The film that gave William Holden his stardom positively creaks when we look at it today. One good thing is that some vintage special features make this a pretty good edition of a movie about a violin-playing boxer.
Tom Moody (Adolphe Menjou) is a boxing manager who needs one big score so that he can afford the divorce that will allow him to marry his secretary/girlfriend Lorna (Barbara Stanwyck). He’s given some bad news by a young kid named Joe (William Holden). It seems that the fighter that Tom has been managing has broken his hand before the big bout.
Tom grabs his coat, hat, and Lorna and they head for the gym to see how bad the damage is – the whole time Joe tries to convince Tom that he can take his place in the ring. When Tom gets to the gym he discovers that the fighter broke his hand sparring with Joe so he definitely doesn’t want to use Joe (aw, come on give the kid a chance) as the replacement but Lorna convinces Tom to reconsider.
Since this is a movie, the kid begins a meteoric rise in the ring. However, Joe didn’t always have his eyes on the golden gloves but was studying the violin. Joe’s dad (Lee J. Cobb) wants him to hang up the gloves and take up the instrument and fears that the violent handiwork will ruin those chances. Meanwhile, Joe and Lorna are falling in love, but Joe gets involved with a mobster (Joseph Calleia) and finds out that the fight game isn’t all its cracked up to be.
Golden Boy may have been a sensation in 1939, but by today’s standards you’ll hear a creak as the disc spins in your player. It’s really pretty laughable as the tale concerns a boy who must decide between the violin and fisticuffs. How exactly does a 1930s youth make such a leap between two “professions” that seem so far apart?
It seems odd that a violinist would be in any way interested in boxing. Although we know how Holden’s career turned out, I don’t know that we can see much of the beginnings of it in Golden Boy. Sure he and Stanwyck have a certain amount of chemistry, but his character is an “aw shucks, gee whiz” type of kid (as they were in these flicks in ’39) and really didn’t have any hints of the greatness to come.
In fact, it sounds like Holden’s voice hasn’t broke yet. I guess I can’t be too hard on him since we all gotta start somewhere. As far as boxing pictures go with Body and Soul (1947) or Champion (1949). I will have to say one good thing, it seems like Sony is finally coming around in the special features departments for their older films.
Earlier I reviewed Here Comes Mr. Jordan (which is truly a classic) and they gave the film pretty shoddy treatment – it barely had a menu. This time Sony at least delves into the vaults to find some Barbara Stanwyck items to fill out the bill.
Golden Boy is presented in fullscreen. Special features include 7 minute “Kangaroo Kid” which is a cartoon that spoofs the film. The 17-minute “Pleased to Mitt You” is a comedy short that features Shemp Howard (of Three Stooges fame) and also is about boxing.
The 8-minute “Screen Snapshot” is a newsreel about how the stars relax and features Stanwyck. The 25 minute “Ford Television Theatre: Sudden Silence” is a television episode that features Stanwyck and Jeff Morrow. Finally, there’s the 3-minute theatrical trailer.
Golden Boy isn’t very golden by today’s standards but it does offer a look at the beginning of William Holden’s career and is also for fans of Barbara Stanwyck. It can be entertaining if you don’t take it too seriously (how could you?). The disc offers some good vintage special features that only enhance the package.
Golden Boy is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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