{"id":4528,"date":"2009-05-18T23:30:45","date_gmt":"2009-05-19T07:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4528"},"modified":"2009-05-22T17:08:21","modified_gmt":"2009-05-23T01:08:21","slug":"body-and-soul-robert-rossen-1947-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4528","title":{"rendered":"Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0In 1947, Robert Rossen\u2019s hard hitting boxing noir, Body and Soul<\/a><\/em>, set the standard for boxing films to come.\u00a0 Previously the boxing film was a stage for comic scenes like Chaplin in City Lights, and Buster Keaton in Battling Butler, or stories of triumph in the ring like The Champ. \u00a0This film, however, showed the seedier side of boxing with gangsters, femme fatales, money, and corruption.<\/p>\n

Charley Davis (John Garfield) decides to become a prize fighter, against his mother\u2019s wishes, to escape the life of poverty in which he has grown up.\u00a0 His rise to the top is meteoric and he soon makes a deal with gangster Roberts (Lloyd Gough) to fight champion Ben Chaplin (Canada Lee).\u00a0 Charley wins, but does not realize the fight was fixed as Ben was fighting with a blood clot and nearly dies.\u00a0 A retired Ben joins Charley\u2019s corner, and Charley continues fighting for Roberts as the money rolls in. However, things begin to unravel and Charley loses his girl, his best friend, and it\u2019s not long after that Roberts asks Charley to take a dive.<\/p>\n

Today this film may not pack the punch it once did, but that is because so many boxing films since have built upon the groundwork laid by this film.\u00a0 The stark black and white cinematography done by one of cinema\u2019s greatest cinematographers, James Wong Howe, gives the film a mean look, and is particularly brilliant in conveying the smoky atmosphere, harsh lights, and flashing bulbs of the boxing ring in the film\u2019s final fight.\u00a0 Indeed, this final fight is the film\u2019s greatest scene.\u00a0 Its shaky hand-held camerawork and tight, claustrophobic close ups helped to inspire Martin Scorsese\u2019s boxing scenes in Raging Bull.\u00a0 Scripted by Abraham Polonsky and directed by Robert Rossen, the film achieves a gritty realism, and the acting in the film is top notch.\u00a0 John Garfield gives a strong performance as Charley, and Lilli Palmer manages to stay interesting in the good girlfriend role.\u00a0 Canada Lee is particularly excellent in a supporting role as Ben Chaplin, the former champion turned corner man for Charley after he has to retire because of a blood clot.\u00a0 This film is highly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD. \u00a0In 1947, Robert Rossen\u2019s hard hitting boxing noir, Body and Soul, set the standard for boxing films to come.\u00a0 Previously the boxing film was a stage for comic scenes like Chaplin in City Lights, and Buster Keaton in Battling Butler, or stories of triumph in the ring like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}