Kid Galahad (1937)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Kid Galahad (1937)A strong boxing world drama with Bette Davis and Edward G. Robinson? This can hardly go wrong, and it doesn't. It's also directed by the dependable Michael Curtiz, and has a smaller but strong role for Humphrey Bogart. The result if a full blown and rather complex drama going far beyond fixing fights and a boxer's improbable rise to the top.Davis in particular blows me away, playing both the sophisticated and wise wife of the great promoter, but also a sweet kid torn by love, a "dizzy fool." Her performance alone makes the movie a gem. I only wish she was in it more. Robinson is his dependable self, the nuanced strong guy with doubts and a big heart. Bogart, for those following him, plays a role he almost got typecast in, the tough guy criminal, and he's really good, if not very well-rounded type. Curtiz, of course, gets a different kind of admiration here, making the movie great, avoiding some clichés that were begging to be reused in any boxing story. He even gets the boxer, played with the emotion of a tree stump by Wayne Morris, to hold up his innocent simplicity well enough to fit into the rest of it. The crossed affections of the main characters is more convincing than it needed to be. It's good stuff. Watch how Curtiz, as always, complex scenes with amazing fluidity (an odd but amazing example is the series of scenes after the last fight in the back rooms).The one thing I can't judge is how convincing the boxing is, but it looks good to me, and since there is a bit of time spent watching the fighting in the ring this matters. The idea of the "good" fighter unwilling to throw a fight he can win fairly is built up here to the key climax, and Bogart and Robinson clash in the end in classic style. For the adventurous, this was remade in 1962 as an Elvis Presley vehicle. (And a sidebar trivia —the best Elvis movie is the 1970 "King Creole" directed by, yes, Michael Curtiz.)But back in 1937 came this feisty, complex, richly envisioned drama around the boxing world of the Great Depression, and it's a terrific one.

I admired Edward G. Robinson's acting when he was in films other than the standard gangster stories. Although this one does have some ties to gangsters (after all the boxing game wasn't any too clean back in the day), several aspects of this film put it a step above most boxing pictures.First, this film has heart. Not the gritty heart you might expect in a boxing film (although that is here, too), but the heart one feels seeing Robinson with his mother on the farm. From Florida to New York to White Plains, this film has a broader scope than most from the mid-1930s.Second, the fight scenes are relatively realistic. In the big fight toward the end of the film, watch for the rope burns on the hero's back.Third, while a cut above most films of the genre, this is still a morality play -- good versus evil.Fourth, the acting here is quite good. This is one of Edward G. Robinson's best pictures, from my perspective. He treads the fine line between good brother and son, and slightly dirty fight promoter very well. Despite some dirty dealings, you are able to maintain a liking of his character...until the close of the picture. Bette Davis is very good here, as well. She is treading a fine line as well -- in love with two men, and her depiction of the triangle is quite good. Humphrey Bogart is pretty dapper and quite handsome here, but make no mistake, for this story he's the real bad guy. Wayne Morris -- never high on my list of supporting actors -- plays the boxer who just wants to buy a farm just perfectly. And, he really looks as if he could be a boxer. Though it's not a large part, one of my very favorite character actors is here -- Harry Carey, as the cut man and trainer.As the film progresses, it's clear someone is going to die at the climax. Will it be Kid Galahad who dies in the ring? Will it be Edward G. Robinson who has walked the tightrope between honesty and evil? Will it be Humphrey Bogart who is the film's real bad guy.The choice of the closing scene is an interesting one.This is probably one for the DVD shelf.

