The action scenes were so realistic in fact that female fans became alarmed. They could not understand how Taylor managed to take so many blows and not damage his handsome face. The studio, of course, reassured them that everything was carefully choreographed so that no punch ever actually landed. Taylor told friends the skill to pull punches just a fraction from someone's nose was even greater than that needed for being a successful boxer, and he was very grateful Beery and others learned their lessons well.
This was Taylor and Beery's second film together. When they appeared in West Point of the Air (1935), Taylor was little more than a bit player. In Stand Up and Fight, Beery still got top billing, but Taylor was every bit his box office equal and very soon eclipsed his co-star. Although Beery continued to work until his death in 1949, he slowly slipped from leading actor to supporting player, while Taylor remained one of MGM's top male stars well into the 1950s.
The large cast features a number of well-known character actors, including Helen Broderick, best known for comic roles, among them a couple of appearances in Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies. She was the mother of Broderick Crawford, the Academy Award-winning Best Actor for All the King's Men (1949).
The screenplay came from a couple of unlikely sources. Co-author Jane Murfin penned several Katharine Hepburn films, including the screen adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel Alice Adams (1935). She also adapted Clare Boothe Luce's all-female play, The Women (1939). James M. Cain, on the other hand, was best known for gritty urban crime thrillers. His novels adapted for the screen include Double Indemnity (1944), Mildred Pierce (1945) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946).
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Producer: Mervyn LeRoy
Screenplay: James M. Cain, Jane Murfin, Harvey Fergusson
Cinematography: Leonard Smith
Editing: Frank Sullivan
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons
Original Music: William Axt
Cast: Robert Taylor (Blake Cantrell), Wallace Beery (Captain Boss Strakey), Florence Rice (Susan Griffith), Helen Broderick (Aunt Mandy Griffith), Charles Bickford (Mr. Arnold), Barton MacLane (Mr. Crowder).
BW-97m. Closed captioning.
by Rob Nixon
