Search - Kid Galahad on DVD

Riveting Warner's fight film in excellent package

Douglas M | 01/03/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There is no doubt that the films of Warner Brothers are the films of the thirties which stand up best today. The reason is simple - they had the best actors (note actors not film stars) and their stories were generally pungent and exciting. "Kid Galahad" is an excellent example. Released in 1937, Edward G. Robinson stars as a prize fight manager who discovers bellhop Wayne Morris and puts him on top.



The film works on a number of levels - exciting prize fight yarn with plenty of action; gangster film with rival manager Humphrey Bogart slugging it out with Robinson at the end of the film; emotional melodrama concerning Bette Davis's role as Robinson's girlfriend. This film was one of the transition films after Davis had fought Warner's in the court, lost and returned to work with new found respect but before she became a box office superstar in her own right. She adds her electric ability to her role creating a 3 dimensional woman who falls for Morris, leaves Robinson because of her sense of honour and befriends Morris's girlfriend Jane Bryan. The interplay between the women has unexpected depth. Also, Davis is very attractive in this one; slim and wearing some very provocative clothes.



The print is only OK with intermittant vertical lines at times but there is an unusually comprehensive set of extras. The "Warner's Night at the Movies" includes a pleasant musical Vitaphone short, a pointless newsreel showing a printing press endlessly generating posters advertising rewards for hardened criminals, a "True Adventure" short film about an unemployed man hopping the freight trains, landing in town and being mistaken as a murderer and 3 vintage cartoons which lack the sharp humour of other Warner's cartoons. The best feature is the commentary shared between 2 erudite historians. They excellently balance information about the filming techniques (Michael Curtiz directed), the performers, the ethnic references and the studio.



This is an excellent package and can be obtained as part of the 4th Warner's Gangster Collection."