Glory Alley * (1952, Ralph Meeker, Leslie Caron, Kurt Kasznar, Gilbert Roland, John McIntire, Louis Armstrong) – Classic Movie Review 11,388

‘Buccaneer’s Alley! Thieves’ Alley! Glory Alley! Street of tough guys, hot tunes, temptation… alive with love and larceny… courage and crime!’

Director Raoul Walsh’s 1952 New Orleans-set MGM black and white musical drama Glory Alley stars Ralph Meeker as a bad-tempered boxer Socks Barbarossa, who loves pretty dancer Angela Evans (Leslie Caron), who is working at a honky-tonk to feed her blind father Gus ‘The Judge’ Evans (Kurt Kasznar).

Glory Alley is pretty much a no-go area, apart from Caron’s dancing and music from legends Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden.

John McIntire is the narrator as the about-to-retire newspaper columnist Gabe Jordan, who tells Socks’s story.

Also in the cast are Gilbert Roland as Peppi Donnato, John McIntire as Gabe Jordan / Narrator, Louis Armstrong as Shadow Johnson, Jack Teagarden as Musician, Dan Seymour as Sal Nichols (The Pig), Larry Gates as Dr Robert Ardley, Pat Goldin as Jabber, John Indrisano as bartender Spider, Mickey Little as Domingo, Dick Simmons as Dan, Pat Valentino as Terry Waulker, David McMahon as the policeman Frank.

On a budget of $971,000, it earned a total of $607,000, resulting in a loss for MGM of $621,000.

Leslie Caron celebrated her 90th birthday on 1 July 2021. She made her film debut in An American in Paris (1951), followed by The Man with a Cloak (1951), Glory Alley (1952), The Story of Three Loves (1953), and Lili (1953).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,388

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