What a fantastic movie when you consider how boxing movies of today have been made. Errol Flynn was an icon himself and playing the character of gentleman Jim certainly didn't harm his career. Any young boxer who is considering a career should watch this, it not only happened but it helped boxing become one of the most watched sports.

Beginning with "They Died with their Boots on" of the previous year, director Raoul Walsh began an association with Errol Flynn that lasted through the war years. "Gentleman Jim" was sandwiched between various WWII films for the duration of the war. After "They Died with their Boots on", Olivia de Havilland was never again Flynn's leading lady. Although a variety of leading ladies filled her shoes over the remainder of Flynn's career, Alexis Smith was the most frequent, costarring in 4 of Flynn's films from 1941-50. She looked especially striking in Technicolor, with her flaming hair and greenish eyes. Unfortunately, the present film was shot in B&W. To see Alexis in a Flynn Technicolor film, checkout the westerns "San Antonio" or "Montana".Although the present film is supposed to be a partial biopic of the pioneer progressive boxer "Gentleman" Jim Corbett, I'm sure Alexis's character is purely fictional. Corbett was married some years before the fight with heavyweight champion J.L. Sullivan. Alexis, as Victoria, keeps popping up in Corbett's life, and secretly puts up the $10,000. needed to stage the Corbett-Sullivan fight, mostly to hopefully see Corbett get beat by Sullivan. Of course, this backfires when Corbett wins. Victoria comes across as very confident of her place in Nob Hill society in San Francisco, but is very condescending toward Corbett, whom she sees as too ambitious and talented as a boxer and as too aggressive in seeking to be an accepted gentleman member of the Olympic Club. She alternatively encourages him toward a romantic relationship, then slaps him down when he oversteps her invisible bounds. Clearly, she's jealous of his overall talent and probably fears he would be too dominating in a relationship with her.Historically, Corbett's fame is based not just on his defeat of Sullivan, but in introducing a new style of boxing, largely imported from England, emphasizing fancy foot work and gloved hands, instead of bare knuckle slugging. Historically, Corbett also was a reasonably good actor, and after his boxing days were over, he made money in vaudeville.Ward Bond does a good job impersonating Sullivan, except that he overdoes the confusion in the ring due to Corbett's quickness and dancing. He is shown being gracious toward Corbett in his defeat. I don't know if this is historically correct. I viewed a 130 min. version of this film on You Tube. The standard version is 144 min. I didn't have the feeling that something important was missing.

Good boxing movie, the story of "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, one of the earliest world heavyweight champions under the Marquis of Queensbury rules.Shows very well how Corbett revolutionised the sport. Before it was pretty much a brawl or slugfest. He used his speed to dodge and wear down opponents, and made it more tactical.Reasonably accurate, historically. Some of the sub-plots are thrown in for entertainment value and can be a bit silly at times.Great performance by Errol Flynn in the lead role. Good support from Alexis Smith.

This is one of Errol's best films and performances as Gentleman Jim Corbett. He's loose and lively with his movie star charm and charisma in full evidence. He's also well matched with Alexis Smith one of the most undervalued of golden era actresses. They made four films together with this being the best of the bunch. Well directed by Walsh with a quick pace and a great group of the Warners stock company assembled. Ward Bond in particular stands out in a nice scene as John L. Sullivan passing the torch of championship on to the next generation. An excellent example of the studio system working at peak efficiency where all the components fall into place and turn an average script into something more.