1h 44min | Drama, Music, Sport | 21 September 1940
Directors: Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco (uncredited)
Stars: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Frank Craven, Donald Crisp, Frank McHugh, Anthony Kennedy, Anthony Quinn, Elia Kazan.
Robert Vreeland ... dance director
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032342/
Only qualifies as Music because we have some dance sequences with, but mostly dancers dubbing for, Anthony Quinn and Ann Sheridan, since they are competitive amateurs who turn professional. AQ abuses AS, inferring rape at one point. JC gets on the dance floor with AS briefly, but only social-dances from shoulders up.
The ugly nature of boxing, with the champ winning because he rubs rosin into his opponent's eyes (blinding him for life?) is a major plot thread. Making this tragedy even worse: JC never wanted to box professionally, and AS insists he get some ambition, so he caves.
And the whole thing is begun and ended with a hobo narrator, who somehow survives from when our characters are children (age 10?) to adulthood (JC is 41, but playing 25+?; AS was b. 1915). I don't think the homeless in NYC survive 15 years on the streets. And I don't see the point of introducing us to the characters as children; waste of time.
We get 2 murders right in front of us, one by EK, the other of him, with the worst dying line ever: "I never saw that coming." or something like it.
Schickel's commentary track is worth skipping. He spends a lot of time telling us what is happening or is about to happen.
I suppose I rated this 7 because of the charisma of the stars. I'm going to overturn that now; why would I recommend this to anyone?
Warner, dir. Litvak & Negulesco; 6+
