The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)'s comments

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BadFluffy

One of those movies that are obvious producer-hatchet jobs on the original script.
Hawks bailed out early (most likely around the time Baer was cast and very little remained of Frances Marion's original script) and what's left behind is a jumbled mess of stunt casting and romcom meet boxing movie?
I guess they were thinking they could actually get the female and male audiences interested by hitting on all the genres without really committing to anything but it doesn't work.

There is little to latch on to after the initial 15-20 mn, and worse than the waste of Mirna Loy's firecracking talent is a truly horrific, and ridiculously pointless, musical number, smack in the middle for no other reason than making the movie longer and hitting on more popular genres I guess? Clocking at almost 8 minutes, it's a monument to bad taste and only highlights how bad an idea it was to cast Max Baer in the title role.

The movie never recovers and goes down for the count.

1 year ago

nymets138

Watch it here: https://ok.ru/video/558638762736

3 years 8 months ago

Siskoid

The Prizefighter and the Lady is without a doubt the worst Myrna Loy movie I've seen to date. If not for my interest in seeing her entire filmography, I would have bailed after 20 minutes, which is more or less what initial director Howard Hawks did when real-life boxer Max Baer was cast. Real-life boxer, but not real-life actor. He also has no real-life chemistry with Loy, and her underwritten character has no justification for wanting to be with him (especially when he immediately starts cheating on her) rather than the mobster she previously dated. Neither us sympathetic, and we really don't want them to be together, or for him to win the championship. In addition to a featured song sung by Loy with an unconvincing voice dubbed on, there's a gratuitous extended musical number featuring Baer (whaaa?), before we head into the no-less extended championship bout (and its dumb ending). It's all gross padding, but these sequences are, in isolation, probably the best parts of this picture. Well, except the tedious walk-ons by boxing bog shots of day, which go on forever. It's like an entertainment for couples who can't go to music shows or boxing matches on their budget. There's something for everyone! Except a compelling story.

4 years 6 months ago