The story here is a decent one but you have to overlook some of the less than credible elements. Perhaps it would have been easier back in the Thirties for an investment banker to masquerade as a big time bookie or vice versa, but it seemed like a stretch to me that Jim Carson (Edward Arnold) could keep his identity a secret with a daughter in a prestigious girl's school. It seemed like no one ever knew about his dual life until Tommy McCoy (Robert Taylor) came on the scene as a boxing protégé of former champ Johnny Martin (William Gargan).
So there's that, along with the credibility factor of Robert Taylor's character Tommy dumping Carson/Cain after Tommy's alcoholic father (Frank Morgan) sold his son's contract to the mobster. Can you really do that and knock around for six months without the guy's goons coming around looking for you? I thought that was a bit of a stretch.
Come to think of it, the whole movie was a stretch but at the same time it's kind of an entertaining romance story once Tommy meets Sheila Carson (Maureen O'Sullivan). Sheila's gal pal Vivian probably has the picture's best line when she hits the dance floor with Tommy and exclaims "Uh well, ah, I mean I think your tights are cute,... and so are your tails". You can interpret that any way you want but it came across a little goofy when it happened. Probably why Vivian got whisked off the floor, never to be heard from again in the picture.
You know, I'm reading some of the other review comments for the film and see that some viewers comment favorably on the boxing scenes but I don't get it. To me, most of the fights seemed staged pretty poorly with a lot of push punching and awkward footwork. With Tommy feigning a useless right hand, the lucky punch gimmick was over done, even though it got Killer McCoy through a series of under cards well enough.
For me, the best scenes generally were the ones with Frank Morgan on screen. Even though he played a cad of a father to Tommy, he had that calculating Professor Marvel manner about him that made him seem a natural among the other con men in the story. I wouldn't have minded at all if he had made it to the end of the movie.
So there's that, along with the credibility factor of Robert Taylor's character Tommy dumping Carson/Cain after Tommy's alcoholic father (Frank Morgan) sold his son's contract to the mobster. Can you really do that and knock around for six months without the guy's goons coming around looking for you? I thought that was a bit of a stretch.
Come to think of it, the whole movie was a stretch but at the same time it's kind of an entertaining romance story once Tommy meets Sheila Carson (Maureen O'Sullivan). Sheila's gal pal Vivian probably has the picture's best line when she hits the dance floor with Tommy and exclaims "Uh well, ah, I mean I think your tights are cute,... and so are your tails". You can interpret that any way you want but it came across a little goofy when it happened. Probably why Vivian got whisked off the floor, never to be heard from again in the picture.
You know, I'm reading some of the other review comments for the film and see that some viewers comment favorably on the boxing scenes but I don't get it. To me, most of the fights seemed staged pretty poorly with a lot of push punching and awkward footwork. With Tommy feigning a useless right hand, the lucky punch gimmick was over done, even though it got Killer McCoy through a series of under cards well enough.
For me, the best scenes generally were the ones with Frank Morgan on screen. Even though he played a cad of a father to Tommy, he had that calculating Professor Marvel manner about him that made him seem a natural among the other con men in the story. I wouldn't have minded at all if he had made it to the end of the movie.