The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933) User Reviews

Unexpectedly compelling

[klg19 · 7/10 · 25 March 2005]

Max Baer, Myrna Loy, and Otto Kruger deliver worthy performances in this curiosity of a film. Clearly it was made and distributed "pre-Code," as Myrna Loy's character displays a certain...moral laxity that would not have gone unpunished a few years later. Kruger's tough guy is also unusually nuanced for a gangster of this period.

But the real surprise--and delight--is Baer. He acts, he sings, he dances, and he does it all as convincingly as he fights in the climactic bout. In that bout he takes on then heavyweight champ Primo Carnera. I found myself on the edge of my seat as I waited to see which of these two renowned boxers would be the one to post an on-screen loss. The resulting decision is best explained by this entry in the American Film Institute Catalog:

"Professional heavyweight boxer Max Baer made his screen debut in the film. At the time of the film's production, Primo Carnera, who also made his screen debut in the picture, was the world's heavyweight boxing champion. Baer was considered the main contender for Carnera's crown, and in 1934, he defeated Carnera for the title. Variety notes that Carnera refused to be knocked out at the end of the film and agreed to the draw decision in the script only after the studio added an extra $10,000 to his $35,000 salary. Hollywood Reporter notes that Baer was 'mutilated' for the first time in his two-year boxing career when he had two teeth knocked out during a staged fight. According to the modern interview with Myrna Loy, Baer studied Carnera's boxing techniques during the filming and later used this 'scouting' information to beat Carnera. In March 1934, Daily Variety announced that the picture had been banned in Germany because Baer was Jewish."

That last line is quite the kicker, isn't it? All in all, this is a film that's worth giving time to.

Let's hear it for the boy

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 3 July 2006]

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.

Lucky Fellow, Lucky Guy

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 26 September 2005]

I don't think anyone in Hollywood history did so well at playing himself as Max Baer did in this film until Audie Murphy played himself in To Hell and Back. Though his character name was Steve Morgan, believe me this is the genuine Max.

And this is a lot closer than the portrayal of Baer in that otherwise excellent film Cinderella Man that came out this year. Baer had all the tools necessary to have been the greatest heavyweight champion of all. His power punching killed two people in the ring as was graphically demonstrated in Cinderella Man.

But Max was no killer and no bully as Cinderella Man showed. Those deaths deeply affected him and he pulled his punches in many subsequent matches. In addition he was a colorful playboy who just loved the fast nightclub life as he does in The Prizefighter and the Lady.

Myrna Loy and her chauffeur are saved from an auto wreck by Max and his fight manager Walter Huston. They find out later she's the main squeeze of hoodlum Otto Krueger. I won't say more, but there are some of the same plot elements that are found in Broadway Through a Keyhole and Stars Over Broadway in which this same story has the protagonist a singer.

Today's audience might find it a little silly that fighter Max Baer appears in a Broadway review. But that was definitely Max as he sings with a bunch of chorus girls, Lucky Fellow, Lucky Guy.

Myrna Loy, Walter Huston and Otto Krueger all turn in fine performances in their parts. And Max Baer was a natural born performer. After his ring career he had a nightclub act with fellow pugilist and former Light Heavyweight Champion Maxie Rosenbloom. Baer was no longer the physical specimen he was in 1933, but he had great comic timing and also did several movie roles by himself and with Rosenbloom.

He also did a great dramatic part in The Harder They Fall as a stone cold killer of a heavyweight champion, the image that Cinderella Man tried to convey of him.

Also the Twentieth Century Fox film, Footlight Serenade, uses Max Baer as a model for Victor Mature's character.

And as a special treat for you boxing fans, a whole slew of former ring greats are introduced at the climax of the film before Baer fights for the heavyweight champion.

