It's been a good ten years since I last saw this film and, since I do like Myrna Loy, I decided it was time for another look, despite my not being over-the-moon about boxing movies. Loy despite being as all-American as could be started her career playing exotics and this was one of her first big roles before her breakthrough in the Thin Man series. She plays a nightclub singer (she even has two numbers) being kept by club owner and mob boss Otto Kruger. Then she meets a force of nature, played by real-life boxer Max Baer in his film debut, and marries him. Although they seem to really love each other, he can't stop himself from catting around as his boxing career takes off, and after numerous deceptions, she eventually leaves him and goes back to the club and Kruger. Naturally after the big bout which ends this film, boy and girl get together again which is no big surprise.
What is surprising about this movie is how magnetic Baer is in his role -- he acts believably and even sings and dances in a big production number with noticeable skill. A number of other boxers of the period and of the past also appear as themselves and in the final fight he squares off against Primo Carnera whom he in fact knocked out a year later to take the heavyweight title of the world for just under a year. He could really have made it as a leading man in Hollywood, but when he eventually resumed his film career after his boxing career had faltered, it was strictly in B-movies and lower. It's something of a shame. Another favourite of mine, Walter Huston (father of John and grandfather of Angelika) also appears here as the trainer that discovers Baer, but it's not really one of his better roles, although I'm always pleased to see him.
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