Gifted German wrestler Polokai falls in love with ex-con Laura, who persuades him to emigrate to America and gets him involved with crooked promoters.
Acting
Beery's tragic hulk—childlike dignity in a body built for pain.
Direction
Ford finds grace in bloodsport arenas and flop houses.
Production
Authentic wrestling sequences, pre-code production value.
Director
John Ford
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ford later disowned this MGM assignment, but it's his only collaboration with Wallace Beery—who won Best Actor the same year for The Champ.
Shot during Hollywood's 'pre-code' window, Laura's unapologetic sexual manipulation and criminal scheming would be censored into oblivion just two years later.
US
