The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)

One of my all time favorites.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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

This novelty film provides more entertainment that one might expect. Myrna Loy is Belle, headline singer at a club owned by tough guy Willie Ryan (Otto Kruger). When Belle meets ambitious heavyweight boxer Steve Morgan (Max Baer), she is swept off her feet by his confidence and charm. Willie wants to retaliate against the iron-jawed palooka, but his love of Belle forces him to step aside and hope for her happiness.Max Baer is the center of this film. The story follows his life in and out of the ring. This is stunt casting. Baer was a prime contender for the (real) world heavyweight title. Who knew he could actually act...and sing and dance! In one scene he performs with a bevy of chorines in a number that is the best part of the film. Most dance numbers in 1933 are no match for the precision, artistry and technical skills of the choreography in the forties and later, but the "training day" motif of this dance displays real fitness and gymnastic ability. And Baer performs with them, tap for tap.The end of the film includes a boxing match between the contender and the champ, featuring three boxing champions in the ring at the same time: Jack Dempsey (as the referee), Max Baer and Primo Carnera. It also features the introduction of other ring celebrities, including James J. Jeffries. With boxing in its heyday, these cameos must have thrilled many filmgoers.As a "time capsule", this film reveals much about the culture, language and attitudes of the depression era. It is also a surprisingly effective romance.In real life, Baer would defeat champion Carnera in 1934. Baer's life was so colorful, it would make a great subject for film.

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.

When muscular Max Baer (as Steve Morgan) shows his fisticuffs and strength in a bar, alcoholic fight promoter Walter Huston (as Edwin "Professor" Bennett) sobers up fast. While training for his first bout, Mr. Baer rescues lovely nightclub singer Myrna Loy (as Belle Mercer) from a road mishap and invites her to the fight. They are mutually attracted, but she is otherwise engaged with gangster Otto Kruger (as Willie Ryan). Jack Dempsey and other boxers appear. Nothing too revolutionary happens here, but the "big fight" ending at Madison Square Garden is more realistic than average; it features Baer, a real boxer becoming a concurrent movie star, fighting his actual rival Primo Carnera.****** The Prizefighter and the Lady (11/10/33) W.S. Van Dyke ~ Max Baer, Myrna Loy, Walter Huston, Otto Kruger

I watched this movie tonight on Turner Classic Movies just to see the man who bore the handsome Max Baer, Jr., star of TV's "The Beverly Hillbillies." I don't know anything about "Cinderella Man" or the violent sport of boxing that so many people seem to be drawn to. So this was a film I wasn't sure was even going to be worth my time. But I love pre-code films of the early 1930s and I do like Myrna Loy, so I figured there might be a chance I'd enjoy the movie somewhat. Well, it was one of the best films I've ever seen and for those who are wincing or gagging at that, let me say it's all a matter of opinion, folks.I've been reading the reviews here (I did not know Max Baer "killed" anyone in his boxing career) and I just have to laugh at some of the comments from those who couldn't get anything out of this.For example. Someone said that a real actor should have been used for the role of the prizefighter. Okay. How about Clark Gable who was just coming in to his own at the time? Needless to say, Gable would have been perfect, as he was and always will be "The King." Actors today should bow to the man, and simply step aside. But, they went with a real athlete and, to my surprise, he pulled it off and then some! If you want to get technical and start nit-picking on Baer's acting then you'll find exactly what you're looking for. But as far as I was concerned I was thoroughly entertained by a man who had never acted in his life before and then to sing, and tap dance in a musical number midway through the film? My gosh, why haven't we heard about this film before? Someone also said that Walter Huston's performance wasn't believable. Gee. I've never seen any film work of Huston before, but I not only found him believable but I walked away a fan, looking forward to seeing more films of his. He definitely deserved a nomination for Best Supporting Actor had the category existed in those days.I also walked away appreciating Myrna Loy more than I ever have. What a beautiful woman, and what star presence! This might have been a good role for Claudette Colbert, once a grand star of her time and much forgotten today, but I think Miss Loy probably has the edge here.At the end I had tears in my eyes. All was forgiven, everybody reunited and walked away happy, ain't love grand?