Gentleman Jim

You're going to want to rent this movie to see Errol Flynn as a boxer. He has plenty of sweaty, shirtless scenes to keep you satisfied, but believe it or not, those scenes won't be the ones that keep you coming back to this movie over and over again. Yes, he's adorable, but it's Ward Bond who steals the show. He plays "John L. Sullivan himself", the champion boxer Errol hopes to beat. Not only does he put on a hilarious Irish accent and bare all in his own boxing scenes, but he sinks his teeth in the meaty, emotional role. In my favorite scene, Errol challenges him to a fight by insulting his age and virility, and Ward loses his temper, while making sure to finish his meal. You'd never guess that Ward Bond could steal the spotlight away from the incomparable Errol Flynn, but he does.

Back to the lead, though: Errol comes from a poor background, and he often gets into fistfights. When he learns he can make money from boxing, he makes it his mission to become a gentleman. Alan Hale, usually Errol's sidekick, gets to play his loud and proud father. Alexis Smith is the snooty love interest who sees his poor background through his tuxedo. How does it turn out for the boxers? You'll have to watch this adorable, entertaining '40s flick to find out.

This is one of Errol's best films and performances as Gentleman Jim Corbett. He's loose and lively with his movie star charm and charisma in full evidence. He's also well matched with Alexis Smith one of the most undervalued of golden era actresses. They made four films together with this being the best of the bunch. Well directed by Walsh with a quick pace and a great group of the Warners stock company assembled. Ward Bond in particular stands out in a nice scene as John L. Sullivan passing the torch of championship on to the next generation. An excellent example of the studio system working at peak efficiency where all the components fall into place and turn an average script into something more.

Based on James J. Corbett's 1894 autobiography "The Roar of the Crowd," the 1942 Warner Bros. film "Gentleman Jim" gives the prizefighter's story a Hollywood gloss but remains top entertainment nevertheless. In it, Errol Flynn stars in what he later called his favorite film role (over "The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Captain Blood," "The Sea Hawk" and "Objective, Burma"? Incredible!), giving a remarkably likable, high-energy and physical performance; practically an Oscar-worthy one. In his own 1959 autobiography "My Wicked, Wicked Ways," Flynn reveals that he was knocked unconscious three times in one day (by pro boxer Jack Loper) and suffered a mild coronary while making the film, but his energy on screen never flags; this is a highly impressive demonstration of Flynn's skills as both an actor and a physical performer.

In the film, we first meet Corbett in 1887, when he was a 21-year-old, brash, conceited, boastful bank teller in San Francisco, toiling away with his buddy Walter (the always amusing Jack Carson). His life changes very quickly, however, when he is admitted as a protégé in the posh Olympic Club, much to the disdain of elegant society girl Vicky Ware (the beautiful Alexis Smith, who had already appeared opposite Flynn in 1941's "Dive Bomber" and would go on to star with him in 1945's "San Antonio"). After knocking out the ex-British heavyweight champion at the club's gym, Corbett, to the delight of his constantly brawling Irish family, begins to climb the rungs of the nascent boxing sport, his fancy footwork and 73-inch reach being two huge assets, while the newly incorporated Marquess of Queensberry rules helped transform what was up until then a rough-and-tumble melee into the more refined sport that we know today. Corbett's career, of course, culminates with his victory over the "Boston Strong Boy" John L. Sullivan in New Orleans, on September 7, 1892. And as depicted on film, with Ward Bond playing John L., what a tremendous bout this 21-round fight is!

Even those who don't like the sport of boxing, I feel, should enjoy "Gentleman Jim." The four fights depicted on screen (the one with the Brit champ; a hungover fight in Salt Lake City; a dockside matchup against Tony Choynski, preceding a police raid and riot; and the big bout in New Orleans) are well done, exciting, tense and marvelously shot by director Raoul Walsh, a man who excelled at both fast-moving action scenes AND period re-creations, both of which talents are utilized here. (This was Flynn's third film out of an eventual seven with the director.) Though hard hitting, the fights are not ugly to watch, unlike, say, those in the 1956 Humphrey Bogart film "The Harder They Fall" and Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull." Rather, the fights in "Gentleman Jim" stress Corbett's remarkable agility and footwork ("That bloke jumps around like a jackrabbit," declares the Brit fighter; "He should've been a dancer," says an Irish priest later on), and Flynn, doing all his own stunts, bobs and weaves and skips and moves like the real deal. Indeed, during the big fight, he makes Sullivan look like a lumbering stumblebum, which, for the first four rounds at least, was how things supposedly really went down. Though the two men had just about the same reach, and though Sullivan outweighed Corbett by a good 34 pounds, Corbett's new "scientific approach" to boxing, so well shown in the film, ultimately won the day. But wait...an even better scene follows, in which Sullivan comes to Corbett's victory party, and the two men touchingly reveal to one another their mutual respect and admiration. It is a wonderful scene, and Bond and Flynn are both superb in it. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fine work turned in by the film's uniformly fine cast (including Alan Hale as Corbett's dad and William Frawley as his bellicose manager) and note what a great-looking picture this is, with impressive sets (especially those in the ritzy Olympic Club) and a screen that is filled (as was Walsh's wont) with constant motion. A huge triumph for everyone concerned, the picture really is (you'll pardon the expression) a knockout!

