The Prizefighter And The Lady (1933)

An alcoholic has been fight manager (Walter Huston) discovers a bouncer (Max Baer) in a bar that throw a mean punch. He decides to take the strapping lad and build him into a prizefighter. Meanwhile, the boxer falls in love with the mistress (Myrna Loy) of a nightclub owner (Otto Kruger). Directed by W.S. Van Dyke (THE THIN MAN). Hollywood was not averse to taking a well known athlete and attempting to turn them into movie stars. Sometimes it worked (Esther Williams is the best example) but usually it didn't (doe anyone remember the attempt to make Joe Namath a movie star?). Here, it doesn't. Max Baer was a world heavyweight champion and while he had movie star looks, his acting is stiff and awkward. I cringed when they put him in a song and dance number! His inadequacies show up even more when he's acting opposite fine actors like Loy and Huston. But even if the role of the prizefighter had been played by a better actor, it's still a tedious and unoriginal movie. Inexplicably the screenplay received an Oscar nomination. Go figure! With Vince Barnett and Muriel Evans.