The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Sorry, this movie sucks

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Max Baer may not be a name a lot of people remember today (he didn't stick out as powerfully in the long-run of the public consciousness as Joe Louis for example, but it may depend on who you talk to). But in his time he was a very popular boxer, and he shows in The Prizefighter and the Lady that he could hold his own very well as an actor - this is significant because he is put as a co-lead with Myrna Loy, one of the great actresses of her time in Hollywood (or any time). The story is very simple, though there's some deep emotions running through: a boxer meets a woman by chance (a road accident actually, from a car Belle's in that swerves off the road). He brings her back home, she's alright, but he asks her to come and check out a fight that he'll be in. Belle does, and it's something that makes her a little uneasy possibly, but Steve Morgan is one helluva guy to keep persisting, and charmer as well, and they somehow find each other at a club where she's singing. Oh, and she's technically with some vaguely criminal element (what he does isn't entirely clear, but whatever).Somehow, very quickly, she decides to marry him. This is where the complications set in for them, since he's got a wandering eye for other ladies. I wondered why it was so quick for her to marry him, and other characters ask this question of her. She says something to the effect of looking into his eyes and seeing a kid she'd want to protect or take care of or something. It doesn't seem very credible, but I went with it. What unfolds is somewhat predictable, but not in a way that's written poorly, and certainly the acting helps: Belle catches Steve in one lie, lets him off (there's a scene where she's in bed and the way she confronts him isn't as angry but just as stern and disappointed, but willing to forgive, it may be my favorite acted scene in the movie), and then when she catches him again that's it and she leaves him. But what about the next big fight against Primo Carnera? I think that because Baer really does sell the emotions of this guy - there are times that Dyke's camera just lays on his face as he thinks of something, and it feels real, like he's not faking it - and can deliver the dialog with a great amount of believability, he's a natural for the role. That he doesn't have to stretch too far as a boxer likely helps, but with Loy there she must have helped to keep him at ease and be natural as he is as well. Other actors around them are fairly standard (Walter Huston as the Professor is fine, but not as great as one might think), but it's just a pleasure to see Loy on screen in a role where she can be naturally beautiful and sexy and deliver a good song (albeit two different times which is odd) and yet is still interesting in the climax.By the final fight it seems fairly clear what the trajectory will be, but maybe that's not a bad thing and the director and writers get a lot of good, conventional movie mileage out of the fall and rise element in just this final fight. It actually became intense, and I have to wonder if other boxing movies in decades to come (maybe even Rocky to a small extent) looked to something like The Prizefighter and the Lady as an example of how to do it. I wouldn't say it's a lost classic or anything, and there's a point midway through where the movie just stops for a ridiculous musical number (!) which is kind of fun but strange to see for how long it goes for. But if you want a sweet little movie about characters being good or disappointing to others, then this is something to check out.

At least it seems that everyone involved was aware that heavyweight boxing champion of the world Max Baer could not act, and therefore the cast was filled with very capable players (Loy, Kruger, Huston). Even though Max Baer was second billed, and is the center of attention of the plot, he actually gets very few lines or real acting scenes. People talk more about him than talk to him.The film opens in a bar where washed up boxing manager "The Professor" (Walter Huston) is drowning his sorrows and telling tall tales as has apparently been his habit for some time. The bartender (Max Baer as Steve Morgan) takes care of a couple of rough customers with some impressive boxing moves, and The Professor decides to promote him as a fighter - starting small at first, partly because Morgan is an unknown, partly because the professor's reputation has become somewhat scarred along with his liver. While out road training one day, a car crashes nearby and the professor and Morgan rescue Belle Mercer (Myrna Loy) and her driver. It turns out Belle is a nightclub star and mistress to jealous gangster Willie Ryan (Otto Kruger). In spite of this danger, Morgan won't take no for an answer and pursues Belle, although with sparse dialogue and little finesse, making her succumbing to his charms all the more mystifying.So far you have your standard fight movie of the 1930's - a washed up promoter gets a second chance and an unknown natural gets an opportunity to work up to the championship, with a classy lady and a gangster thrown in for good measure. I'll let you watch and see how everything plays out. I will talk about some of the weirder points of the production, though.The dialogue is very abbreviated and also delivered rapid fire like a Warner Bros. film of the same era. Also, gangster Willie Ryan is a hard one to figure out. When Morgan is pursuing Belle he threatens gun play and gets very tough. After Morgan wins her, he tries to take a more psychological even gentle route. Plus Willie's chief bodyguard and muscle looks like he is eligible for social security, had it existed in 1933. That guy couldn't scare much less beat up anyone. While Steve seems only interested in satisfying every carnal urge at Belle's expense, Willie seems interested only in Belle's happiness. By the end of the film I found myself genuinely liking Willie the gangster and disliking self-centered Steve.. Then there is a bizarre little musical number stuck in the film featuring Max Baer and a bunch of chorus girls with fight training gear as props. Max sings, does some simple dance moves, and acquits himself pretty well in this silliness but it did leave me asking - Why???? I'd say it's worthwhile just for the cheekiness of it all. Plus it's a chance to see Myrna Loy in a role that MGM would never have assigned her to after she really hit the big time the following year in "The Thin Man".

. . . or is it life imitates art? For here we have real life boxing champs, stage-battling in the ring for a movie. Only to be pitted in real life the following year for a bona fide championship bout.Van Dyke's direction and his crew's camera work and editing for the climactic screen fight are all excellent. As exciting and well staged as any modern film . . . and remember this was 1933! The cast is excellent, including Loy, Huston and Kruger. The real surprise though is Baer himself, acting, boxing, singing, and dancing. Who ever had the idea of fashioning a script around this athlete got a brain storm. It was brilliant and it worked.Overlook the title (and often middling script) and check this striking early talkie out.

I watched this film because of the involvement of 30s great W.S. Van Dyke and his oftentimes leading lady Myrna Loy, and I was more or less satisfied with his direction and her performance as Belle. Also, Walter Huston does good work as Steve Morgan's manager, "The Professor", and I was particularly impressed with Otto Kruger's unusual performance as Willie Ryan, Belle's bitter ex.However, there is a black hole at the center of this film, and its name is Max Baer. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time to cast a real boxer as Steve Morgan -- and they could've done much worse, as Primo Carnera and Jack Dempsey evince toward the end of the film -- but I would've much rather seen a real actor in the role.I wish I knew more about what went with the director's chair on this film. IMDb says that both W.S. Van Dyke and Howard Hawks directed it; however, the film itself features no director credit at all! Because Van Dyke is credited as producer, while Hawks' name appears nowhere in the film's credits, I finally decided to consider this a W.S. Van Dyke film. However, it's possible that I'll change my mind if I ever find out what went on behind the scenes.Thanks to Turner Classic Movies for showing this film, along with countless other entertaining old movies that are otherwise unavailable.Score: SIX out of TEN