Whiplash *** (1948, Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden) – Classic Movie Review 12,141

The tough 1948 boxing melodrama Whiplash is beautifully photographed in a starkly dramatic film noir fashion by J Peverell Marley, making it a successful exercise in style. It stars Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott and Eve Arden. 

Director Lewis Seiler’s 1948 Warner Bros black and white film noir sport melodrama Whiplash stars Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Jeffrey Lynn, S Z Sakall, and Alan Hale Sr.

Dane Clark plays Michael Gordon, a failed artist who turns to New York City prize-fighting to earn an honest crust, but finds himself in the arms of a gangster’s moll-cum-singer Laurie Durant (Alexis Smith), who is married to ex-fighter Rex Durant (Zachary Scott), now the owner of a club where Smith is the prize warbler.

Whiplash is a tough, downbeat boxing melodrama beautifully photographed in a starkly dramatic noir fashion by Cecil B DeMille’s regular photographer J Peverell Marley.

It is a successful exercise in style and tone rather than storytelling, with strongly solid performances all round and an excellent score by Franz Waxman. The screenplay by Maurice Geraghty and Harriet Frank Jr is fine though, based on a story by Kenneth Earl, with adaptation by Gordon Kahn.

It was a curious Christmas Eve treat, released on 24 December 1948 in the US.

The cast are Dane Clark as Michael Gordon, Alexis Smith as Laurie Durant, Zachary Scott as Rex Durant, Eve Arden as Chris Sherwood, Jeffrey Lynn as Dr Arnold Vincent, S Z Sakall as Sam, Alan Hale Sr as Terrance O’Leary, Douglas Kennedy as Costello, Ransom M Sherman as Tex Sanders, Freddie Steele as Duke Carney, Robert Lowell as Trask, Don McGuire as Markus, Clifton Young, Sam Hayes, and John Harmon.

Whiplash is directed by Lewis Seiler, runs 91 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Maurice Geraghty and Harriet Frank Jr, based on a story by Kenneth Earl, with adaptation by Gordon Kahn, is shot in black and white by J Peverell Marley, is produced by William Jacobs, is scored by Franz Waxman, with Art Direction by Charles H Clarke.

Dane Clark (born Bernard Zanville).

Forgotten star Dane Clark (1912 – 1998) is perhaps forgotten because he was known for playing, as he said, ‘Joe Average’. His role in the 1948 film Whiplash as a failed artist who turns to New York City prize-fighting reflects his own life.

Forgotten star Dane Clark (born Bernard Zanville; February 26, 1912) is perhaps forgotten because he was known for playing, as he said, ‘Joe Average’. Clark’s first film was The Pride of the Yankees (1942) and he appeared uncredited in The Glass Key (1942). Warner Bros signed him in 1943 and his breakthrough part is Action in the North Atlantic (1943), opposite Humphrey Bogart, who Clark said gave him his stage name. Clark died on September 11, 1998, aged 86.

Clark’s role in Whiplash as a failed artist who turns to New York City prize-fighting reflects his own life. He graduated from Cornell University and earned a law degree in 1938 but worked as a professional boxer, minor league baseball player, construction worker, and model.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,141

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