Kid Galahad [VHS]
by Michael Curtiz

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VHS Movie Reviews of Kid Galahad [VHS]

Movie Review: A fast-moving prizefight melodrama...
Summary: 3 Stars

Movie Review: I love Bette Davis
Summary: 4 Stars

Movie Review: Great fight picture
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: Another exciting Warner's film
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: One Of The Great 1930's Boxing Stories
Summary: 4 Stars

"Kid Galahad", opens during a rowdy party thrown by Boxing Promoter Nicky Donati (Edward G. Robinson), finding himself short staffed the hotel sends up one of their bellhops Ward Guisenberry (Wayne Morris), to help out. Naive and good looking he becomes the target of one of Donati's boxers Chuck McGraw (William Haade), and in the fight that follows Ward knocks him out cold with little effort. Sized up by Donati's rival Turkey Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) he is sent in for a sham round of boxing where he unknowingly is put against McGraw who is one of the reigning champions. Donati is jealous of anyone who "eyes" his girl "Fluff" Phillips (Bette Davis), and fearing an attraction between Ward and Fluff he hopes that Ward will get a sound beating in the process. However Ward calls their bluff by knocking McGraw out during the fight which sends Turkey even more out for revenge against Donati. Fluff sees the potential in Ward as a prize fighter and gives him a new professional name "Kid Galahad", and a new sensation is born. Taken into Donati's camp Ward becomes the idol of the nation as he only only successively wins all his bouts but also unknowingly wins the heart of Fluff who of course sees the futile situation with her being Donati's girl. On a visit to Donati's mother's farm Ward comes to know Nicky's younger sister Marie where a spirited love blossoms. Nick however has a personal rule that his world of fight promoting never crosses over into his family life and when Ward proposes marriage to Marie, he has Nick's rage to deal with. Back in town Nick decides to just deal with the fight side of Ward's life after Marie also tells him of her love for Ward. In a crucial final fight for the heavy weight championship however Nick becomes a victim finally of a set up by Turkey and in a shoot out in the dressing room both Turkey and Nick are killed. Nick however gives his blessing to Marie to marry the "kid". Fluff in comparison after unselfishly standing aside from her true feelings about the Kid walks away to an uncertain future on her own again.

This type of "rough and tumble", story is most capably handled by legendary director Michael Curtiz who in his heyday turned his hand to such diverse efforts as "Casablanca", and "White Christmas", with equal ease. Here he packs much full blooded action into a 90 minute running time. Bette Davis had fought long and hard for better roles but at first glance her role here would appear to be not much better than many of her pre court case efforts. However despite this Davis still manages with that special talent of hers to inject a lot of life into the loyal girlfriend of Edward G. Robinson's who privately loves Ward "Kid Galahad" Guisenberry only to see him fall in love with another woman. Inspite of the prickly relationship she always had with Edward G. Robinson professionally the two actually combine well on screen here and Robinson shines in a tailor made role of the tough talking Boxing Promoter who is ruthlessly determined to stay at the top of the Boxing heap. The supporting cast here has a well cast collection of up and coming talent plus some seasoned "Warners", veterans who were all still headed for great things after this film. Humphrey Bogart leads the supporting cast as the ruthless "Turkey" Morgan and his portrayal here is one on a long list of similiar roles that he played through the 1930's before finding full stardom with "The Maltese Falcon". His determined and often bloody rivalry with Robinson throughout this story gives this film its required hard edge. Newcomers Wayne Morris as the "kid" and especially Jane Bryan as Marie provide the necessarily youthful element to the story. Bryan found an unlikely mentor in the more experienced Davis and would feature in a number of later Bette Davis starring vehicles such as "The Old Maid".

"Kid Galahad", was remade in the 1960's as a starring vehicle for Elvis Presley and the huge success of that film has somewhat eclipsed the memory of this earlier Warner Brothers effort. Despite that it is a fine film in the boxing genre and while typical of alot of similiar efforts from this period at Warner Brothers, has its own style thanks to Robinson, Davis and Bogart which lifts it out of the run of the mill "programmer", category. It's always a thrill to see Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart square off against each other in these type of films and they repeated their success here in a number of other efforts over the next few years, most notably in "Key Largo". Bette Davis even in this largely "pre stardom" effort always makes her characters interesting to watch and it certainly helped pave the way for her real stardom just on the horizon. For an exciting fight picture with plenty of romance and action thrown in for good measure "Kid Galahad", comes highly recommended.

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