I found the film thoroughly enjoyable and hope TCM shows it more often so the real Max Baer is seen by today's audiences.

typical boxing/girl mix-up...with one big difference

[halmp-1 · 16 May 2003]

Actress Myrna Loy is one of the legendary names in (early) Hollywood. In her biography, she admits that the only major mistake she made in her career was underestimating the raw physicality and animal presence, as well as the dominating personality, of heavyweight champion-to-be Max Baer for "The Prizefighter and the Lady". This film was made in 1933, less than a year before Baer demolished Primo Carnera for the title. The 6-3, 225-pound Baer was 24 when this film was made, and at his physical peak. His chiseled features rivaled those of any actor. Though Baer had never had formal drama training, his sheer presence---and fun-loving personality---often dominated scenes, regardless of those with him. Nowhere is it more evident than in this film. Despite the skills and experience of his primary co-stars, Baer utterly overshadows everyone. About all Loy and everyone else can do here is try not to look too much overshadowed. Everyone who knew Baer, including those who fought him---such as Joe Louis---stated that Max was a frustrated performer. As for the film itself, as an early talkie, its plot and character interactions were quite elementary. Corny might best describe them. Loy, and Otto Krueger, when not in scenes with Baer, demonstrate solid acting. For fight fans, this is a Who's Who. Some of the greatest names of early boxing appear here in walk-on roles. Jack Dempsey, just seven years removed from his championship days, is the referee in Baer's climactic title fight with cinema---and actual world champion---Carnera. Other renowned figures are Jim Jeffries and Jess Willard (former heavyweight titlists), and former heavyweight challengers Tom Sharkey and Frank Moran. Some trivia: Baer here played a character named Steve Morgan. Though his celluloid fight with Carnera was judged a draw, Morgan gives the champ quite a beating early in the bout. When Baer and Carnera actually met for the championship, on June 14, 1934, at New York's Long Island City Bowl, Max entered the ring wearing not his own robe, but the one from the film...with Steve Morgan's name emblazoned on the back. Obviously, it was an attempt to psych Carnera. One of the ringside reporters quipped: "Too bad Max couldn't make it tonight. I think he might have beaten Primo." Whichever name he used, Baer knocked down Carnera a record 11 times in 11 rounds before the referee stopped the bout and awarded Max the crown. This film is worth watching for the charismatic Baer, his exciting and entertaining battle with Carnera, and all those historic boxing figures.

Boxing fans - this movie is for you!

[Art-22 · 7/10 · 11 October 1998]

The movie's routine plot involving the on-again, off-again romance and marriage between Myrna Loy and Max Baer seemed completely dwarfed by the drama of the final 25 minutes, which pitted Max Baer against Primo Carnera for the world heavyweight championship. As most boxing fans will know, Carnera was the world heavyweight champion and Baer was a contender when this movie was made, and they actually did square off against each other for the heavyweight title the year after this movie was released, when Baer beat Carnera. In a sense, the fight in this this movie is a preview of the real championship fight even though it was staged, and it is much more enjoyable if you keep that in mind. Many of the boxing greats were introduced before the fight just as is done in actual championship fights.

One rousing match

[mik-19 · 7/10 · 12 February 2004]

Spunky young boxer woos and weds lovely torch singer, snatching her away from under they vigilant eyes of her mobster boyfriend, as it were, but soon, as his boxing star rises he takes to philandering... I wasn't prepared for the impact of this incredibly dynamic early talkie, taut, effective and clearheaded. The way Hawks and Van Dyke tell their story is to the point, the acting by both Loy and real-life boxer Max Baer is vivid and engaging. And yet, nothing will prepare you for the grand finale, the ultimate Madison Sq Garden match, a haven of broken noses and cauliflower ears. The fight itself is wonderfully, imaginatively shot with alternating angles, intermingled with shots of Loy and Walter Huston in the audience, fights breaking out, ladies swooning, desperate last-minute bets taking place, cutting faster and faster, faster and faster. Quite a feat, recommended.

