Summary
When a low level boxer, Davey, falls for a private dancer, Gloria, he runs afoul of her manager, Vincent, who fancies her and has no qualms about using violence to get her.
Sophomore Attempt
Still looking for a popular success, Kubrick turns to more conventional fare with this love triangle, violence driven, New York noir. Certainly more entertaining than, "Fear and Desire,” it received mixed reviews but was a definite stepping stone as Kubrick continued to develop as a film maker.
His usual use of camera begins to peek its nose in the door but only barely since this film is set in the claustrophobic apartments, offices, and alleys of New York as opposed to the wide vistas and elaborate blocking of actors that Kubrick would later bring to bear in his more well known works.
One scene that stood out the most for me was the boxing fight scene. While not as intimate as some of the scenes in “Raging Bull,” it would definitely not surprise me to find out that Scorsese drew some inspiration here. The pace of the scene is frenetic and while the fight itself seems to take center stage, you realize that the fight is not as important as the fact that the boxer and girl in the crowd recognize each other. We all know the moment in the film when the boy looks across the dance floor to see the girl of his dreams come down the stairs as the crowd parts but what about the scene where a beaten and bloodied boxer is spotted by a girl in the crowd and their eyes have a little meet cute? Maybe not as effective of common but in the middle of the beating of gloves and chins but then again, Kubrick would not go down in history as a common director so what do we expect?
Another highlight of the film is the deep staging. Kubrick is one of the best at keeping action happening in the foreground as well as the background so that the world feels large and full. In the film the boxer and dancer live across from each others apartment buildings so that they are able to see each other through their open windows. As Davey the boxer sees Gloria in distress, the audience doesn’t need any additional help to know that she is far enough away from him to remove him from immediate concern of the attacker even though his reaction and the attack on her can be seen in the same frame, merely feet apart.
Theme
That is, perhaps, the theme I most felt at play in the film. The idea that in big city like New York, people who live mere feet apart, who bump into each other on the street, who find themselves in the same boxing venue, could be so far apart and know each other almost not at all. The isolation of the crowd and solitude of the city life are so powerful that for the two to make it together, they have to leave.
This dark image of our communal lives is a call to be more than passers by in each others lives and remember that we are not abstract ideas like fighters, dancers and managers, but physical beings in specific places next to other specific beings who we must reach out to and for.
Verdict
It’s no wonder that most people who love Kubrick see this movie as his first adolescent adventure. If “Fear and Desire” is baby steps, this is his first ride of a bike with no training wheels. Clearly he is a competent director with a little bit of a flare but the fully fledged roaring Harley Motorcycle of Kubrick’s masterpieces is yet to come.
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