Flesh ** (1932, Wallace Beery, Karen Morley, Ricardo Cortez, Jean Hersholt) – Classic Movie Review 11,575

Director John Ford’s 1932 MGM black and white drama Flesh stars Wallace Beery, Karen Morley, Ricardo Cortez and Jean Hersholt. The story is by Edmund Goulding, and the screenplay is by Leonard Praskins (adaptation), Edgar Allan Woolf (adaptation) and Moss Hart (dialogue).

Some of the script is written by uncredited John W Considine Jr, Hanns Kräly and William Faulkner. The film was co-produced (with John W Considine Jr) and directed by John Ford, who removed his director’s credit for an unspecified reason. The opening credits state it is a A John Ford Production.

If you think there haven’t been many movies about wrestling, this may be why. The highly popular Wallace Beery failed to draw the huge crowds to this film as Polikai, a good-hearted German wrestler in America, with a doomed crush on released American convict Laura (Karen Morley), and trouble from mobsters.

Tragedy occurs after she persuades Beery to fork out to free her lover, fellow American convict Nicky (Ricardo Cortez), from jail, pretending that he is her brother.

In its day, Beery’s acting as the sad outsider brought him flattering comparisons with popular German actor Emil Jannings, but the performance has faded, like the film, though it remains of interest as a little-shown work of its master director.

Also in the cast are Jean Hersholt as Mr. Herman, John Miljan as Willard, Herman Bing as Pepi, Vince Barnett as Karl, Greta Meyer as Mrs. Herman, Edward Brophy as Dolan, Billy Bletcher as Man in Cafe, Ward Bond as Muscles Manning, Frank Reicher as Warden and Nat Pendleton as a bumbling wrestler.

The title character in the Coen brothers 1991 film Barton Fink struggles to overcome writer’s block while he tries to write a wrestling movie for Wallace Beery. The film also features a William Faulkner-like character whom Fink consults to write his script.

However, the film cost $480,000 and earned $837,000 worldwide, making a profit of $49,000, so it could be called a modest success, but a disappointment for Beery, MGM and Ford.

Nat Pendleton, who has a small role as a bumbling wrestler, was an Olympic wrestler and World Champion in 1924.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,575

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/