There's no hope for middleweight boxer Bobby Murray (Hugh Trevor). Nobody thinks he's going to win his next match, except maybe his manager (and father) Tom (Lloyd Ingraham). So it makes sense to throw the fight - and if Bobby's having trouble making up his mind, oddsman Zelli (Robert Ellis) sends pretty Paula (Aileen Pringle) to kiss some sense into him. Pringle, who bore a resemblance to grande dame naughty book authoress Elinor Glyn, also starred in the adaptation of Glyn's scandalous romance Three Weeks (1924). That, along with her off-screen friendships with intellectuals like H.L. Mencken, added a haughty, intellectual aura to her screen mystique - useful in some roles, but challenging in others. (". . . she is not really the hard-boiled type she is portraying", sniffed The New York Times.) Still, this early boxing movie is an interesting contrast to later interpretations of life in the ring, like The Champ (1931) and Kid Galahad (1937). (Fans of Art Deco will also feast their eyes on Paula's lusciously decorated apartment.)

By Violet LeVoit