Shy milkman Burleigh Sullivan accidentally knocks out drunken Speed McFarlane, a champion boxer who was flirting with Burleigh's sister. The newspapers get hold of the story and photographers even catch Burleigh knock out Speed again. Speed's crooked manager decides to turn Burleigh into a fighter. Burleigh doesn't realize that all of his opponents have been asked to take a dive. Thinking he really is a great fighter, Burleigh develops a swelled head which puts a crimp in his relationship with pretty nightclub singer Polly Pringle. He may finally get his comeuppance when he challenges Speed for the title.
03-21-1946
1h 53m
THIS
HELLA
Doesn't have an image right now... sorry!has no image... sorry!
Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Norman Z. McLeod
Production:
Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Key Crew
Adaptation:
Melville Shavelson
Adaptation:
Don Hartman
Producer:
Samuel Goldwyn
Director of Photography:
Gregg Toland
Lyricist:
Sammy Cahn
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian. His best known performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire nonsense songs.
Kaye starred in 17 movies, notably The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), The Inspector General (1949), Hans Christian Andersen (1952), White Christmas (1954), and — perhaps his most accomplished performance — The Court Jester (1956). His films were extremely popular, especially his bravura performances of patter songs and children's favorites such as The Inch Worm and The Ugly Duckling. He was the first ambassador-at-large of UNICEF and received the French Legion of Honor in 1986 for his many years of work with the organization.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Virginia Mayo (November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American film actress. After a short career in vaudeville, Mayo progressed to films and during the 1940s established herself as a supporting player in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and White Heat (1949). She worked extensively during the 1950s, but after this her appearances were fewer. She worked occasionally until her final performance in 1997.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Virginia Mayo, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
He is perhaps best remembered for his role of Big Ed Somers, the power hungry gangster pal of James Cagney in "White Heat" (1949). Born Robert Alexander Cochran in Eureka, California, he was the son of a California lumberjack, who moved the family to Wyoming in the 1920s, where Cochran grew to adulthood. After graduating from the University of Wyoming in 1939, Cochran began working steadily as a Wyoming cowboy, while developing his acting skills working in summer stock and regional theaters and gradually moving on to Broadway. In 1945, he signed with MGM, and for the next several years, played mostly secondary roles as gangsters or boxers. He made his film debut with "Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion" (1945) and quickly followed with "Wonder Man" (1945). Released from his contract in 1948, he returned to Broadway where he worked with Mae West; the next year he signed on with Warner Brothers, where he earned leading roles in such films as "The Damned Don't Cry" (1950), "Highway 301" (1950) and "Tomorrow is Another Day" (1951). Warner Brothers often had him playing the villain in several of its western films, such as "Dallas" (1950), and "Back to God's Country" (1953). With the end of his contract in 1953, he began his own film company, Robert Alexander Productions, while also freelancing for other studios and moving on to guest star roles on television shows. He would show up in such television shows as Death Valley Days, Burke's Law, The Untouchables, Naked City, The Twilight Zone, Route 66, and The Virginian. A notorious womanizer, Cochran was married and divorced three times, and was often in the Hollywood tabloids reportedly having affairs with such actresses as Mae West, Jayne Mansfield, Joan Crawford, Merle Oberon, Ida Lupino and Mamie Van Doren. Cochran died under mysterious circumstances. In May 1965, Cochran had revived his production company, and together with three women, whom he had hired as his assistants, boarded his 40-foot yacht to travel to Central and South America to look for filming locations. On June 25, 1965, the yacht drifted into Port Champerico, Guatemala, with three alive but very distraught women aboard and the body of Steve Cochran, who had died ten days earlier. The women did not know how to operate the boat, and were dependent upon its drifting to shore after his death. There were numerous rumors of murder and poisoning, and actress / former lover Merle Oberon used her influence to push for further police investigation, but no evidence of foul play was ever determined. The official cause of his death was given as Acute Infectious Edema (lung infection).