Art Imitates Life

[adamshl · 7/10 · 14 January 2009]

. . . or is it life imitates art? For here we have real life boxing champs, stage-battling in the ring for a movie. Only to be pitted in real life the following year for a bona fide championship bout.

Van Dyke's direction and his crew's camera work and editing for the climactic screen fight are all excellent. As exciting and well staged as any modern film . . . and remember this was 1933! The cast is excellent, including Loy, Huston and Kruger.

The real surprise though is Baer himself, acting, boxing, singing, and dancing. Who ever had the idea of fashioning a script around this athlete got a brain storm. It was brilliant and it worked.

Overlook the title (and often middling script) and check this striking early talkie out.

Decent, but unravels a bit at the end

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 18 December 2016]

There is a lot to like about this movie, starting with the beautiful Myrna Loy, who is caught in a love triangle between a gangster and an up and coming boxer. The boxer is played by real life heavyweight Max Baer, who is certainly as good an actor as most for the time period, and very interesting to watch. The gangster is played well by Otto Kruger, so it's a strong cast. The film's pace over the first half or so is great, and I found myself a little surprised with one of the directions it took, but I won't spoil it. I liked seeing Loy singing (though it may have been lip sync'd), and it was fun (and a little silly) to see Baer in a pretty long musical number later. That's probably the beginning of where the film finds itself being a little too long, but it's really the big fight at the end with real-life champion Primo Canera which drags on. They introduce a number of other real-life boxers, which may have been a thrill to boxing fans in 1933, but with the exception of Jack Dempsey, is less interesting today (at least to me). During these introductions, there is a pretty mean joke about Kate Smith, who is said to be in the audience "sitting in seats one, two, and three". The boxing action itself is spotty – director W.S Van Dyke includes some nice shots, such as Carnera coming out of his corner, as well as an overhead angle, but there is quite a bit of footage that you can tell has been sped up, and quite a bit that looks unrealistic. I also hated the ending. Oddly enough, in a movie with so many big name boxers, it was the boxing that caused me to drop the rating a bit. Still worth watching though.

what a goofy little film

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 5 August 2012]

At least it seems that everyone involved was aware that heavyweight boxing champion of the world Max Baer could not act, and therefore the cast was filled with very capable players (Loy, Kruger, Huston). Even though Max Baer was second billed, and is the center of attention of the plot, he actually gets very few lines or real acting scenes. People talk more about him than talk to him.

The film opens in a bar where washed up boxing manager "The Professor" (Walter Huston) is drowning his sorrows and telling tall tales as has apparently been his habit for some time. The bartender (Max Baer as Steve Morgan) takes care of a couple of rough customers with some impressive boxing moves, and The Professor decides to promote him as a fighter - starting small at first, partly because Morgan is an unknown, partly because the professor's reputation has become somewhat scarred along with his liver. While out road training one day, a car crashes nearby and the professor and Morgan rescue Belle Mercer (Myrna Loy) and her driver. It turns out Belle is a nightclub star and mistress to jealous gangster Willie Ryan (Otto Kruger). In spite of this danger, Morgan won't take no for an answer and pursues Belle, although with sparse dialogue and little finesse, making her succumbing to his charms all the more mystifying.

So far you have your standard fight movie of the 1930's - a washed up promoter gets a second chance and an unknown natural gets an opportunity to work up to the championship, with a classy lady and a gangster thrown in for good measure. I'll let you watch and see how everything plays out. I will talk about some of the weirder points of the production, though.

