Product Details

• Actors: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, John Loder
• Directors: Raoul Walsh
• Writers: Horace McCoy, James J. Corbett, Vincent Lawrence
• Producers: Robert Buckner
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM
• VHS Release Date: December 7, 1994
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302682622
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,056 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Gentleman Jim is such a bountifully superlative movie that its neglect among Warner Bros. classics has been downright mystifying. It's a boisterously exhilarating and likable picture from a director who made a habit of such things, Raoul Walsh. The performances of Errol Flynn, as pugilist dandy James J. Corbett, and Ward Bond, as heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan, just might be personal bests. And the 1890s period atmosphere, the interpersonal dynamics when the working-class Corbett clan intersects with the swells of San Francisco society, and the sheer, exuberant drive of the storytelling exemplify the richness of studio filmmaking in Hollywood's golden age. As glorious entertainment and vibrant cinema, this is a masterpiece.

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of Flynn's Best Performances, May 16, 2002

By	James L. (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Gentleman Jim features what I think may be the most relaxed performance I have seen Errol Flynn give in a movie. He's seems very comfortable and at home in this somewhat fictious account of the life of boxer James Corbett. Flynn is cocky and charming as usual in this story of how Corbett rose from being a bank teller to world champion. A beautiful and sassy Alexis Smith is along as the love interest, while Alan Hale is his very Irish father, William Frawley his manager, Jack Carson his best buddy, and Ward Bond his biggest rival. Everyone is very good and appears to be having a great time. The boxing sequences are well staged by director Raoul Walsh, and generous doses of humour are found throughout. It teeters on corny at times, but it is all played with such energy and obvious enjoyment, the corny moments can be overlooked. As usual for most Warner Bros biopics, I'm sure it takes many liberties with the truth, but it doesn't matter. The film is very entertaining in its presentation of his life and how boxing evolved.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rousing boxing movie, September 15, 2003

By	F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Despite several departures from historical accuracy this biography of world heavyweight champion Gentleman Jim Corbett is enjoyable and colourful entertainment with a performance from Errol Flynn that ranks alongside the liveliest he ever gave.
He is ideally cast as Corbett ,a San Francisco bank clerk ,who defeated John L Sullivan in 1892 ,in New Orleans ,to become world heavyweight champion.Success ,we are told .brought a swollen head ,an over indulgence in liquour and a tendency to braggadocio.This is plain wrong-Corbett was a modest and self effacing man throughout his life ,and it was this which earned him the soubriquet "Gentleman Jim "

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.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flynn At His Best, May 4, 2004

By	Dan A. Loschack (Burbank, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Errol Flynn is largely forgotten today by the average movie goer which is a shame since he was a genuine superstar of his time. His dazzling good looks and charm combined with a rakish off screen behavior catipulted him to quick success and gave fuel to detractors who claimed there was little talent behind the perfectly chisled facade.
In reality Flynn was a largely underrated actor shackled to many less than stellar productions by the studio's type casting. His talent for light comedy shows through brilliantly in Gentleman Jim this early forties biopic of Heavyweight Champion James J. Corbett. The movie is factual fluff when it comes to Corbett's personal life, but largely true to history concering his pugilistic efforts. Corbett did fight on barges and in rich sporting clubs to circumvent the public ban on the sport at the end of the nineteenth century.
Flynn's considerable atheticism adds further creedence to his excellent portrayl of the turn of the century fighter. An accomplished amateur boxer in his youth, Fylnn was widely regarded as the best tennis player in Hollywood and his fluid ring movmenents are a welcome relief to the bumbling screen fight efforts of Gable, Tracy and Cagney. The reserved post fight meeting of the defeated Sullivan, well
played by Ward Bond and a restrained Flynn as his conquerer, is quite touching and serves as further evidence of Flynn's acting skills.
Watching Gentleman Jim is great and entertaining fun and can only make one wish Flynn was given more oppurtunities to display a largely untapped talent.