The Crowd Roars **** (1938, Robert Taylor, Edward Arnold, Frank Morgan, Maureen O’Sullivan, William Gargan) – Classic Movie Review 8895

Director Richard Thorpe’s tough 1938 MGM black and white boxing drama The Crowd Roars stars pretty boy Robert Taylor [real name Spangler Arlington Brugh] as Tommy McCoy, who fights his way through to a manlier image as a prize-fighter.

MGM sends in the support Taylor needs in Lionel Stander as his trainer, Frank Morgan as McCoy’s father manager and Edward Arnold as Jim Cain, the crime boss McCoy is embroiled with.

But poor Maureen O’Sullivan is stuck with the love interest as Sheila Carson, and there is not much she can do except sit and look pretty.

The story by George Bruce is the usual regulation movie underworld stuff, but it is sturdily written, and there is punchy direction by Thorpe. It is a Robert Taylor classic, though he is perhaps most readily remembered for his ultra-right-wing politics rather than his movies.

To help him look tough, Taylor has none of the usual waxing forced on other hairy chested stars of his era, but he did have a manicure.

Also in the cast are William Gargan, Frank Craven, Jane Wyman, Nat Pendleton, Lionel Stander, Charles D Brown, Gene Reynolds, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Donald Douglas, Isabel Jewell and J Farrell MacDonald.

It is remade by MGM as Killer McCoy (1947), with Mickey Rooney.

Robert Taylor: ultra-conservative political beliefs.

After World War Two, Taylor [Spangler Arlington Brugh] joined the ultra-right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPAA) founded in February 1944 by Sam Wood and Walt Disney. Taylor’s ultra-conservative political beliefs led him to become involved in 1947 as a ‘friendly witness’ for the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigating ‘Communist subversion’ in the film industry. He named actor Howard Da Silva as a disruptive force in the Screen Actors Guild and Da Silva was blacklisted for many years by the studios.

The MPAA co-operated fully with investigators from the FBI and HUAC. They furnished most of the ‘friendly witnesses’ to the Congressional hearings that they helped orchestrate. MPAA members included SAG’s Robert Taylor, Adolphe Menjou, Gary Cooper, John Wayne and Ward Bond; directors Norman Taurog and Victor Fleming; and writers Borden Chase, Bert Kalmar and Morrie Ryskind.

Robert Taylor (1911–1969) enjoyed one of the longest contracts with one studio (MGM), 24 years from 1934 to 1958, second only to MGM boss Louis B Meyer’s favourite actor, Lionel Barrymore (1926-54).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8895

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