Ringside (1949)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Frank McDonald

Writers:

Daniel B. Ullman (story) and
Ron Ormond (adaptation)

Release Date:

14 July 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

THE PUNCH-PACKED DRAMA OF FIGHTING ACTION AND TENDER ROMANCE!

Plot:

Joe O'Hara (Tom Brown), a hard fighter, wants the championship title for the money to finance the concert...

Plot Keywords:

Eyesight | Championship | Training | Concert Pianist | Finance

Cast

Don 'Red' Barry	...	Mike O'Hara aka King Cobra (as Don Barry)
Tom Brown	...	Joe O'Hara
Sheila Ryan	...	Janet 'J.L.' Brannigan
Margia Dean	...	Joy White
John L. Cason	...	Tiger Johnson (as John Cason)
Joseph Crehan	...	Oscar Brannigan
Lyle Talbot	...	Radio Announcer
William Edmunds	...	Prof. Berger
Harry Brown	...	Fight Manager
Chester Clute	...	Timid Man
Michael Vallon	...	Bettor (as Mike Vallon)
Edit Angold	...	Mama Berger
Jimmy Martin	...	Fight Second (as Jimmie Martin)
Sam Flint	...	Doctor
Frankie Van	...	Referee
Dan Tobey	...	Fight Announcer
Joey Adams	...	Duke Hensel
Tony Canzoneri	...	Swinger Markham
Mark Plant	...	Gangster
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Buxx Banner	...	Child at Ringside (unconfirmed)
Harvey Parry	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Stanley Price	...	Fight Spectator (uncredited)
Ned Roberts	...	Fighter (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank McDonald

Writing credits
Daniel B. Ullman		(story)
Ron Ormond		adaptation

Produced by
June Carr	....	associate producer
Robert L. Lippert	....	executive producer
Ron Ormond	....	producer
Ira Webb	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Walter Greene

Cinematography by
Ernest Miller		(as Ernest J. Miller)

Film Editing by
Hugh Winn

Art Direction by
Fred Preble

Set Decoration by
Ted Offenbecker		(as Theo. Offenbecker)

Makeup Department
Paul Stanhope	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Austen Jewell	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Glen Glenn	....	sound engineer
Earl Snyder	....	sound engineer

Special Effects by
Ray Mercer	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Archie R. Dalzell	....	camera operator (as Archie Dalzell)
Noble Craig	....	grip (uncredited)
James Doolittle	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Frank Jenkins	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Donald S. Wakeling	....	wardrobe (as Don Wakeling)

Music Department
Edward Rebner	....	musician: piano

Other crew
Moree Herring	....	script supervisor
Murray Lerner	....	associate: executive producer Robert L. Lippert
Robert L. Lippert	....	presenter
Frankie Van	....	technical director
Gloria Welsch	....	dialogue director (as Gloria Welsh)

Production Companies

• Screen Guild Productions (as Lippert Pictures Inc.)

Distributors

• Screen Guild Productions (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (as Lippert Pictures Inc.)
• Kit Parker Films (2004) (USA) (all media)
• VCI Home Video (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #13888)

Company:

Screen Guild Productions

Tales from the Ring

(There are Spoilers) The movie "Ringside" is very similar to the 1940 boxing drama "City of Conquest" in it having two brothers with totally opposite vocations.

Joe O'Hara, Tom Brown, is a professional prizefighter who takes his profession of beating his opponent into submission as part of the job even if it, in reverse, happens to him. Joe's brother Mike, Don "Red" Barry, who had since quit the ring and became an up and coming concert pianist takes again up boxing after Joe was blinded in a bout with Middleweight Champion Tiger Johnson, John I Cason. Both thirsting for revenge as well as make enough money for his brother to get an eye operation to restore his sight Mike enters the boxing ring with the pseudonym Kid Cobra.

Running up a winning streak of 19 straight victories Mike makes sure that he doesn't knock out his opponents opting to win on points to give everyone, including Tiger Johnson, the impression that he has cream-puffs in his gloves not hands of stone. It's when Mike gets his title shot at the Middleweight Crown that he plans to use his fists to punish and pulverize the unsuspecting Tiger Johnson for what he did to his brother Joe. We also have Mike falling in love with his brother's girlfriend and fiancée Janet, Sheila Ryan, while Joe is laid up blind in his left eye in the hospital.

With the Middleweight Title now on the line Mike's secret identity is exposed by boxing gambler and tipster Swinger Markham, Tony Canzoneri. It was Markham who also tipped off Tiger Johnson's handlers that Joe had an injurer left eye which Johnson took full advantage of in his defense of his hard won title. This news of Kid Cobra's true identity brings Mike's brother Joe rushing from his hospital bed to the boxing arena to plead with him not to kill or seriously injure Tiger Jonhnson for his or anyone else's sake.

Even though Mike was supposed to be the sensitive and non-violent, in him being a musician, type he developed a vicious hatred to the point of killing someone in his attempt to avenge his brother. Joe being in the boxing business, from the point of taking and giving punches, had a far more honest feeling about what Tiger Johnson did to him. Being in the ring to win you have to be able to take as well as give punches and it's up to the referee the ring doctor or the fighter's, who's being badly beaten, handlers or even the winning fighter himself to have the fight stopped.

By grudgingly following his brother's Joe's advice Mike not only became the Middleweight Champion of the World but was thus able to pay for Joe's eye operation. Mike was also able to live with himself in not killing or seriously injuring an opponent in the ring which would haunted him , if not right away but later, for the rest of his life.

P.S "Ringside" also featured the former 1930's Lightwieght Champion of the World Tony Canzoneri, looking like a miniature Two Ton Tony Galento, as the "heavy" in the film playing Swinger Markham.