Spoilers. "Body and Soul" is highly thought of by a lot of writers whose opinions I respect, but it hasn't been seen very often on TV and I was looking forward to viewing it for the first time. John Garfield, a man of some principle in real life, has never impressed me as a first-rate actor although you can't help admiring a kid who grew up in a tough working-class New York neighborhood and made it. He seems to specialize in being shot through glass windows trying to woo some good-looking babe. Such scenes occur in "Destination Tokyo," "The Postman Always Rings Twice," and here too.
He plays an uncultured kid from a poor family in New York. His kindly father dies when thugs bomb the speakeasy next door to his candy shop. Mom is destitute, and Garfield takes up pro boxing for the money. He meets Lili Palmer, a beautiful and appealing if lightweight actress, and takes her home to meet his Mamma. There follows one of those rather familiar scenes in which the Jewish mamma grills the Shiksa over the dinner table, as in "Lenny," "No Way to Treat a Lady," and so forth. You can gather the plot isn't what could be called novel, but it engages one's interest nonetheless.
Garfield proves to be a good fighter and soon begins his rise to the top, assisted by his boyhood friend, Shorty, who is sensitive, good humored, and has a charming smile. Garfield then begins to drown in an excess of tsuris.
He is taken over by corrupt gamblers, the equivalent of George C. Scott in "The Hustler." Shorty objects. There is an argument and a fight and Shorty is run over accidentally on purpose. Lili Palmer realizes how corrupt he is becoming and gives him a choice: the fight game or her.
The next thing we know, Garfield is cavorting with some cover girl who has a penchant for mink. ("After mink, comes sable.") Garfield unwittingly bashes in the head of a crippled fighter (Canada Lee)the way the Argentinian Firpo does in "The Harder They Fall." Garfield agrees to throw a tough fight to make a lot of money so he can quit the ring and marry Lili. The supporting cast is pretty good, especially William Conrad with his impressive baritone. Anne Revere, who specializes in rigidity, whether good or bad, is unusually expressive. Garfield's final fight is murderous. Does he actually throw it? I will leave you burning with curiosity.
The direction by Robert Rosson is adequate but he got better with time. Abraham Polonsky's script is okay too. Maybe some of these now-familiar scenes weren't quite as familiar in 1947 as they've since become. Polonsky, Revere, and Garfield all got into trouble during the McCarthy period, and it's hard to see why. If this is an example of communist propaganda you've got to have second sight to find it. Yes, Garfield's family is poor. (Is that what propaganda is?) Whose family wasn't poor during the depression? The streets and furnishings are pretty seedy, but more realistic after all than the white telephones and deco apartments of Fred and Ginger wearing tuxedos and ballroom gowns.
"Body and Soul" compares only vaguely to "Golden Boy," I gather, not having seen the latter, but it invites comparison with "Champion," which appeared a year or two later. "Champion" is probably the better film, even if it follows an almost identical formula. There isn't anything here as subtle as Douglas returning to his estranged wife, striking a match for her, and seeing her glance up at him in wary, furtive, and wholly unconscious invitation while she puffs from the flame.
At the same time this film uses some nice symbolism. In his New York apartment, his first expensive digs, Garfield has a secret revolving wall. One side is bedecked with flowers and hung with a portrait of the virtuous Lili. The other side is a bar "with a sink and everything!" and it has "anything you want, bourbon, everything, like a candy store." It's practically Dr. Jeykll's flowers and Mr. Hyde's bar.
"Body and Soul" is definitely worth seeing, partly because it's pretty good and partly for its historic value.
He plays an uncultured kid from a poor family in New York. His kindly father dies when thugs bomb the speakeasy next door to his candy shop. Mom is destitute, and Garfield takes up pro boxing for the money. He meets Lili Palmer, a beautiful and appealing if lightweight actress, and takes her home to meet his Mamma. There follows one of those rather familiar scenes in which the Jewish mamma grills the Shiksa over the dinner table, as in "Lenny," "No Way to Treat a Lady," and so forth. You can gather the plot isn't what could be called novel, but it engages one's interest nonetheless.
Garfield proves to be a good fighter and soon begins his rise to the top, assisted by his boyhood friend, Shorty, who is sensitive, good humored, and has a charming smile. Garfield then begins to drown in an excess of tsuris.
He is taken over by corrupt gamblers, the equivalent of George C. Scott in "The Hustler." Shorty objects. There is an argument and a fight and Shorty is run over accidentally on purpose. Lili Palmer realizes how corrupt he is becoming and gives him a choice: the fight game or her.
The next thing we know, Garfield is cavorting with some cover girl who has a penchant for mink. ("After mink, comes sable.") Garfield unwittingly bashes in the head of a crippled fighter (Canada Lee)the way the Argentinian Firpo does in "The Harder They Fall." Garfield agrees to throw a tough fight to make a lot of money so he can quit the ring and marry Lili. The supporting cast is pretty good, especially William Conrad with his impressive baritone. Anne Revere, who specializes in rigidity, whether good or bad, is unusually expressive. Garfield's final fight is murderous. Does he actually throw it? I will leave you burning with curiosity.
The direction by Robert Rosson is adequate but he got better with time. Abraham Polonsky's script is okay too. Maybe some of these now-familiar scenes weren't quite as familiar in 1947 as they've since become. Polonsky, Revere, and Garfield all got into trouble during the McCarthy period, and it's hard to see why. If this is an example of communist propaganda you've got to have second sight to find it. Yes, Garfield's family is poor. (Is that what propaganda is?) Whose family wasn't poor during the depression? The streets and furnishings are pretty seedy, but more realistic after all than the white telephones and deco apartments of Fred and Ginger wearing tuxedos and ballroom gowns.
"Body and Soul" compares only vaguely to "Golden Boy," I gather, not having seen the latter, but it invites comparison with "Champion," which appeared a year or two later. "Champion" is probably the better film, even if it follows an almost identical formula. There isn't anything here as subtle as Douglas returning to his estranged wife, striking a match for her, and seeing her glance up at him in wary, furtive, and wholly unconscious invitation while she puffs from the flame.
At the same time this film uses some nice symbolism. In his New York apartment, his first expensive digs, Garfield has a secret revolving wall. One side is bedecked with flowers and hung with a portrait of the virtuous Lili. The other side is a bar "with a sink and everything!" and it has "anything you want, bourbon, everything, like a candy store." It's practically Dr. Jeykll's flowers and Mr. Hyde's bar.
"Body and Soul" is definitely worth seeing, partly because it's pretty good and partly for its historic value.