The dialogue is very abbreviated and also delivered rapid fire like a Warner Bros. film of the same era. Also, gangster Willie Ryan is a hard one to figure out. When Morgan is pursuing Belle he threatens gun play and gets very tough. After Morgan wins her, he tries to take a more psychological even gentle route. Plus Willie's chief bodyguard and muscle looks like he is eligible for social security, had it existed in 1933. That guy couldn't scare much less beat up anyone. While Steve seems only interested in satisfying every carnal urge at Belle's expense, Willie seems interested only in Belle's happiness. By the end of the film I found myself genuinely liking Willie the gangster and disliking self-centered Steve.. Then there is a bizarre little musical number stuck in the film featuring Max Baer and a bunch of chorus girls with fight training gear as props. Max sings, does some simple dance moves, and acquits himself pretty well in this silliness but it did leave me asking - Why???? I'd say it's worthwhile just for the cheekiness of it all. Plus it's a chance to see Myrna Loy in a role that MGM would never have assigned her to after she really hit the big time the following year in "The Thin Man".

forgettable BUT historically significant

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 13 February 2006]

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.

A pleasant enough look at 1930s boxing!

[aweiland · 8/10 · 5 July 2002]

You can't go wrong with a Myrna Loy movie! Interesting piece of history as Max Baer learned enough during his boxing scenes with Carnera that he was easily able to beat him in their 1934 bout for the Heavyweight Championship. Carnera's few speaking lines are almost unintelligible. I assume this was because at that time he spoke little English, and his voice was naturally very deep.

Boxers galore in this somewhat unique comedy romance

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 12 July 2021]

"The Prizefighter and the Lady" is a fictional comedy romance built around a real live prizefighter. It's unique in a number of ways. The most obvious, as other reviewers note, is that the cast has three men who held the title of world heavy weight boxing champion. Only one plays himself, Primo Carnera. The male lead, Max Baer, plays Steve Morgan, a bouncer in a bar; and Jack Dempsey plays the Promoter. Myrna Loy is top billed as Belle, and the fine supporting cast includes Walter Huston as the Professor and Otto Kruger as Willie Ryan.

Some of the other unique aspects of this film add to its interest and somewhat historical significance. In the movie, Baer's Steve Morgan fights the current world champion, Carnera to a draw. So, Carnera keeps his title. But, this movie came out on Nov. 1, 1933, and just seven months later, Baer would meet and soundly defeat Carnera for the world heavyweight championship. Has there ever been such a prescient film about a world championship of any kind?

A somewhat unique aspect of the film is it's portrayal of Baer's life. It's shown here just as he lived it. Baer was thought to have the hardest right punch of any boxer who ever lived. One fighter died after he gave him a brutal beating in the ring. But Baer didn't go for the usual training regimen that boxers follow. He disdained training in real life and this film shows how he liked to live it up. He enjoyed the spotlight and had a sense of humor. Boxing experts have speculated that had he not lived life in the fast lane outside the ring, and instead trained and kept in great shape, he could have kept his heavyweight crown for many years.

But, the very next year after he won it in 1934 - a year and a half after this movie, Baer lost his crown to a former boxer who returned to the ring. James J. Braddock was a 20-1 underdog, but he beat Baer for the crown on June 13, 1935. That fight was the subject of a 2005 film by Ron Howard, "Cinderella Man," that starred Russell Crowe. Craig Bierko played Baer, and while the film was a box office hit, historians and some critics fault Howard and company for their portrayal of Baer as a monster. In real life, his son and others have said, Baer felt guilt and remorse over the death of Frankie Campbell whom Baer had knocked out.

In his later fights, Baer was thought to hold back on his punches for fear of killing another fighter. The last unique aspect of this film is that it was Max Baer's first movie, and a very good one for a newcomer to star in. Baer would make 21 more films over the next two and a half decades, mixing screen time with his nightclub act. He would die of a heart attack at age 50 on Nov. 21, 1959 in Hollywood. Primo Carnera had actually been in two films before this. And he would have a movie career as well in supporting roles for 22 total films. Dempsey had been in silent films and would make a couple more after this. While he would live more longer than the other younger two fighters - dying in 1983 at age 87 in New York, Dempsey also had the exact same number if films as the other two fighters. All three former heavyweight champions of the world made 22 movies. But they were all together in just this one movie. I think that may be a record for talking parts in a movie.

