Gentleman Jim (1942)

Popularity:

Up 19% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Vincent Lawrence (screen play) and
Horace McCoy (screen play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

1 October 1948 (Germany)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

The grandest story of the Naughty "Nineties" becomes the gayest picture of the Fighting "Forties!"

Plot:

As bareknuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert Jim Corbett uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the top of the boxing world.

Plot Keywords:

Boxing | Irish American | Extrovert | Childhood Idol | Benefactor

Cast

Errol Flynn	...	James J. Corbett
Alexis Smith	...	Victoria Ware
Jack Carson	...	Walter Lowrie
Alan Hale	...	Pat Corbett
John Loder	...	Carlton De Witt
William Frawley	...	Billy Delaney
Minor Watson	...	Buck Ware
Ward Bond	...	John L. Sullivan
Madeleine Lebeau	...	Anna Held (as Madeleine LeBeau)
Rhys Williams	...	Harry Watson
Arthur Shields	...	Father Burke
Dorothy Vaughan	...	Ma Corbett
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hooper Atchley	...	(uncredited)
Edwin August	...	Olympic Club Member (uncredited)
Clara Blandick	...	Woman on Train (uncredited)
Monte Blue	...	Gambler in "Lucky Guy" (uncredited)
Wade Boteler	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Walter Byron	...	Ringside Telegrapher (uncredited)
Georgia Caine	...	Mrs. Geary (uncredited)
Johnny Calkins	...	Boy (uncredited)
Davison Clark	...	Auctioneer (uncredited)
Wallis Clark	...	Judge Geary (uncredited)
Hal Craig	...	Telegrapher (uncredited)
Joseph Crehan	...	Duffy - Referee (uncredited)
Harry Crocker	...	Charles Crocker (uncredited)
Wade Crosby	...	Manager (uncredited)
William B. Davidson	...	Donovan (uncredited)
William 'Wee Willie' Davis	...	Flannagan (uncredited)
Jean Del Val	...	Renaud (uncredited)
Joe Devlin	...	Hogan (uncredited)
Dudley Dickerson	...	Bellboy (uncredited)
Peggy Diggins	...	Beautiful Actress (uncredited)
Lester Dorr	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Robert Fiske	...	Telegrapher (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	Harry Corbett (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	George Corbett (uncredited)
Art Foster	...	Jack Burke (uncredited)
Jack Gardner	...	Usher (uncredited)
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Casey (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Mug (uncredited)
Creighton Hale	...	Championship Fight Spectator (uncredited)
Bert Hanlon	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Carl Harbaugh	...	Smith (uncredited)
Winifred Harris	...	Woman at Opera (uncredited)
Lew Harvey	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Jack Herrick	...	Bodyguard, Donaldson's Partner (uncredited)
Herbert Heywood	...	Man on Telephone (uncredited)
William Hopper	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Si Jenks	...	Old Man (uncredited)
Tor Johnson	...	The Mauler (uncredited)
Fred Kelsey	...	Sutro (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	(uncredited)
Joe King	...	Col. McLane (uncredited)
Richard Kipling	...	(uncredited)
Charles Lang	...	(uncredited)
Ed Lewis	...	Hoghead (uncredited)
George Lloyd	...	Harrigan (uncredited)
Charles Marsh	...	Station Master (uncredited)
John Maxwell	...	Stockbroker (uncredited)
Eric Mayne	...	Olympic Club Member (uncredited)
Frank Mayo	...	Gov. Stanford (uncredited)
Mike Mazurki	...	Jake Kilrain (uncredited)
Lon McCallister	...	Page Boy (uncredited)
Mathew McCue	...	Championship Fight Spectator (uncredited)
Larry McGrath	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Pat McKee	...	Callahan - Ticket Taker (uncredited)
Charles Meakin	...	Olympic Club Member (uncredited)
John Merkyl	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Frank Moran	...	Spectator - Sullivan Fight (uncredited)
Pat Moriarity	...	Spectator - Sullivan Fight (uncredited)
Jack Mower	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Wedgwood Nowell	...	Broker (uncredited)
Henry O'Hara	...	Colis Huntington (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley	...	Detective (uncredited)
Emory Parnell	...	Dennis Simmons - Doorman (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Detective (uncredited)
Marilyn Phillips	...	Mary Corbett (uncredited)
Jack Roper	...	Donaldson (uncredited)
Syd Saylor	...	Hansom Cab Driver (uncredited)
George Sherwood	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Edwin Stanley	...	Bank President McInnes (uncredited)
Freddie Steele	...	Referee (uncredited)
Count Stefenelli	...	Olympic Club Member (uncredited)
Sammy Stein	...	Joe Choynski (uncredited)
Dan Tobey	...	Ring Announcer (uncredited)
Charlotte Treadway	...	Matron (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Stage Manager (uncredited)
Dick Wessel	...	Referee (uncredited)
Leo White	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Charles C. Wilson	...	Gurney (uncredited)
Joan Winfield	...	Actress (uncredited)
Jack Wise	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Victor Zimmerman	...	Reporter (uncredited)

