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Masterful Movie

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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.

Co-produced and directed by W.S. Van Dyke, with an original story by two time Oscar winner Frances Marion, which was adapted by John Lee Mahin and John Meehan, this average boxing film features real heavyweight champion Max Baer with Myrna Loy in the title roles. Ring champs Primo Carnera and Jack Dempsey also appear, as themselves. Walter Huston plays an ex-manager, now a drunk, who discovers Baer's character as a bouncer in a bar; Vince Barnett plays his trainer. Otto Kruger plays a gangster who's "kept" Loy's character, a singer at his club, in furs and jewels. Robert McWade plays Kruger's trigger man.Upon discovering Baer, whom he thinks will be the next heavyweight champion, Huston's character sobers up and begins promoting his young, handsome fighter. While they're doing road training, Loy's car crashes nearby such that she's rescued by Baer, who instantly falls for her. Unable to "wash him out of her hair", Loy breaks with Kruger and marries the pugilist.Huston "bans" Loy from Baer's practice camp for the good of his training, but Baer strays (with various other women) while his winning streak grows to 19 bouts over the course of a year, earning him a shot at the title with Carnera. Loy learns about the cheating, giving Baer one more chance, which he blows. Kruger is only too happy to help Baer get his chance, setting him up for a beating by Carnera, after Loy returns to his lair.The climactic fight includes Dempsey as its referee. The ending is as unbelievable as it is predictable, at least for today's audience, but it must have been "original" at the time, explaining why Marion received a Best Writing Achievement Oscar nomination for this 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.

As a fight fan I cringe when I see films like Rocky, Kid Gallahad or Golden Boy. They might as well be from Republic serials. Every punch a hay maker. Every punch connecting. But this film shows what two top professionals can do. Sure, the action is unrealistically non-stop but the punches are thrown properly and the connection rate (until the final rounds) realistic. This is enough to make Prizefighter and the Lady the best fight film ever.I was terrifically impressed by Max Baer. He held his own with consummate professionals. Was he awkward in some scenes? Yes. But isn't this how you would expect a guy that he was playing to react? And his turn at show business, while of no value to the film, was the kind of thing famous people routinely did in that age.The rest of the cast was uniformly good. Willy the gangster was a difficult assignment pulled off with originality and rare perception. The basic story may be well-used but done with complete believability and with interesting twists. Fight fans, see this film.

Max Baer plays a fat-headed boxer who falls in love and marries sweet Myrna Loy. However, soon after the wedding, Baer begins drinking and womanizing and seemed to be a major jerk--and a very talented boxer. Unfortunately, he promised again and again he'd change, but he didn't. By the end of the film, he'd lost his wife and manager and didn't seem to care. However, the usual cliché of "turnaround scene" when the boxer hit bottom never really occurred with Baer's character! By the big fight at the end of the film, he STILL was a jerk--yet despite this, the wife and manager came running back to him!! This made very little sense and seems to have set back women's rights several decades.While the plot of this film and production values are at best average, this film has a lot of historical value and so it shouldn't be written off completely. That's because this boxing film is unique in that it stars several real boxers--including several champions. Max Baer and Primo Carnera were, at the time, the most famous active boxers--both having been champions. Max Baer is the star of the film and does a pretty good job of acting considering he is NOT an actor. Plus, it's interesting to see Max Baer, Jr.'s ("Jethro" from THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES) father act. In addition, Jack Dempsey (perhaps the most famous boxer of the 20th Century) makes a significant appearance as well and there are some small cameos by famous boxers and wrestlers of the age. So, as a result, this movie is a MUST for boxing fans or lovers of pop culture and American history. All I suggest, though, is that you realize this is NOT a great film--just interesting for reasons other than artistic merit.