Average boxing film featuring real life champs Baer, Carnera and Dempsey

[jacobs-greenwood · 5/10 · 2 December 2016]

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.

Better than the clumsy title would suggest

[[e-mail] · 19 July 2003]

In earlier viewer comments I notice that Max Baer is referred to both as a "lunk" and as a dominating presence. He had every opportunity, since he appears in a majority of the scenes. The script called on him to demonstrate incredibly diverse talents, even as he was surrounded by such seasoned performers as Myrna Loy, Walter Huston and Otto Kruger, all of whom give excellent performances. We see him in semi-comic scenes as a braggart strong man; in love scenes with Myrna Loy in which something seems really to be going on between them, and in flirtations or affairs with other women; in a ten-minute "dance" number embodying fighter training techniques with a line of chorus girls; and finally in an only slightly abridged championship fight with the then heavyweight champ Primo Carnera, anticipating their actual battle a year later. It's amazing that a screen neophyte with no drama training actually brings these off credibly; I agree with the dominating presence comment. If you look at his subsequent filmography, it's clear that he never had another significant opportunity; perhaps it was necessary for a film to be built around him as this one was. As I watched this film last night the thought came to me that he was born fifty years too soon; he could have been successful in the kind of roles recently played by Stallone and Schwarzenegger, neither of whom, in my opinion, has the range for which Baer showed the potential.

boxing melodrama that is maybe the secret origin of boxing movies today(?)

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 21 December 2015]

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.

The Boxer and the Movie Star

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 9 August 2012]

When muscular Max Baer (as Steve Morgan) shows his fisticuffs and strength in a bar, alcoholic fight promoter Walter Huston (as Edwin "Professor" Bennett) sobers up fast. While training for his first bout, Mr. Baer rescues lovely nightclub singer Myrna Loy (as Belle Mercer) from a road mishap and invites her to the fight. They are mutually attracted, but she is otherwise engaged with gangster Otto Kruger (as Willie Ryan). Jack Dempsey and other boxers appear. Nothing too revolutionary happens here, but the "big fight" ending at Madison Square Garden is more realistic than average; it features Baer, a real boxer becoming a concurrent movie star, fighting his actual rival Primo Carnera.

****** The Prizefighter and the Lady (11/10/33) W.S. Van Dyke ~ Max Baer, Myrna Loy, Walter Huston, Otto Kruger

"You've been hitting pretty low Morgan, and I can't take it."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 24 February 2016]

I almost don't know where to start with this review. Without the principals involved it's just another romance gone wrong/sports story, but when you throw in the fact that there are five, count 'em, five former World Heavyweight Boxing Champions in the picture, well just the idea simply blows me away.

Regarding the love story, it's rather improbable that a character portrayed by Myrna Loy would fall for a lug like boxer Max Baer, but that's the premise so you'll have to go along with it. Gangster Willie Ryan (Otto Kruger) couldn't believe it himself, he was Belle Mercer's (Loy) main squeeze until Steve Morgan (Baer) showed up, and when Belle announces her surprise marriage to the fighter, Ryan had to ask her "Were you on the junk"? Whoa, pre-Code remarks like that are always a sit up and take notice moment!

Before we get to the picture's world title match, Max Baer genuinely surprises with talent that supersedes the boxing ring. Lined up chorus style with a bevy of dancers about half his size, Baer sings and dances his way through 'Lucky Fella', while manhandling the gals through an entertaining gym performance and a solidly choreographed table routine. Seriously, I couldn't get over Baer's performance here, he had showmanship and style that belied his large, muscular frame.

The story builds to an eventual boxing match between Steve Morgan and the real heavyweight champ at the time, Primo Carnera. The introductions prior to the match allow modern day viewers a look at some of the boxing greats of yesteryear - Joe Rivers, Jackie Fields, Billy Parke, Jess Willard, Frank Moran and Jim Jeffries. Even wrestling champ Strangler Lewis makes an appearance, while Jack Dempsey shares a joke with Jess Willard regarding their own title match in 1919; Willard stating that he didn't remember much about that day.