Directed by
Raoul Walsh

Writing credits
Vincent Lawrence		(screen play) and
Horace McCoy		(screen play)
James J. Corbett		(based upon the life of)

Produced by
Robert Buckner	....	producer

Original Music by
Heinz Roemheld		(music) (as H. Roemheld)

Cinematography by
Sidney Hickox		(director of photography) (as Sid Hickox)

Film Editing by
Jack Killifer		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Ted Smith

Set Decoration by
Clarence Steensen		(set decorations)

Costume Design by
Milo Anderson		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Frank Mattison	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Russell Saunders	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
C.A. Riggs	....	sound

Stunts
Mushy Callahan	....	fight choreographer (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paul Stader	....	stunts (uncredited)
Buster Wiles	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Don Siegel	....	montages
James Leicester	....	montage (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Ray Heindorf	....	orchestral arrangements
Sam Perry	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Ed Cochrane	....	technical advisor
Hugh Cummings	....	dialogue director
Mushy Callahan	....	trainer: Errol Flynn (uncredited)
Henry Iblings	....	double: Errol Flynn (uncredited)
Ed Lewis	....	boxing double: Ward Bond (uncredited)
Freddie Steele	....	double: Errol Flynn (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. (presents) (as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.) (A Warner Bros.-First National Picture)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1948) (France) (theatrical)
• Key Video (1986) (USA) (VHS) (clamshell case)
• MGM/UA Home Video (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)  this picture made under the jurisdiction of (as I.A.T.S.E.)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 | Norway:A (1950) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (Certificate No. 8440) | USA:Not Rated (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Baldwin Estate, Santa Anita, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros.

Trivia:

Although Wee Willie Davis is billed as Flanagan in all Warner publicity material at the time, in the finished film his character's name is referred to as 'The Mauler.'

Goofs:

Factual errors: Joe Choynski is shown as a big brute. The real Choynski was a middleweight who never weighed over 155 lb., and was much smaller than Corbett.

Quotes:

James J. Corbett aka Gentleman Jim:[Watching his inebriated father's weaving walk home] Here comes Pop! Uh, he's walkin' the tightrope again.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Summer of '42 (1971)

Soundtrack:

Overture

The First "Modern" Heavyweight Boxing Champion

It is sometimes odd to think how many historical figures who were the subjects of film biographies from 1927 to 1950 were actually still alive in the start of the talking film period. Marie Curie was - is there some long forgotten piece of newsreel film with her in it (from Pathe, naturally) where we see her in a laboratory, and she is talking in French or Polish or even English? George M. Cohan - he actually was in some silent films, but there were two sound films he starred in, one of which (THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT) is in tact, and is worth watching. It turned out the Yankee Doodle Boy could sing and act on celluloid. How about the subject of GENTLEMAN JIM, the great pugilist James J. Corbett?

Well, actually, there are some films with Corbett in them from the early sound period. People forget that he followed his boxing career with a fairly successful stage career (including the lead role in George Bernard Shaw's THE ADMIRABLE BASHFUL, a play about pugilism based on Shaw's novel CASHEL BYRON'S PROFESSION). This is barely touched on in GENTLEMAN JIM, except in one scene where Errol Flynn mentions Shaw's writings. Anyway, Corbett would remain in the vaudeville and legitimate theatre until he died in 1931. And he did appear in one or two early sound films [so did the first African-American heavyweight boxing champ, Jack Johnson].

Actually GENTLEMAN JIM wisely stuck to the rise of Corbett to the heavyweight championship. It also was able to make much humor out of his contentious family and his social pretensions (constantly punctured by Alexis Smith, as the socialite he would like to marry). Supported by an able cast, including William Frawley, Jack Carson, and Alan Hale Sr. the film goes along rapidly, and you never get bored. Raoul Walsh's direction is first rate here. And there are moments of great humor, such as the fat members of the Olympic Club exercising, or the way the Corbetts seem to be preparing for their next fight at the drop of a hat (to which Carson yells "THE CORBETTS ARE AT IT AGAIN!" each time). Some of Walsh's camera tricks are nice too - in a montage showing the rise of Corbett in a series of successful fights, Walsh uses photos of the boxers in a bar that are stills from the next scene of the fight the boxers lose or win.

Corbett was one of the first articulate and well-read men to achieve boxing fame. He also championed the Marquess of Queensberry rules, including boxing gloves. The latter had already achieved acceptance (begrudgingly) from Sullivan, whose defeat of Paddy Kilraine in 1889 was the last great bare-knuckle fight. But the final scene of Sullivan (Ward Bond, possibly in his finest moment on the screen) passing his heavyweight belt to Corbett, no matter how moving it really is, brings to mind one of the real problems of Corbett's victory in 1892. Sullivan, a large man with a heavy drinking problem, was not in tip-top shape when he fought Corbett, who was faster and younger. Bond says he does not know what would have been the result if they had met five years earlier, and Flynn agrees it would be hard to call. We'll never really know. Sullivan dominated the heavyweight fight game from 1881 to 1892. Corbett was champ from 1892 to 1897. One wonders which of the two champs was really the greater boxer.