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.

As a fight fan I cringe when I see films like Rocky, Kid Gallahad or Golden Boy. They might as well be from Republic serials. Every punch a hay maker. Every punch connecting. But this film shows what two top professionals can do. Sure, the action is unrealistically non-stop but the punches are thrown properly and the connection rate (until the final rounds) realistic. This is enough to make Prizefighter and the Lady the best fight film ever.I was terrifically impressed by Max Baer. He held his own with consummate professionals. Was he awkward in some scenes? Yes. But isn't this how you would expect a guy that he was playing to react? And his turn at show business, while of no value to the film, was the kind of thing famous people routinely did in that age.The rest of the cast was uniformly good. Willy the gangster was a difficult assignment pulled off with originality and rare perception. The basic story may be well-used but done with complete believability and with interesting twists. Fight fans, see this film.

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.

Spunky young boxer woos and weds lovely torch singer, snatching her away from under they vigilant eyes of her mobster boyfriend, as it were, but soon, as his boxing star rises he takes to philandering... I wasn't prepared for the impact of this incredibly dynamic early talkie, taut, effective and clearheaded. The way Hawks and Van Dyke tell their story is to the point, the acting by both Loy and real-life boxer Max Baer is vivid and engaging. And yet, nothing will prepare you for the grand finale, the ultimate Madison Sq Garden match, a haven of broken noses and cauliflower ears. The fight itself is wonderfully, imaginatively shot with alternating angles, intermingled with shots of Loy and Walter Huston in the audience, fights breaking out, ladies swooning, desperate last-minute bets taking place, cutting faster and faster, faster and faster. Quite a feat, recommended.