time co-star Joan Bennett said that she "never had the feeling he was 'acting' in a scene, but the truth of the situation was actually happening, spontaneously, at the moment he spoke his lines". Cagney noted that Tracy was rarely the target of impressionists because "you can't mimic reserve and control very well [...] there's nothing to imitate except his genius and that can't be mimicked".