Body and Soul

I'm a fan of John Garfield so put him in a combination film noir / fight game movie, two of my favourite genres and it's hard to see how a feature like this could fail with me. Fact is, it's a great movie anyway, possibly the best ever depicting boxing and has such a lot going for it.

Firstly there's the superb black and white photography by James Wong Howe, then the direction by Robert Rossen, where he proves himself as adept at filming the melodramatic scenes revolving around Garfield's Charley Smith character's rocky road to fame and fortune as the realistic scraps in the ring that got him there plus of course Garfield himself in great form as the ambitious young fighter willing to pay any price to get to the top.

There are some noticeable supporting roles too, like Lloyd Gough as the unscrupulous promoter with whom Charley strikes his Mephistophelean deal, Lilli Palmer as his bright-eyed artist fiancée who tries to keep her man on the right track and especially Canada Lee as the seen-it-all black boxing champion Ben Chaplin who knows full well the pitfalls that Charley will face as he heads up the ranks.

But it's Garfield's live-wire performance which sparks the film and keeps it alight, the viewer rooting for him even when he makes the wrong call, as he frequently does.

Really this is a two-fisted knockout of a film, which I would urge anyone to see no matter their thoughts on the subject of whether boxing is an acceptable sport in a civilised society.