User reviews

I saw this movie many long years ago, and recall the character given in your cast as Tom Thumb, uncredited. In the film his name, as I recall, was Admiral Dott, and he sang the song, Sweet Sixteen , at a gathering of Sullivan's cronies the night before his fight with Corbett.

John L. was rather upset by this and told him that he had cost him his title, as this song always brought him bad luck. (Sullivan was very superstitious). He did indeed lose to Corbett the next day, because Corbett was a superior boxer, and nothing to do with Dott singing the song.

I certainly enjoyed the film, and often wish I could see it again, but it seems to have disappeared without trace, and no longer available in any source or form!

Norrie Paton. (Campbeltown).

It's kind of scary to realize that I remember seeing this movie back when it was released in 1945-6. I was 8 years old at the time and coming from an Irish-American family who lionized Irish American heroes, it made quite an impression on me as a kid. The tragedy of John L. Sullivan's life, his struggle with alcohol and the loss of his celebrity was lost on me at that young age and all I recalled after having seen the film were the great stories and myths that accompany such a legend that I had heard from my family. Reading the face-plate review, which I found quite insightful, permitted me an added perspective based on the background and the performance of McClure, an Irisher too, in the title role. I must agree, given my aging memory of having seen the film in the theater upon its release and having encountered it on various late shows. The reviewer compares McClure's performance to that of Flynn in the tale of Gentleman Jim Corbett, another Irisher from Aussieland playing the part of an Irisher beating John L., the icon of Irish Americanism at the turn of the 20th century. However, I would add this footnote to an otherwise excellent review, that the theme of this film must be considered in the context of the time that the Irish were emerging from a period of social discrimination that had endured from the previous century. It is easy to forget how a group of immigrants were held in contempt because of their religion-- many were Roman Catholic-- their speech and their seeming bawdy lifestyles. Being from a Catholic family from Northern Ireland, encountering the records of signs declaring "Irish need not apply," had special meaning to me. We had encountered this in the land of our birth. Therefore, the social message of such films had special import to me and my family.

Nowadays, many Americans of the Heinz 57 variety love to parade their bit of "Irish," often by wearing green, eating corn beef and cabbage, listening to Irish pub music on St. Paddy's day, and that is fine. However, these practices, which I find rather admirable, if somewhat naive, are rarely considered in the context that wearing of green was a protest against the imposition of the English against the Catholic church going back to the time of Elizabeth I; the English imported corned beef and the pub songs were often songs of protest. The large concentration of Irish immigrants in Boston and New York yielded many folk heroes to the children of the diaspora, Corbett, Sullivan, Fitzgerald and Braddock were but a few. It's also noteworthy that this film was produced by Bing Crosby, another Irish American icon and I'm certain the message was not lost on him.

I read on ebay that the film was released on home video once in 1985.

It has been out of print since then.

Perhaps a write-in campaign to Criterion might get it considered for a DVD.

For an obscure film, there seems to be some momentum building to bring it back.

Has it been shown on Turner Classic Movies in the past couple of years?

Does their Web site allow viewers to request films?

My uncle mentioned THE GREAT JOHN L to me in January and I've been tasked to find it for him in some fashion. First it was going to be a 65th birthday gift - now I'm aiming for the holidays... If not by then, hopefully for next year's birthday!

Bing Crosby's first venture into the production end of the film business was with this independent production The Great John L. about the life and times of John L. Sullivan. Of course any resemblance to the real Sullivan is coincidental here. It's pretty typical of Hollywood biographical films back in the day.

Of course the legend is well taken care of. The poor Irish kid from Boston handy with his fists who made good almost every time his boast of 'I Can Lick Any Man In The House'. It eventually took him to the heavyweight championship of the world defeating Paddy Ryan in 1882 and retaining it until 1892 when Jim Corbett dethroned him.

Sullivan's spendthrift ways and prodigious drinking are shown as well. Another boast was that he could drink any man under the table and too often did.

His romantic entanglements with the girl next door Barbara Britton and entertainer Linda Darnell are a complete work of fiction however. But they might have been acceptable but for the casting of the workmanlike, but distinctly non-charismatic Greg McClure. It's no wonder we didn't hear from this man again.

