World in My Corner

Audie Murphy is an honest young boxer with an honest manager in John MacIntire. But he wants beautiful Barbara Rush, and her father, Jeff Morrow, is a manipulative man. Can Audie remain an honest man and have Miss Rush?

It's pretty much a standard boxing movie, although Murphy, who is mostly quiet, out with long speeches that mark plot switches three or four times. The corruption of the fight game is hinted at throughout, but doesn't turn into actual action until the last act. The fight scenes with Chico Vejar are well shot, and pretty brutal. With Tommy Rail, Howard St. John, and Sheila Bromley.

The mid-1950s proved to be the last stand for Hollywood's traditional boxing movie. (In 1955, for example, Tony Curtis appeared in "The Square Jungle" while John Derek donned gloves for "The Leather Saint.") Audie Murphy's "World in My Corner" may be the best of this lot even though it follows a well-worn formula: poor but honest boxer from the wrong side of the tracks gets a taste of the high-life, falls for a rich society girl, and is tempted to "take a dive" for money.

The sole variation here is that rich-girl Barbara Rush is also the good-girl. (In some movies, the rich-girl is portrayed as a flashy blonde temptress who tries to lure the boxer into corruption. Opposing her, of course, is a poor but devoted good-girl who dresses modestly and who has dark hair. Guess which girl the boxer winds up with in the final scene.)

At least "World in My Corner" seems aware of its routine nature. Rather than trying to hide it, the movie makes it an asset by playing things straight, avoiding unnecessary detours and keeping both plot and characters within a narrow focus. The result may not be stylish or innovative but it does offer a modest degree of satisfaction.

Audie Murphy may never have been Oscar-material but he's well-cast here and does passably well in the many boxing sequences. Needless to say, he often appears bare-chested and this opportunity to exploit a young actor's "beefcake" potential partially explains the appeal of the boxing movie. Had Ben Affleck come along a generation or two ago, for example, he'd probably have had at least one boxing movie under his belt, though his chest would probably have been shaved for the sake of "decency."

Occasionally Universal Pictures let Audie Murphy do some work other than westerns. I'm sure he was grateful for the change of scenery and pace and a chance to vary his roles. Rural Texas country kid Murphy does quite well in World In My Corner as an aspiring young boxer from the mean streets of Jersey City.

Getting laid off from a job means that Murphy has to give his all to a boxing career. He's unpolished, but has the instinct. Two people take an interest in him, millionaire sportsman Jeff Morrow and old time fight manager John McIntire. And Murphy takes an interest in Morrow's daughter Barbara Rush.

The conflict in this film is whether Murphy will keep his integrity or turn himself over to racketeer promoter Howard St.John. When this film came out there were rumblings about organized crime's involvement in boxing and soon it would come out at the Senate rackets committee hearings.

World In My Corner has Murphy getting the most of what boxing could give him. But he pays a heavy price for it.

As you can see a great cast of players back Murphy in this film. I would also include Tommy Rall in a non-musical role as one of Murphy's friends from Jersey City. He's quite a conniver, but does show he's Murphy's friend in the end.

A very nicely done boxing film that gets too little attention.

There was two other underrated boxing stories produced by Universal Pictures: THE SQUARE JUNGLE, and THE IRON MAN, directed by Jerry Hopper and Joseph Pevney, starring Tony Curtis for the first and Jeff Chandler for the second. This one is made by Jesse Hibbs, a western specialist and starring Audie Murphy, who was for Hibbs the equivalent of what Chandler was for Pevney. It is a good time waster bringing no surprises at all, showing the boxing underworld as we all have seen it before in so many movies: corrupted managers, love story between the lead and the gorgeous gal whom he falls in love with, the friendly and paternalistic trainer. This is not THE SET UP, nor THE CHAMPION or THE HARDER THEY FALL, I warn you. But it is unusual to see Murphy in something else than a western and directed by his fetish director Hibbs with whom he also gave a strange drama: JOE BUTTERFLY and not a western.

What strikes me is that despite every opportunity, the director never managed to give this movie that extra something that would have made it better. As for why that happened one can only speculate. A lack of interest and engagement comes to mind. It even looks like the director was going through the motions without the aim of telling this story in a grand manner. The result is a watchable but pretty predictable movie that never really catches on. Was he directing this film as a tedious task he did not really want to do? The acting is not very convincing, and a feeling of boredom creeps in. The actors sure had more potential, and some boxing scenes are pretty good, but that does not help the movie get the perspective and level it needs. Just compare it to the Rocky movies and you see what I mean.