Review of Body and Soul

Introduction

Depending on your particular point of view, Boxing is either the sport that legends are made of, or a disgusting barbarous game contested only by imbeciles. The latter strain of thought is well reinforced by the way in which a lot of underhanded dealing accompanies such prize-fights, making them essentially a pre-determined excuse to batter the living daylights out of another similarly stupid individual for the reward of a great deal of money. Of course, the other side of the argument is reinforced by, well, brute force.

A few films have tried to capture the underhanded and/or heroic essence of the sport, with varying degrees of critical and commercial success. Top of the pile is `Raging Bull`, pretty much regarded as THE pugilist movie. The over ambitious `Ali` starring Will Smith and Denzel Washington`s `The Hurricane` win points for effort, but they were more biopics of boxers than a movie about boxing itself.

Credited as providing the inspiration for the aforementioned greatest of them all, `Body and Soul`, directed by Robert Rossen, is a story of how the sport pulls apart the very souls of its stars, and so, on paper at least, should appeal to both the lovers and haters of boxing.

John Garfield features as Charley Davis, an amateur boxer who has a good run and eventually makes it professional, at the expense of his fiancé (Lilli Palmer), various other opponents and comparatively well-intentioned manager Shorty (Joseph Pevney) . As Charlie lies in wait for his title fight, he takes some time to reflect on his career up to that point; essentially finding that he has become soaked up in the glamour and pull of the new world which he inhabits. It is only after the shocking demise of a much-adored former opponent that he realises where his priorities lie, giving way to the dramatic conclusion.

Yet it`s not the story which has gained notoriety; it`s the boxing scenes themselves. Apparently part of Bobby Deniro`s homework when making `Raging Bull` was to have a gander at this flick, and the selling point of the DVD seems to be that it was influential on a much more admired film, a sales pitch that is ever so slightly self-deprecating. Relying on the achievements of another film to tempt the buying public tends to suggest that this particular specimin is ever so slightly lacking in some areas.

It may have some body, but does it really have a soul?

Video

Presented in full screen 4:3 Black and white presentation, the norm for such an old picture, the transfer is pretty darn good. The unavoidable flickering in the gloomier scenes is there, but there don`t seem to be too many scratches or marks on the original source material, which is good news for us 59 years on.

The cinematography of the movie has been praised in the past, and the scenes in the ring are well shot, although brief. The picture won an Oscar for its editing, no doubt more attributable to the way the narrative unfurls rather than any particular eye on the visual aspects of the film.

Audio

The sound is presented in mono - no surprises there. What may shock you is that, in the intervening period, the film has lost quite a great deal of audio quality, and so the soaring strings tremble more than they really should.

This is merely a word of warning however, and we could not have reasonably expected a perfect audio component after all this time.

Features

There are none.

My suggestion would be to have included have been a piece on the production of the fight Sequences, but as the protagonists are no longer with us, then this was obviously not possible.

Conclusion

It`s hard to know quite how you approach reviewing a film like `Body and Soul`. If, as stated, it has been heavily influential upon those which followed, then it`s impossible to deny that it has been a force in cinema. If Scorsese used it as the impetus to produce what is firmly held as the greatest in its field, then there`s not much that little Stephen Morse can do to dissuade those interested in seeing it for themselves.

But it`s worth a try. The tough truth of the matter is that `Body and Soul` is something of a non event. Garfield`s acting is very `Hollywood` throughout, but in the immediate post-war era when charisma and overacting ruled, there was very little space for real emotional clarity or depth.

In fact, it seems surprising that the idolising of the forties and fifties cinematic stars has carried on to this day, never mind the plethora of superior acting talent which has emanated since. This may sound a little over the top, but this is important; How can the breakdown of someone`s life and relationships be adequately depicted when the same tone of staged indifference delivers both victorious celebration and sympathetic pillow talk? It makes little sense, and punches a big hole in the credibility of the picture.

Yet, all of this shouldn`t matter, because the audience have been lured by the promise of the greatest fight scenes since David smote Goliath. What will come as an unwelcome surprise, therefore, are the twin revelations that 1) there aren`t very many of them (about 5 minutes in total) and 2) they aren`t as prophetic and life changing as promised. They might show a few punches here and there, with the camera following the action faithfully, but you can`t feel the crack of the bone, or the shattering of the skull - and what good is a boxing film without the nauseating feeling that you`re watching someone having their brain destroyed before your very eyes?

Despite managing to tell an adequate story, just like the big fights that it depicts, `Body and Soul` draws you in with the promise of fifteen rounds of non-stop entertainment. What transpires is a second round knockout at the hands of disappointment.