It is sometimes odd to think how many historical figures who were the subjects of film biographies from 1927 to 1950 were actually still alive in the start of the talking film period. Marie Curie was - is there some long forgotten piece of newsreel film with her in it (from Pathe, naturally) where we see her in a laboratory, and she is talking in French or Polish or even English? George M. Cohan - he actually was in some silent films, but there were two sound films he starred in, one of which (THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT) is in tact, and is worth watching. It turned out the Yankee Doodle Boy could sing and act on celluloid. How about the subject of GENTLEMAN JIM, the great pugilist James J. Corbett?

Well, actually, there are some films with Corbett in them from the early sound period. People forget that he followed his boxing career with a fairly successful stage career (including the lead role in George Bernard Shaw's THE ADMIRABLE BASHFUL, a play about pugilism based on Shaw's novel CASHEL BYRON'S PROFESSION). This is barely touched on in GENTLEMAN JIM, except in one scene where Errol Flynn mentions Shaw's writings. Anyway, Corbett would remain in the vaudeville and legitimate theatre until he died in 1931. And he did appear in one or two early sound films [so did the first African-American heavyweight boxing champ, Jack Johnson].

Actually GENTLEMAN JIM wisely stuck to the rise of Corbett to the heavyweight championship. It also was able to make much humor out of his contentious family and his social pretensions (constantly punctured by Alexis Smith, as the socialite he would like to marry). Supported by an able cast, including William Frawley, Jack Carson, and Alan Hale Sr. the film goes along rapidly, and you never get bored. Raoul Walsh's direction is first rate here. And there are moments of great humor, such as the fat members of the Olympic Club exercising, or the way the Corbetts seem to be preparing for their next fight at the drop of a hat (to which Carson yells "THE CORBETTS ARE AT IT AGAIN!" each time). Some of Walsh's camera tricks are nice too - in a montage showing the rise of Corbett in a series of successful fights, Walsh uses photos of the boxers in a bar that are stills from the next scene of the fight the boxers lose or win.

Corbett was one of the first articulate and well-read men to achieve boxing fame. He also championed the Marquess of Queensberry rules, including boxing gloves. The latter had already achieved acceptance (begrudgingly) from Sullivan, whose defeat of Paddy Kilraine in 1889 was the last great bare-knuckle fight. But the final scene of Sullivan (Ward Bond, possibly in his finest moment on the screen) passing his heavyweight belt to Corbett, no matter how moving it really is, brings to mind one of the real problems of Corbett's victory in 1892. Sullivan, a large man with a heavy drinking problem, was not in tip-top shape when he fought Corbett, who was faster and younger. Bond says he does not know what would have been the result if they had met five years earlier, and Flynn agrees it would be hard to call. We'll never really know. Sullivan dominated the heavyweight fight game from 1881 to 1892. Corbett was champ from 1892 to 1897. One wonders which of the two champs was really the greater boxer.

Loosely based on the James J Corbett biography "The Roar Of The Crowd", Gentleman Jim is a wonderfully breezy picture that perfectly encapsulates not only the rise of the pugilistic prancer that was Corbett, but also the wind of change as regards the sport of boxing circa the 1890s.

It was like trying to hit a ghost!

The story follows Corbett (a perfectly cast Errol Flynn) from his humble beginnings as a bank teller in San Fransico, through to a chance fight with an ex boxing champion that eventually leads to him fighting the fearsome heavyweight champion of the world, John L Sullivan (beefcake personified delightfully by Ward Bond). Not all the fights are in the ring though, and it's all the spin off vignettes in Corbett's life that makes this a grand entertaining picture. There are class issues to overcome here (perfectly played out as fellow club members pay to have him knocked down a peg or two), and Corbett has to not only fight to get respect from his so called peers, but he must also overcome his ego as it grows as briskly as his reputation does.

Along with the quite wonderful Corbett family, and all their stoic humorous support, Corbett's journey is as enthralling as it is joyous, yet as brash and as bold as he is, he is a very likable character, and it's a character that befits the tagged moniker he got of Gentleman Jim. The film never sags for one moment, and it's a testament to director Raoul Walsh that although we are eagerly awaiting the final fight, the outer ring goings on are keeping us firmly entertained, not even the love interest sub plot hurts this picture (thank you Alexis Smith). The fight sequences stand up really well, and they perfectly show just how Corbett became the champ he was, his brand of dancing rings round slugger fighters is now firmly placed in boxing history.

As the final reel rolls we all come down to earth as an after fight meeting between Sullivan and Corbett puts all the brutality into context, and it's here where humility and humbleness becomes the outright winner, and as far as this viewer goes, it will do for me to be sure to be sure. 9/10 for a truly wonderful picture.