The chapter 'Australia' in Clay Moyle's book says the bout between Sam Langford and Sam McVea was intended to be filmed and this affected the rules becasue the ref would not allow Langford's use of infighting (which was the tactic he used against bigger men and which brilliant.) I was under the impression that only 3 bouts of Langford were filmed, Lang, Flynn and the Jeanette fight. There have been rumblings of the Iron Hague fight existing as well. But I didn't know that the bout in Australia between 'Big Sam and Little Sam' was filmed. Those who are experts on Sam Langford and experts on fight films and the era, some more info would be appreciated. Does this film exist? Was it exhibited? etc.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/10205881?searchTerm=sam%20langford%20sam%20mcvea%20filmed&searchLimits= This link shows the fight was filmed.
Thanks for that! So we at least know it was a good quality fim (back then at least) and was exhibited in Australia. Does anyone know if it still exists or what happened to it?
Filmed, maybe. Out there today? Not likely. The thing is Aussie flims on boxing are not mainstream in North America, or Europe.
Surf, I was hoping Klompton would give his input in this, there are other guys as well, Clay Moyle wrote the book so I'm guessing he knows quite alot on the subject. I've seen you give some interesting stuff on this board yourself Surf, you found anything on this?
I once started a thread ages ago which didn't get a great response and in it I was asking everyone about a Kevin Costner movie - can't for the life of me remember which one but I know for a fact that it was set in the 20's and at the start it has a scene setter where it goes over all the news stories of the day and different stars of the times from the world of politics/entertainment/and sports etc and Kevin Costner's character is doing like a voice over and at one point he goes, "and in the world of boxing a little guy from Canada was the best fighter in the world...Sam Langford!!" THERE IS THEN SHOW A FEW SECONDS OF FOOTAGE - AND AMAZINGLY CLEAR FOOTAGE ASWELL OF SAM LANGFORD FIGHTING ANOTHER BLACK GUY - FROM MEMORY THE ARENA WAS OUTDOOR OPEN AIR - AND IT DEFINATELY WAS NOT THE FLYNN FIGHT OR THE LANG FIGHT - IT WAS ANOTHER BLACK FIGHTER - DESPERATE TO CONFIRM WHICH FILM IT WAS AND BUY IT ON DVD JUST FOR THAT LITTLE BIT OF FOOTAGE - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CAN SOMEBODY OUT THERE CONFIRM THE FILM??
**** me Rocky, you know your subjecting me to watching Kevin Costner movies now just to find out which one it is.
"Surf, I was hoping Klompton would give his input in this, there are other guys as well, Clay Moyle wrote the book so I'm guessing he knows quite alot on the subject. " From p. 237 of my Langford book: "Two days later, on June 14, it was announced that Mr. T.V. Coyle, proprietor of Royal Pictures, had secured the moving picures of the recent fight between Langford and McVea. Furthermore, he had signed Langford to appear ata screeings of he film over twelve nights. Sam would describe the actino to the audience, demonstrate his training methods and spar with friend and sparring partner, John "Liver" Davis. The vaudeville tour, which included appearances by a ju-jitsu expert known as "Professor" Stevenson and films of additional fights (Bill Lang vs. Bob Fitzsimmons, and Gunner Moir vs. Bombadier Wells, among other acts) was well received and provided Sam with lucrative employment while awaiting his next bout." I believe it was their April 8, 1912 fight in Sydney that Langford won by decision over 20 rounds. In any case, I didn't spend much time looking for the film, but I did check with a few people in Australia without any luck.
The fact that it was filmed in Australia (and not affected by the Mann Act) leaves hope that it may still exist. Clay, I'm surprised you didn't spend much time lookin for it. Were you concerned that it would be too hard to track down so there would be no point looking for it? It would certainly be a great piece of history and a great film to find for boxing. Really enjoying the Langford book BTW.
"The fact that it was filmed in Australia (and not affected by the Mann Act) leaves hope that it may still exist. Clay, I'm surprised you didn't spend much time lookin for it. Were you concerned that it would be too hard to track down so there would be no point looking for it? It would certainly be a great piece of history and a great film to find for boxing. Really enjoying the Langford book BTW. " The folks I did talk to in Australia, one in particular as I recall, mentioned having tried to track it down themselves. I can't remember the particulars now, but it seems to me that they told me about the likelihood of it being destroyed or lost for some reason. In any case, I also hoped that by making more people aware that the fight was actually filmed someone else might find it at some point and share it.
Oh I see. Thanks for answering my questions. Its a real shame if it was destroyed, I have Langford as p4p number 1, the more film of him there is, the better. Youre right though, guys who search for boxing films from the old days will probably try to track it down at some point.