Eve Arden (born Eunice Mary Quedens; April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990) was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. Born just north of San Francisco in Mill Valley and was interested in show business from an early age. At 16, she made her stage debut after quitting school to joined a stock company. After appearing in minor roles in two films under her real name, Eunice Quedens, she found that the stage offered her the same minor roles. By the mid 30s, one of these minor roles would attract notice as a comedy sketch in the stage play "Ziegfeld Folies". By that time, she had changed her name to Eve Arden. In 1937, she attracted some attention with a small role in Oh, Doctor (1937) which led to her being cast in a minor role in the film Stage Door (1937). By the time the film was finished, her part had expanded into the wise-cracking, fast-talking friend to the lead. She would play virtually the character for most of her career. While her sophisticated wise-cracking would never make her the lead, she would be a busy actress in dozens of movies over the next dozen years. In At the Circus (1939), she was the acrobatic Peerless Pauline opposite Groucho Marx and the Russian sharp shooter in the comedy The Doughgirls (1944). For her role as Ida in Mildred Pierce (1945), she received an Academy Award nomination. Famous for her quick ripostes, this led to work in Radio during the 40s. In 1948, CBS Radio premiered "Our Miss Brooks", which would be the perfect show for her character. As her film career began to slow, CBS would take the popular radio show to television in 1952. The television series Our Miss Brooks (1952) would run through 1956 and led to he movie Our Miss Brooks (1956). When the show ended, she tried another television series, The Eve Arden Show (1957), but it was soon canceled. In the 60s, Eve raised a family and did a few guest roles, until her come-back television series The Mothers-In-Law (1967). This show, co-starring Kaye Ballard ran for two seasons. After that, she would make more unsold pilots, a couple of television movies and a few guest shots. She returned in occasional cameo appearances including the Principal McGee in Grease (1978), and Warden June in Pandemonium (1982), showing that she still had the wise-cracks and screen presence to bring back the fond memories of Miss Connie Brooks.
Walter Abel (June 6, 1898 – March 26, 1987) was an American stage and film character actor. His eyes were brown and his (adult) height was five foot ten inches.
Abel was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Christine (née Becker) and Richard Michael Abel. Abel graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where he had studied in 1917 and joined a touring company. He made his Broadway debut in Forbidden in 1919. His many theatre credits include As You Like It, Desire Under the Elms, Mourning Becomes Electra, Merrily We Roll Along, and Trelawny of the 'Wells'. On the stage, he appeared in Channing Pollock's 1926 production of The Enemy together with Fay Bainter.
Abel was married to concert harpist Marietta Bitter. He died of a myocardial infarction in Essex, Connecticut.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Walter Abel, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Fay Okell Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. MGM persuaded her to try films and her movie debut was in This Side of Heaven (February 1934), the same year she appeared in Dodsworth on Broadway and in the film It Happened One Day (July 1934). Bainter quickly achieved success, and in 1938 she became the first performer nominated in the same year for both the Academy Award for Best Actress, for White Banners (1938), and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Jezebel (1938), winning for the latter. Since then, only nine other actors have won dual nominations in a single year. In 1940 she played Mrs. Gibbs in the film production of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town. In 1945 she played Melissa Frake in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical State Fair. She was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Children's Hour (1961). Finally, in 1962, Fay appeared as a guest star on The Donna Reed Show.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Fay Bainter, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Don Wilson (September 1, 1900 – April 25, 1982) was an American announcer and actor in radio and television, with a Falstaffian vocal presence, remembered best as the rotund announcer and comic foil to the star of The Jack Benny Program.
His film roles included small appearances as announcers or commentators in several films, and an appearance as Mr. Kettering opposite Marilyn Monroe in Niagara.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Knox Manning (born Charles Knox Manning, January 17, 1904 – August 26, 1980) was an American radio and film announcer/narrator/commentator and film actor. He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. He and Annette North Manning are interred at Ivy Lawn Cemetery in Ventura, California.
A former radio newscaster at KNX and announcer, Manning entered the motion picture field in 1939 as an offscreen narrator. His distinctive voice and phrasing were noticed by other studios, and he quickly became one of the movies' busiest voice artists. Very often he was the trademark voice of several concurrent series.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kay Thompson (November 9, 1909 — July 2, 1998) was an American author, composer, musician, actress and singer. She is best known as the creator of the Eloise children's books.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Kay Thompson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tom Kennedy (July 15, 1885 – October 6, 1965) was an American actor known for his roles in Hollywood comedies from the silent days, with such producers as Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, mainly supporting lead comedians such as the Marx Brothers, W. C. Fields, Mabel Normand, Shemp Howard, Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges. Kennedy also played dramatic roles as a supporting actor. For over 50 years, from 1915 to 1965, he appeared in over 320 films and television series, often uncredited.
