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Enterprise Productions

United Artists

Not part of a collection.

Body and Soul

Name: Body and Soul
Released: 1947-11-11T00:00:00.000000Z
Rating: 6.7

All for you...

1947 • 104 min • ★ 6.7 (121) • Released

Drama

Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempt the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.

IMDb ↗

Original title: Body and Soul
Language: EN
Country: US
Budget: —
Revenue: —

Reviews & Ratings 2

CinemaSerf

Jul 7, 2022 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

I always thought that John Garfield was one of the most under-rated of actors; he made some great films - and this is one of them. He is the down at heel, amateur boxer "Charley" who lives with his decent and upstanding mother "Anna" (Anne Revere) pretty much hand to mouth. When he wins an amateur bout, promoter "Quinn" (William Conrad) picks him up and starts him earning a little from his fights. Accompanied by his friend "Shorty" (Joseph Pevney) and his gal "Peg" (Lilli Palmer) he starts to attract attention, and when the big time looms he agrees a deal with "Roberts" (Lloyd Goff) and suddenly finds that his standards of morality and decency start to become compromised. His new found mentor is ruthless and his friends are gradually marginalised or ignored. Can a tragedy very close those to home open his eyes? This is a great story of grit and determination, of love, loyalty and manipulation and Robert Rossen keeps the pace moving really well. The cast is small, and the story tightly woven around some strong characters and a moral many can easily understand - money being the root of all evil, however well intentioned the earning of it. It's well scored and the production is photographed cleverly, at times intimately, making for a superior tale well worth watching.

John Chard

May 26, 2019 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

He could've had the whole world. So he leaned over sideways and grabbed you. Body and Soul is directed by Robert Rossen and written by Abraham Polonsky. It stars John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere and William Conrad. Music is by Hugo Friedhofer and cinematography by James Wong Howe. A talented boxer's career begins to spiral out of control when financial hunger, matters of the heart and a shady promoter begin to take a hold. Viewing it now, Body and Soul looks to be chock full of boxing movie clichés, which of course wasn't the case back in the 40s. Such as it is with the year of release, it has been honourably inserted into the film noir pantheon. If that's worthy - and many of the noir bible writers seem to think so - is up to the individual viewer to decide, what is apparent though is this is a fine piece of film making regardless of genre or style assignment. Charlie Davis' (Garfield in a worthy Oscar Nominated performance) descent down a crooked path is certainly noir in plot terms, and it makes for riveting viewing. The screenplay for the time is very choice and worthy, focusing as it does on corruption and violence within the sporting world. The look of the pic is that of realism, Rossen and Howe mixing elegiac beauty with fluent fight sequences (of which there aren't actually many), the monochrome sharp as a left hook. There's no sentimentality on show, this is stripped bare to show the dark that lurks beneath the cheering crowds and sensational advertisement posters. Pic pulses with the beat of the street, the sweat is from those trying to make a living, all while anti capitalism seeps from every frame. The finale drives home a point - consistent with Rossen in general - and even though pic has a very stage bound core, the craft from all involved ensures it never hurts the dramatic worth. 7.5/10

User reviews courtesy of TMDB.

Keywords 10

boxer boxing boxing promoter corruption film noir fixed fight jewish american money new york city sports

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Cast 35

John Garfield

Charley Davis

Lilli Palmer

Peg Born

Hazel Brooks

Alice

Anne Revere

Anna Davis

William Conrad

Quinn

Joseph Pevney

Shorty Polaski

Lloyd Gough

Roberts

Canada Lee

Ben Chaplin

Al Bain

Club Patron (uncredited)

Eddie Borden

Fight Spectator (uncredited)

James Burke

Arnold (uncredited)

George M. Carleton

Prizefight Doctor (uncredited)

Wheaton Chambers

Ben's Doctor (uncredited)

Mary Currier

Miss Tedder (uncredited)

Sayre Dearing

Bartender (uncredited)

Joe Devlin

Prince (uncredited)

Virginia Gregg

Irma (uncredited)

Milton Kibbee

Dan - Marlowe's Manager (uncredited)

Mike Lally

Timekeeper (uncredited)

Theodore Lorch

Man at Weigh-in (uncredited)

Wilbur Mack

Fight Spectator (uncredited)

George Magrill

Fight Stadium Cop (uncredited)

Sid Melton

Prizefight Spectator (uncredited)

Harold Miller

Fight Spectator (uncredited)

Forbes Murray

Weigh-in Official (uncredited)

William H. O'Brien

Bartender (uncredited)

Mike Ragan

Ring Photographer (uncredited)

Bob Reeves

Police Officer (uncredited)

Cyril Ring

Victor - Butler (uncredited)

Shimen Ruskin

Shimen, the Grocer (uncredited)

Tim Ryan

Jack Shelton (uncredited)

Art Smith

David Davis (uncredited)

Larry Steers

Fight Spectator (uncredited)

George Tyne

Charlie's Friend (uncredited)

Sailor Vincent

Fight Spectator (uncredited)

Crew 7

Nathan Juran

Art Direction

James Wong Howe

Director of Photography

Robert Aldrich

Assistant Director

Robert Rossen

Director

Robert Parrish

Editor

Hugo Friedhofer

Original Music Composer

Abraham Polonsky

Screenplay

Gallery

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US Release Dates 1

Nov 11, 1947

NR Theatrical