Saw this old flicker last night,the boxing action is pretty sub par,and the plot not much better ,but I was fascinated seeing Max Baer,[just before he fought Primo],and Carnera pulling their punches for the cameras,,the first part of the film shows the up and coming Steve Morgan,[Baer]establishing himself as a contender,becoming swell headed and going "hollywood"Baer looked terrific physically ,shoulder s a yard wide big chest and that confident grin,then he fights the Champ Carnera ,who really was the Champ at the time Primo made him look like a cruiser weight only about 3 inches taller his arms looked as big as Maxs legs,because Primo was the real Champ the plot called for Baer to get a draw ,after taking an early beating,I read that Baer physched Primo out on the set ,and for their real fight wearing his Steve Morgan robe from the film,but the added bonus for me was seeing former champs introduced before the fight,they included ,Joe Rivers,Jackie FIelds ,Ed Strangler |Lewis,the Wrestler,Frank Moran ,Jack Dempsey ,who was also the referee,and Jess Willard,WIllard and Dempsey had some brief dialogue ,where Jack compares the fight intros to their scrap,Jess replies ,"I dont remember too much about it",an added curio was seeing Jim Jeffries ,being introduced,in late middle age ,he still looked impressive in a suit ,not by any means a great film but Baers performance and the chance to see some legends on screen however briefly made it worth staying up for.
I got this nice shot from the movie hanging on my wall, its signed by Jeffries and Carnera This content is protected
Cool to see Dempsey and Jeffries standing next to each other. Very cool to see Willard and Carnera as 'book ends'. Myrna Loy was quite good in 'Prizefighter and the Lady'. She's in my favorite English language musical, 'Love Me Tonight' (1932); she's with a very solid comedic cast in a supporting role and more than holds her own. I'm glad she eventually got the push she deserved.
I've seen the movie a few times on TCM. It's an overall mediocre/cliched/forgettable movie, but it's an interesting curio for true boxing fans & historians.
Saw this film years ago. The print was excellent. All things considered, it was pretty good and definitely a gem for fans of boxing. Came out the same year as the original King Kong, wow! Perhaps just unproven gossip but I have read that Maxie Baer allegedly had an affair with his leading lady, Myrna Loy.
After watching this flick a couple years ago, I bought it on DVD just to see the old time fighters that were in it.
This content is protected The cameos were pretty cool, surreal to see Jeffries in a movie. Quite the applause he gets too!