Bing certainly did what he could to help this film. Frank Tuttle who directed him in a couple of features at Paramount did the direction, he's best known for directing Alan Ladd in This Gun For Hire. Barbara Britton who was under contract at Paramount was no doubt obtained for this film for favors at Paramount. They usually granted Crosby anything they wanted. Bing's favorite songwriters Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke did two songs for the film, A Perfect Gentleman and A Friend Of Your's.

Bing also recorded A Friend Of Your's and so did Frank Sinatra and I'm sure that one was a favor as well. I have a bootleg recording of a radio commercial that Crosby did with Sinatra and Bob Hope promoting The Great John L. with Crosby and Sinatra stepping into the ring with Hope refereeing. That was far better than the film.

I about was about 14 yrs old when I saw this movie for the first time. not old enough to be a real critic I suppose. It was however a fascinating story about the "Boston Strong Boy" John L. Sullivan who was the last of the bare knuckle fighters to win the heavy weight title in the United States to my knowledge. This movie was not just a fight movie but also an early depiction of the struggles of a man with pride and love and alcohol. Greg McClure was perfectly cast for this role as he had all the physical attributes to make the part he played believable It seems to my memory that every actor and actress fit exactly into the roll they played. So much of this movie remains so vivid in my mind that I cannot but think that this movie should be hailed as an American Classic. If the film is somewhere intact it should be revived from it's hiding place and reprinted so this generation of movie goers have an opportunity to view it. If you have any information that would make it possible for myself and others to see this great movie once again please let me know. My e-mail address is, aphesis@charter.net My sincere thanks for any help you can be.

If anybody needs persuading that stars and directors can make a substantial difference to a movie then I suggest they watch this movie and then immediately view Errol Flynn in Gentleman Jim under the direction of Raoul Walsh.Both are biographical movies about world heavyweight champions but the Flynn movie works so much better because of the casting and the direction of a man who specialised in rugged macho movie making rather than the all purpose blandness of the direction by Frank Tuttle in this picture The John L of the title is John L Sullivan ,the Boston Strong Man .who became world champ at the turn of the last century.The movie traces his rise and fall .In between bouts with opponents in the ring and booze out of it he falls in love with and marries a musical comedy star ,played by Linda Darnell .On losing the title he plunges ever deeper into the gutter before striving to get his life back on track.

The period atmosphere is good and the supporting performances are sound but Greg McClure is inadequate as John L .Comapre his performance to Errol Flyn in Gemtleman Jim and you will see the difference between one who looks the part(McClure)and one who inhabits it (Flynn).I have already alluded to the flaccid direction which fails to anchor the movie firmly enough .Bing Crosby produced the movie and may be responsible for its high schmaltz quotient Its okay but would have been better with a stronger lead performance

As a 66 year old man, I saw this movie in the early to mid fifties and thought it was great...I would like to see it again. I thought the acting was great and have always thought that Linda Darnell was a pretty and good actress. Being a retired professional photographer I still enjoy the lighting of the good old "greats" in black and white. The movie photographers of yesteryear were artist of their times. The great 3 dimensional look due to the highlights and shadows were magnificent. A remake of this type of movie would be great with some of the good actors of today. Andy Garcia would fit the part since he is such a great actor and nice looking. Along this type of movie would be "It Happened Tomorrow" and I Married a Witch with Fredric March and Veronica Lake.

In NYC during the 1950's this movie was constantly shown on television including CH.9"s "Million Dollar Movie". As kids our two favorite movies were "The Great John L" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Our whole group watched both movies over and over.

Remember it as much better than "Gentleman Jim" which became more famous due to it's all-star cast including Errol Flynn. Always regarded "The Great John L" as the better story and movie.

The actors, except for Linda Darnell, had little star quality but were perfectly cast. The story line was well written and contained a perfect mix of lightheartedness and tragedy. Sort of the Greek tragic hero play. Too bad the movie has not been transferred to DVD or VHS. Sometimes the better movie and story loses to the heavily loaded one ( Gentleman Jim ) with star power but not much else.

Been searching for it for many many years and can't find it. Have seen many who want this movie. It must be a great movie, but they want a minimum of twenty lines. But we only want to get a hold of the movie. Don't understand why this is being made so hard to do when just a single line might be more likely to be read. Don't have a lot to say other than that I have come across many people during the past fifty or so years that want to see this movie. I have many others that have seen it and thought it was truly GREAT. So where can a person find this wonderful movie. I have seen Gentleman Jim many times but have always wanted to see this move. But it doesn't seem to be anywhere. Does anyone have any ideas about where it could be purchased>