Though the relationship between Belle and Morgan turns rocky during their marriage due to Steve's wandering eye and libido, her presence at ringside for the title bout brings her around to caring about the big lug once again. There's not much about their reconciliation that's believable following the match's draw decision, much less Willie Ryan's favorable reaction to their getting back together again. I guess the best way to describe it is by using Belle's own words from earlier in the film - "Oh, that's a lot of horseradish".

Surprisingly good!

[hemisphere65-1 · 7/10 · 22 July 2021]

Max Baer did a great job, despite that nauseating Broadway show bit. Myrna Loy was good as well, but the boxing scenes were the biggest difference between this film and other boxing movies before Rocky.

Having actual boxers made a huge difference, making the whole story more believable.

1933 Charmer

[fienbergm · 10/10 · 23 February 2017]

I recently saw this movie for the first time. It blew me away.

Max Baer as the protagonist, never overacting and an immense screen presence . Walter Huston as the failed alcoholic manager and |Otto Kruger as the sinister Gangster Willie Ryan.

All surrounded by Myrna Loy cute as a pixie.

The Broadway Show number starring Baer is an exhausting brilliant tour de force

The fight scenes intense and realistic(save for over multitude of knockdowns) I counted about 15!

This movie from 1933 has it all Romance Sex, Revenge and plenty of amazing cameos by the likes of Jack Dempsey, Jess Willars and Gentleman James Jeffries. \\Highly recommended

Worth Seeing, But Not Among Van Dyke's Best

[marclay · 6/10 · 10 March 2004]

I watched this film because of the involvement of 30s great W.S. Van Dyke and his oftentimes leading lady Myrna Loy, and I was more or less satisfied with his direction and her performance as Belle. Also, Walter Huston does good work as Steve Morgan's manager, "The Professor", and I was particularly impressed with Otto Kruger's unusual performance as Willie Ryan, Belle's bitter ex.

However, there is a black hole at the center of this film, and its name is Max Baer. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time to cast a real boxer as Steve Morgan -- and they could've done much worse, as Primo Carnera and Jack Dempsey evince toward the end of the film -- but I would've much rather seen a real actor in the role.

I wish I knew more about what went with the director's chair on this film. IMDb says that both W.S. Van Dyke and Howard Hawks directed it; however, the film itself features no director credit at all! Because Van Dyke is credited as producer, while Hawks' name appears nowhere in the film's credits, I finally decided to consider this a W.S. Van Dyke film. However, it's possible that I'll change my mind if I ever find out what went on behind the scenes.

Thanks to Turner Classic Movies for showing this film, along with countless other entertaining old movies that are otherwise unavailable.

Score: SIX out of TEN

Mixture of sports drama and musical makes an odd affair.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 10 August 2013]

One of the oddest of the boxing films, "The Prizefighter and the Lady" has potential for something solid, but the results are decidedly mixed. Like the premise of the same year's song and dance number, "She was a Chinese Teapot (But He Was Just a Mug)" from "International House", this pairs together the rather vulgar Max Baer with the glamorous but obviously bought-and-paid-for Myrna Loy. They meet by chance, but it is obvious from start to finish that her benefactor (a dour Otto Kruger) is unwilling to let her go without a fight. Baer goes from rags to riches as a rising prizefighter, and like others before him, he is exploited in the media, practically becoming his own circus.

Throughout all this are the musical numbers which tend to interrupt the more interesting dramatic action, basically stopping the film to show Myrna Loy (obviously dubbed) performing "Downstream Drifter". Then comes the big production number with "Lucky Fella", an over-the-top romp with Baer and tons of chorus girls performing a non-sensical number that is as large as anything else MGM had produced, yet seems to have no real point other than to show how the character was being exploited once he became a household name. An excellent performance by Walter Huston as Baer's alcoholic mentor and real-life champ Jack Dempsey in a cameo as himself are among the highlights, but overall, I was disappointed for something I had extra-high hopes for.

