• Very fringy archives—it’s in mainly because the cast is superb- particularly Barbara Stanwyck
  • It helped made William Holden a start- it becomes his first archiveable film as well as the first one for Lee J. Cobb
  • Holden isn’t awful but he’s not as good as John Garfield would’ve been at this age. He doesn’t have the aptitude for internal conflict yet. (Garfield played the role on stage). Garfield is grittier, at this point in his career had much more depth and it would’ve been a more believable son of L. Cobb’s blubbering Italian immigrant dad
  • Stanwyck perfect as the street-wise girl— when someone asks “is she your girl?” Stanwyck answers “I’m my mother’s girl”
  • Very archetypal or cliché riddled art (music) vs greed (boxing) but again Menjou is inspired as the boxing manager and Stanwyck superb and actually her struggle between the two men and lives is more interesting than Holden’s struggle
  • There’s a real tenderness in the film with the immigrant family
  • Love Mamoulian’s long shots of the boxing match during the dramatic climax—it gives the scene and moment size— makes it feel much less stagey than most boxing movies at the time
  • Recommend but barely– closer to the scrap pile than a masterpiece