a5c7b9f00b Frankie, a young prizefighter, wins a fixed boxing match as part of a crime boss's plan to have him build up a following and then have him throw a championship fight. Later, while training, Frankie meets Mary as she is going to church with her family, and he begins a romance with her. The crime boss orders Frankie to stay away from Mary, while continuing to arrange for Frankie to win more fights. Just before Frankie's fight with the champion, he and the boss have an argument. Their plans to fix the fight are overheard by Mary's young brother, which soon leads to a tense situation.
Gangsters try to get a boxer to throw an important fight.
This is a production of the Morris Shiller Company—a minor entity indeed. However, in the opening credits I saw two reasons to stick with the film—Mickey Rooney (in one of his earliest roles) and J. Carroll Naish—two actors that can almost make anything worth watching---well, maybe not this one! The film begins with a fixed boxing match. I was surprised that although they did film footage of a fight, they also used stock footage in a clumsy attempt to cut costs. From here, the story becomes a pretty standard film about the boxer falling in love with a sweet girl and wanting to give up his crooked life. Naturally his 'friends' don't like this and eventually resort to a kidnapping to keep the boxer in their clutches. But, naturally, by the end all is swell.<br/><br/>The problem with this film is that it just isn't particularly exciting to watch—a definite problem with a boxing film. Poor acting and a sluggish plot don't help any and it's a pretty much forgettable film aside from Rooney. As for Naish, well, he did go on to better things.
This film contains a lot of delights. Seeing Mickey Rooney, four or five years before hitting the big time in the Andy Hardy series, is fun. I also enjoyed Hank Mann as the sidekick. He was terrific in Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" two years before. His boxing scene with Chaplin may be the funniest fight scene in any movie. He doesn't have much to do in this movie, but he does add nice comic touches. There are a lot of rural shots that are a bit unusual for the time period. Many early talkies were bogged down in the studio due to the heavy cameras and poor microphones of the time, but this seems to enjoy a silent movie freedom of camera movement. The lead, John Darrow is quite handsome and charming. He really could have been another James Cagney if the breaks had gone his way.<br/><br/>There is only one real fight scene in the movie. It is obviously edited with some documentary footage, but it is reasonably well done. The movie is pretty gentle, even with its gangster/fixed fight sub theme. The romance is really the key element here and Darrow and Merna Kennedy make a really nice couple. There seems to be some genuine affection or seduction going on between them.<br/><br/>At only an hour's running time, this is certainly no epic, but it moves well and is an entertaining quickie. I recommend it for those who enjoy golden age movie making.