Sucker Punch: Boxing Films of the 1930s, 40s and 50s

The 1930s, 40s and 50s were the heyday of the boxing film, attracting some of the biggest stars of the time - including Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Kirk Douglas and Paul Newman - and some of the best directors. Yet it is a genre that has received little critical attention apart from a few films singled out because they can be categorised as 'film noir'. It would be easy to assume, therefore, that the typical boxing film of this period was a dark melodrama with the tragic and doomed figure of the boxer at its centre, but that gives a false picture of a genre that included comedies and costume dramas among its 130-plus films.

Sucker Punch invites the reader to take a wider look at the scope and breadth of the genre by providing a detailed discussion of 20 boxing films - a selection from each decade - from Hollywood and British studios. Some, such as Body and Soul, have become part of the established 'canon' of Film Studies, while lighter fare, such as Ringside Maisie or Gentleman Jim, have been overlooked by the critics but are worthy of re-examination - not simply because they are enjoyable films in their own right, but also because they offer insights into social attitudes of the times.

The book draws on contemporary sources, such as trade-paper film reviews, as well as modern academic criticism, to build a highly readable account of the development of the boxing genre and its narrative conventions.