With a career’s-worth of credits at various studios already behind him, British producer Michael Balcon, putting a new team together for next year’s Ealing Studios startup, elevated assistant-director Pen Tennyson to helm this sharp little boxing programmer. And Tennyson really came thru, starting with the cast. Jimmy Hanley, personable, if darn skinny for a boxer, is reasonably athletic as the young car mechanic who chucks his old job to take up boxing (after accidentally getting in a row with a top pro boxer) unaware he’s signed on with a crooked manager. It’s also how he’ll pivot from his nice, new girlfriend to the manager’s moll, pawing the lad to see if he’ll throw a fight for a quick payout. He just might, too, as his sister needs some quick cash after shady fiancé Michael Wilding (the cad!) takes off with the 60 quid she had in the till. Yikes! Worked up with unusually satisfying twists from writer James Curtis (and a doozy of a climax when the bad guys try to stop the big fight by causing a riot in the stands), the film lets Tennyson display some atypical awareness for the time of workingclass life & sensibility in a lightweight drama (note the opening neighborhood establishing shots), the close family routine (Mom, Dad, son, daughter & 2-yr-old) in a flat two sizes too small, along with some terrific technical flair as needed. Not only in above average fights in the ring, but in a quick-cut/montage suicide attempt. Excellent stuff! But Tennyson (and yes, he is related to the poet) only made two more films before dying in the war at just 28 in 1940.*
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *One of the two, his last release, CONVOY/’40. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/04/convoy-1940.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Once available only in subfusc VHS editions, this is now available (via Canal+) in near mint condition. An unexpected treat on these low-budget films.
No comments:
Post a Comment