The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)

An ex-sailor turned boxer finds romance and gets a shot at the heavyweight title.

Director:

W.S. Van Dyke

Writers:

John Lee Mahin (screenplay), John Meehan (screenplay),

Stars:

Myrna Loy, Max Baer, Primo Carnera

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Myrna Loy	...	Belle
Max Baer	...	Steve
Primo Carnera	...	Carnera
Jack Dempsey	...	Promotor
Walter Huston	...	Professor
Otto Kruger	...	Willie Ryan
Vince Barnett	...	Bugsie
Robert McWade	...	Adopted Son
Muriel Evans	...	Linda
Jean Howard	...	Show Girl

Storyline

Steve is just a heavy duty bartender when Edwin J. Bennett, known as the Professor, starts training him for the ring. While doing road work, he is almost killed by a speeding car which crashes into a ditch. In the car is Belle Mercer and her driver. Steve takes Belle to a farmhouse and is smitten by her, but she is Willie Ryan's Girl. The fight is a breeze and later, Steve again meets Belle with Willie. That night, Steve and Belle disappear and return married, much to the disappointment of Ryan. Then Steve starts training in ernest and is 19 for 19 in the ring. However, he has an eye for the women and an expanding ego to match.

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Plot Keywords:

training | manhattan new york city | marital separation | chorus girl | boxing manager | 

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Genres:

Crime | Romance | Comedy

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 November 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Sailor and the Lady

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min 95 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fred 'Snowflake' Toones is in studio records/casting call lists for the role of "Trainer," but he did not appear or was not identifiable in the movie. A Contemporary Motion Picture Herald article stated that Lionel Barrymore, Jean Hersholt, Lupe Velez and Johnny Weissmuller were to appear as fight fans in the audience of the championship fight, but they were not seen.

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Goofs

Steve buttons up his sweater, straightens the bottom and puts his hands in his pockets in one shot with the Professor. In the next shot, when he's facing Belle, he buttons the bottom buttons again (before putting his hands in his pockets again).

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Quotes

Linda: That's the first time I ever knew I was stronger than Strangler Lewis.

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Connections

Featured in Sports on the Silver Screen (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Sobre las olas (Over the Waves)"
(1887) (uncredited)
Music by Juventino Rosas
Hummed by the chorus girls during the "Lucky Fella" number

User Reviews

Let's hear it for the boy

Max Baer is the prizefighter and Myrna Loy is the lady in "The Prizefighter and the Lady," a 1933 film also starring Walter Huston and Otto Kruger. Loy plays a singer who's seeing Otto Kruger and singing in his club - she has a rich mezzo voice (courtesy of Bernice Alstock). She meets handsome Baer, who pursues her until she marries him. It's not all roses once she learns that he plays around.

This is a fascinating as well as entertaining film. Loy is extremely beautiful and lovely in her role, and Huston is his usual excellent self, as is Otto Kruger. The fascinating part is Baer, the champion fighter whose character was unfairly decimated in "Cinderella Man" - I hope his family objected. Baer was an extremely colorful character out of the ring but never got over killing Frank Campbell during a fight - he put Campbell's children through college. Here he plays something closer to himself, an amiable playboy with a mean punch. His appearance in a vaudeville act is almost as impressive as his fighting. In "The Prizefighter and the Lady," as in real life, he fights Primo Carnera, as he would a year later. Carnera refused to appear in the film as originally written, where he would be knocked out. I thought Baer was big until I saw Carnera - WHOA. The screen fight is very effective.

There are several real sports figures in the film besides Carnero - Jack Dempsey, who helped Baer make a comeback later on when he started telegraphing his punches, and also James Jeffries and Frank Moran. If you're a prize fighter historian, this is the movie for you.

Baer went on to make other movies, in fact, he was known as a frustrated performer. His most notable appearance was in Bogart's last film, "The Harder They Fall." By then, of course, his screen persona was a little different. I don't actually agree with one of the comments about the film - I think "The Prizefighter and the Lady," despite the star performances, would have been fairly routine without him. As an added plus for baby boomers - he's Jethro's dad, after all.