Man, what stylized dialog! Like an old painting it has only grown more precious with time. When somebody asks fight promoter Edward G. Robinson if he really means that threat, he replies, "Say, I mean it PLENTY." Robinson discovers an amateur boxer with a tremendous punch, Wayne Morris, and he and Harry Carey teach Morris more sophisticated techniques like using his left and saving his right until there's an opening.Their opposite number is manager Humphrey Bogart, deceptive and frequently particeps criminis. Morris is sort of an innocent pawn and does what Robinson tells him. Morris seems on his way up the title and everything is going well and -- cherchez la femme! Robinson's moll, Bette Davis, falls for the big dumb lug of a fighter, but he's too dumb to realize it. Morris meets Robinson's sister, recently released from the convent for good behavior, and they fall for one another. Robinson is insanely jealous of both. He envies and hates Morris and agrees with Bogart to send Morris into the ring with the wrong instructions, thus losing the title fight.It was 1937 and this was Michael Curtiz at the helm. During Morris's rise to fame, we are subject to the banner headlines of half a dozen whirling newspapers with names that never were -- The Cincinnati Beobachter, the Minneapolis Dagbladet, the El Paso Concha, The Lancaster Volkskrant, The Chicago Gazeta Polska, and so on. The headlines leave no doubt about the message. GALAHAD FLOORS MANTICORE IN 2ND!!!! The performances are mostly up to par. Robinson has a chance to display the three personae he showed us in "Little Caesar": the cocky wise guy on the way up, the domineering boss, and the self-doubting hesitant who is unable to shoot his erstwhile partner.Bette Davis has never been better or more appealing. Whatever "magnetism" is, Jane Bryan doesn't have it.This was Wayne Morris's big break. He's tall, handsome, well-built, naive, and can't act. He had a fine war record. (Kids: that's a reference to World War II. The Allies (us) fought the Axis (them). PS: We won.) After that he appeared occasionally in villainous or wimpish roles, as in "Paths of Glory." Those roles fit the requirements of the Peter Principle. His boxing technique -- and I say this as an expert, having spent at least two, and possibly three, minutes in an amateur ring -- his boxing technique is rudimentary. He's supposed to have a long reach and lead with his left hand, right? So instead of facing his adversary at an angle, like a fencer presenting a smaller target, he stands facing his opponent foursquare, the reach of both hands now equal, throwing away any advantage he might have had.There's a surprisingly subtle moment embedded in all the action. Morris and Bryan are in love and spend a night in the city. Morris takes her to hear Bette Davis sing at a nightclub, and Davis, who silently loves Morris, joins them for a moment. Bryan and Davis have never met before. As Davis is about to leave them, Morris asks her to stay longer, but she demurs. Turning to Bryan she says with a polite smile, "You know, don't you?" "Yes." Morris puts down his drink and asks, "Know what?" He's so damned stupid it's all over his head.This film was put out by the Warners movie machine and delivers what you'd expect. It rockets along and leads to a satisfactory shoot out which the unambivalently good guys survive so they can live happily ever after. Except for Bette Davis, who wanders off alone into the night, perhaps on strike.

Kid Galahad (1937) *** (out of 4) Edward G. Robinson plays fight promoter Nick Donati who thinks he has found a fighter (Wayne Morris) he can take to the Championship. The only trouble is Nick's hot tempered anger, which gets him in trouble with his girlfriend (Bette Davis) and a gangster (Humphrey Bogart) who he double crosses. Not to mention his anger when the fighter begins to date his sister (Jane Bryan). This drama from Warner plays a little too long but there's no denying the extreme fun it contains due to the three legends appearing together as well as the strong supporting cast. The story is pretty predictable if you've seen any of the 30's boxing pictures but then again the genre had pretty much wore itself out in terms of plot details by the end of the silent era. With that said, the story here of a hot tempered manager makes for some nice drama but the story isn't what's going to bring people to this movie. Seeing Robinson, Davis and Bogart together is where the fun is at and the reason why people will be drawn to this film. It's rather strange that the Elvis remake was more popular than this one for sometime but I'm going to guess that was due to this one not being available for so many decades. Robinson turns in a good performance but it's certainly not among his best. Bogart is a lot of fun in his supporting role as the tough gangster. Davis nearly steals the film and delivers a very good performance as the woman always having to keep Robinson's temperature down. The real surprise comes from Bryan and Morris who are perfect together and steal the show in the end. Film buffs might not find too many original ideas here but that doesn't really matter due to the wonderful cast being held together by the strong direction of Curtiz.