His first film was a short black and white comedy, His Luckless Love. Kennedy was in all nine Torchy Blane films as Gahagan, the poetry-spouting cop whose running line was, "What a day! What a day!"
He is often erroneously listed in film sources as the brother of slow-burning comedian Edgar Kennedy. Though the two men were not related, they were apparently good friends, with Tom appearing in many of Edgar's domestic two-reel comedy shorts.
Tom Kennedy was also paired with Stooge Shemp Howard for several shorts for Columbia Pictures such as Society Mugs, as well as appearing with the Three Stooges in the films Loose Loot and Spooks!. He was also paired with El Brendel for four shorts, such as Phoney Cronies in 1942.
His television appearances included episodes of Perry Mason, Maverick, My Favorite Martian, and Gunsmoke.
Tom Kennedy continued making films right up until his death, his last film being the western The Bounty Killer.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
William Benedict (April 16, 1917 – November 25, 1999) was an American actor, perhaps best known for playing "Whitey" in Monogram Pictures' The Bowery Boys series.
Born in Haskell, Oklahoma, he took part in school theatricals, and on leaving school he made his way to Hollywood. His first film was $10 Raise (1935) starring Edward Everett Horton, which launched Benedict on a busy career. The blond-haired Benedict almost always played juvenile roles, such as newsboys, messengers, office boys, and farmhands.
In 1939, when Universal Pictures began its Little Tough Guys series to compete with the popular Dead End Kids features, Billy Benedict was recruited into the cast. These films led him into the similar East Side Kids movies (usually playing a member of the East Side gang, but occasionally in villainous roles). The East Side Kids became The Bowery Boys in 1946, and Benedict stayed with the series (as "Whitey") through the end of 1951.
Other films included My Little Chickadee (1940) starring W. C. Fields and Mae West, The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster (1955), The Sting (1973) and Farewell, My Lovely (1975). Benedict never shook his juvenile image completely, and continued to play messengers and news vendors well into his sixties. He also worked often in television commercials.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985), born in Waukegan, Illinois, was an American actor. He made his screen debut in 1928, ultimately appearing, throughout his career, in over 140 films, usually in smaller supporting roles. Chandler is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the television series Lassie.
Early in his performing career he had a vaudeville act, billed as "George Chandler, the Musical Nut", which featured comedy and his violin. He served in the United States Army during World War I.
In addition to many film roles throughout the years 1928-1979, Chandler appeared, from 1951 onward, in numerous television series.
He was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1960.
George Chandler died in Panorama City, California, the result of cancer, on June 10, 1985. He was 86.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bess Flowers (November 23, 1898 – July 28, 1984) was an American actress. By some counts considered the most prolific actress in the history of Hollywood, she was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in over 700 movies in her 41 year career.
Born in Sherman, Texas, Flowers's film debut came in 1923, when she appeared in Hollywood. She made three films that year, and then began working extensively. Many of her appearances are uncredited, as she generally played non-speaking roles.
By the 1930s, Flowers was in constant demand. Her appearances ranged from Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford thrillers to comedic roles alongside of Charley Chase, the Three Stooges, Leon Errol, Edgar Kennedy, and Laurel and Hardy.
She appeared in the following five films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture: It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it with You, All About Eve, The Greatest Show on Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. In each of these movies, Flowers was uncredited. Including these five movies, she had appeared in twenty-three Best Picture nominees in total, making her the record holder for most appearances in films nominated for the award. Her last movie was Good Neighbor Sam in 1964.
Flowers's acting career was not confined to feature films. She was also seen in many episodic American TV series, such as I Love Lucy, notably in episodes, "Lucy Is Enceinte" (1952), "Ethel's Birthday" (1955), and "Lucy's Night in Town" (1957), where she is usually seen as a theatre patron.
Outside her acting career, in 1945, Bess Flowers helped to found the Screen Extras Guild (active: 1946-1992, then merged with SAG), where she served as one of its first vice-presidents and recording secretaries.
Betty Alexander was born on May 4, 1926 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for The Trespasser (1947), Dangerous Venture (1947) and The Milton Berle Show (1948). She died on June 21, 2006 in Boca Raton, Florida, USA.
