Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I liked this movie (especially the ending), it was marred by singing. What is really interesting about this movie is Three things. 1: The History involved such as seeing former Champions such as Jack Dempsey, Jess Willard and James J. Corbett as part of the movie, and how Max Baer used what he learned about Primo Carnera to defeat him and win the World Heavyweight Championship. 2: There is no real bad guy in the movie. I know that Willie Ryan was a gangster (and not good), but spoilers ahead: He did not order people to get knocked off, and did fire Belle (Myrna Loy) from her nightclub singing position, so she could go back to her husband boxer Steve Morgan (Baer). Speaking of Ryan, he ended up okay, much better then other guys who lost Loy characters to someone else such as Blackie Gallagher (Clark Gable) in 'Manhattan Melodrama.' 3: Myrna Loy. Her character Belle is the one who is the moral compass of the movie. Belle is different then many dramatic characters she played in her career. Gertie Waxted in 'Penthouse', 'Evelyn Prentice', Coco in 'Topaze', Anne-Marie in 'Stamboul Quest', Eleanor in "Manhattan Melodrama' and her two nastiest characters: Fah Lo See in 'The Mask Of Fu Manchu' and Ursula Georgi in 'Thirteen Women.' Come to mind. None of which are really nice. What you see with her is a very decent and strong person who is unappreciated by both Willie and especially Steve (who cheats on her). The only person who really understands her is 'The Professor' (Walter Huston) who is Steve's trainer. He said "You are not like other women.' If you see the fight where Steve is getting pounded by Carnera, and believes everyone is against him, 'The Professor' cannot help him, because Steve fired him, and Willie said to Belle "Have you seen enough?" (enjoying seeing him get beaten), it is Belle who says "We haven't even started" and gets 'The Professor' back in the corner and he helps Steve salvage a draw. Also watch the end where Steve goes down on one knee to her, and says "I don't want to be the big man, I just want you." And repeats 'The Professor's observation of her. However, she (along with 'The Professor') are going to continue to have him fight, and become the champion he can be. The one difference is unlike earlier when she was home washing dishes, she will be there making sure everything works in and out of the ring. 8/10 stars.

Max Baer is the prizefighter and Myrna Loy is the lady in "The Prizefighter and the Lady," a 1933 film also starring Walter Huston and Otto Kruger. Loy plays a singer who's seeing Otto Kruger and singing in his club - she has a rich mezzo voice (courtesy of Bernice Alstock). She meets handsome Baer, who pursues her until she marries him. It's not all roses once she learns that he plays around.This is a fascinating as well as entertaining film. Loy is extremely beautiful and lovely in her role, and Huston is his usual excellent self, as is Otto Kruger. The fascinating part is Baer, the champion fighter whose character was unfairly decimated in "Cinderella Man" - I hope his family objected. Baer was an extremely colorful character out of the ring but never got over killing Frank Campbell during a fight - he put Campbell's children through college. Here he plays something closer to himself, an amiable playboy with a mean punch. His appearance in a vaudeville act is almost as impressive as his fighting. In "The Prizefighter and the Lady," as in real life, he fights Primo Carnera, as he would a year later. Carnera refused to appear in the film as originally written, where he would be knocked out. I thought Baer was big until I saw Carnera - WHOA. The screen fight is very effective.There are several real sports figures in the film besides Carnero - Jack Dempsey, who helped Baer make a comeback later on when he started telegraphing his punches, and also James Jeffries and Frank Moran. If you're a prize fighter historian, this is the movie for you.Baer went on to make other movies, in fact, he was known as a frustrated performer. His most notable appearance was in Bogart's last film, "The Harder They Fall." By then, of course, his screen persona was a little different. I don't actually agree with one of the comments about the film - I think "The Prizefighter and the Lady," despite the star performances, would have been fairly routine without him. As an added plus for baby boomers - he's Jethro's dad, after all.

I don't think anyone in Hollywood history did so well at playing himself as Max Baer did in this film until Audie Murphy played himself in To Hell and Back. Though his character name was Steve Morgan, believe me this is the genuine Max.And this is a lot closer than the portrayal of Baer in that otherwise excellent film Cinderella Man that came out this year. Baer had all the tools necessary to have been the greatest heavyweight champion of all. His power punching killed two people in the ring as was graphically demonstrated in Cinderella Man.But Max was no killer and no bully as Cinderella Man showed. Those deaths deeply affected him and he pulled his punches in many subsequent matches. In addition he was a colorful playboy who just loved the fast nightclub life as he does in The Prizefighter and the Lady.Myrna Loy and her chauffeur are saved from an auto wreck by Max and his fight manager Walter Huston. They find out later she's the main squeeze of hoodlum Otto Krueger. I won't say more, but there are some of the same plot elements that are found in Broadway Through a Keyhole and Stars Over Broadway in which this same story has the protagonist a singer.Today's audience might find it a little silly that fighter Max Baer appears in a Broadway review. But that was definitely Max as he sings with a bunch of chorus girls, Lucky Fellow, Lucky Guy.Myrna Loy, Walter Huston and Otto Krueger all turn in fine performances in their parts. And Max Baer was a natural born performer. After his ring career he had a nightclub act with fellow pugilist and former Light Heavyweight Champion Maxie Rosenbloom. Baer was no longer the physical specimen he was in 1933, but he had great comic timing and also did several movie roles by himself and with Rosenbloom.He also did a great dramatic part in The Harder They Fall as a stone cold killer of a heavyweight champion, the image that Cinderella Man tried to convey of him.Also the Twentieth Century Fox film, Footlight Serenade, uses Max Baer as a model for Victor Mature's character.And as a special treat for you boxing fans, a whole slew of former ring greats are introduced at the climax of the film before Baer fights for the heavyweight champion.I found the film thoroughly enjoyable and hope TCM shows it more often so the real Max Baer is seen by today's audiences.

Max Baer, Myrna Loy, and Otto Kruger deliver worthy performances in this curiosity of a film. Clearly it was made and distributed "pre-Code," as Myrna Loy's character displays a certain...moral laxity that would not have gone unpunished a few years later. Kruger's tough guy is also unusually nuanced for a gangster of this period.But the real surprise--and delight--is Baer. He acts, he sings, he dances, and he does it all as convincingly as he fights in the climactic bout. In that bout he takes on then heavyweight champ Primo Carnera. I found myself on the edge of my seat as I waited to see which of these two renowned boxers would be the one to post an on-screen loss. The resulting decision is best explained by this entry in the American Film Institute Catalog: "Professional heavyweight boxer Max Baer made his screen debut in the film. At the time of the film's production, Primo Carnera, who also made his screen debut in the picture, was the world's heavyweight boxing champion. Baer was considered the main contender for Carnera's crown, and in 1934, he defeated Carnera for the title. Variety notes that Carnera refused to be knocked out at the end of the film and agreed to the draw decision in the script only after the studio added an extra $10,000 to his $35,000 salary. Hollywood Reporter notes that Baer was 'mutilated' for the first time in his two-year boxing career when he had two teeth knocked out during a staged fight. According to the modern interview with Myrna Loy, Baer studied Carnera's boxing techniques during the filming and later used this 'scouting' information to beat Carnera. In March 1934, Daily Variety announced that the picture had been banned in Germany because Baer was Jewish." That last line is quite the kicker, isn't it? All in all, this is a film that's worth giving time to.