I must also comment on the extremely dark photography which made the film seem rather hard in an era made before film noir where that intentionally was thrown in to heighten the mood. Here, it is distracting, particularly during the unnecessary extended musical numbers.

This Romance Of The Ring Is More Than A Novelty

[atlasmb · 8/10 · 23 February 2016]

This novelty film provides more entertainment that one might expect. Myrna Loy is Belle, headline singer at a club owned by tough guy Willie Ryan (Otto Kruger). When Belle meets ambitious heavyweight boxer Steve Morgan (Max Baer), she is swept off her feet by his confidence and charm. Willie wants to retaliate against the iron-jawed palooka, but his love of Belle forces him to step aside and hope for her happiness.

Max Baer is the center of this film. The story follows his life in and out of the ring. This is stunt casting. Baer was a prime contender for the (real) world heavyweight title. Who knew he could actually act...and sing and dance! In one scene he performs with a bevy of chorines in a number that is the best part of the film. Most dance numbers in 1933 are no match for the precision, artistry and technical skills of the choreography in the forties and later, but the "training day" motif of this dance displays real fitness and gymnastic ability. And Baer performs with them, tap for tap.

The end of the film includes a boxing match between the contender and the champ, featuring three boxing champions in the ring at the same time: Jack Dempsey (as the referee), Max Baer and Primo Carnera. It also features the introduction of other ring celebrities, including James J. Jeffries. With boxing in its heyday, these cameos must have thrilled many filmgoers.

As a "time capsule", this film reveals much about the culture, language and attitudes of the depression era. It is also a surprisingly effective romance.

In real life, Baer would defeat champion Carnera in 1934. Baer's life was so colorful, it would make a great subject for film.

boxing and romance

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 15 November 2020]

Drunken boxing manager, the Professor (Walter Huston), spots bartender Steve Morgan (Max Baer) after he throws out a ruffian. He starts training the amateur. While running on the road, Steve is almost run over by the speeding car of nightclub singer Belle Mercer (Myrna Loy). The car crashes and he carries her to a farmhouse. She is the girlfriend of gangster Willie Ryan.

They need more time after the crash. They need that time to build up some chemistry. He feels more like a stalker when he is chasing after her with only the brief farmhouse scene. She needs to fall in love with him from the start. The romance is undercooked and Max Baer is not the greatest of actors. His skill set lies elsewhere. Myrna tries and even does some singing. The movie should be about the two lovers struggling to get together against all odds. They get together too quick. The romance feels too quick and too slow at the same time. The boxing is the boxing. These are real boxers and there is no need for stuntmen.

Ok entertainment, but cornball ending

[scsu1975 · 5/10 · 21 November 2022]

Myrna Loy is absolutely radiant in this, as the main squeeze of gangster Otto Kruger. Max Baer plays a bouncer who chases after Loy, and catches her. Walter Huston plays a has-been boxing manager who eventually gets Baer a title shot against Primo Carnera. Some former boxers have cameos.

Along the way, there are trials and tribulations as Baer cheats on Loy. How long will she put up with this? That's the gist of the film.

Huston is quite good, although during the climactic boxing match, he looks like he is suffering from reefer madness. Kruger is also very good, when he is not trying to talk out of the side of his mouth like a tough guy. Baer is okay, likable at times, but a bit stiff here and there.

Lowlight of the film occurs when Baer, surrounded on stage by a bevy of beauties, sings "Lucky Fella," and does some kind of workout/musical number which goes on forever. The only thing missing was The Village People.

Best line of the film occurs when the radio announcer mentions all the celebrities in attendance at the fight, and notes that "Kate Smith is occupying seats one, two, and three."