| ||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
It's pure Raoul Walsh from the outset--a wordless sequence as, through the knowing eyes of a street cop, we watch the strata of Gay-'90s society coalesce one summer evening, everyone out to take in an illegal boxing match in the park. (Characteristic Walsh touch: Unmistakable among the traffic is an open carriage bearing a madam and her ladies-of-the-evening.) Upwardly aspiring bank teller Corbett gets a career boost by fast-talking a prominent judge out of the slammer after the cops have swept them up in a raid. From then on, seemingly nothing can stop the brash "Gentleman Jim" as he muscles his way into the exclusive Olympic Club and, after a casual display of fisticuffs, breaks into the boxing game himself. Along the way he attracts the irreverent attention of a well-born young lady (Alexis Smith in a characterization of uncommon spirit and wit) who finds him preposterously egotistical... but not without a certain animal magnetism.
This is a joyously earthy movie--in critic Peter Hogue's phrase, "a vision, imaginary or otherwise, of a time when personal wholeness and physical joy were much more accessible and more fully communal." Flynn cheerfully accepts being the butt of much of the humor; Jack Carson and frequent Flynn sidekick Alan Hale are splendid as Corbett's best pal and father, respectively; and the montages depicting his rise as a contender--by Don Siegel and James Leicester--are every bit as dynamic as their contributions to their next assignment, Casablanca. --Richard T. Jameson
Raoul Walsh -a splendid action director-directs with typical vigour and keeps thinks moving briskly with the fight scenes in particular being fine,although ,for my taste the scenes of comic relif are too broad and unsubtle.Neither does the love interst tacked on to the movie ,with Alexis Smith's society woman who becomes entangled with Corbett, work too well.The actual Corbett-Sullivan bout is well staged and Flynn accurately catches the man's revolutionary ,scientific pugilistic style.
Ignore its departures from the facts and this is enjoyable big studio film making from the golden era of the studio system with a charismatic performance from the star and some solid period detail.
"Gentleman Jim," the story of 19th century boxer James J. Corbett, gave Warner Brothers a chance to put their bad boy on display at his physical best -- exhibiting a lean, mean physique and an undeniable flair for ring work. His toothy grin, devil-may-care charm and boyish glee in a good fight all combined to make "Gentleman Jim" one of the 1940s' most compelling films, and one of Warner Brothers' biggest hits.
It is interesting to note that during the filming of "Gentleman Jim," Flynn collapsed and was carted off to the hospital. He was diagnosed, at the ripe old age of 32, of having had a mild heart attack. His co-star in the film, Alexis Smith, visited him and begged him to slow down his destructive lifestyle. Flynn, she later said, flashed that beautiful smile of his and shook his head.
"I enjoy this side of life," he told her, "and don't care to see the other side." END
|