Champion (United Artists) (1949)

advance features —prepared review iilini. 'll 1 ......... hi .. . mu .iiiiiiiiiiIIiBiiiiiiiiiim^........ ♦ * ♦ # “Champion”— Romantic Drama of Fighter—Stars Kirk Douglas For more than thirty years Ring Lardner’s short story, “Champion,” has remained a challenge to the screen. It has been numbered among the classics labeled “too difficult to handle.” Only recently Stanley Kra¬ mer, head of Screen Plays, Inc., de¬ cided to take his courage in his hands and transfer this remarkably tough, vital story to the screen, with Kirk Douglas in the title role, Ar¬ thur Kennedy in the role of his crippled brother, Connie, and Mari¬ lyn Maxwell, Ruth Roman and Lola Albright as the three women in his life. United Artists is releasing the film which opens on . at the . Theatre. Tensely emotional and cruelly realistic, “Champion” tells the story of Midge Kelly, handsome and ruthless, a king among fighters and a wrecker of other peoples’ lives, in (General Advance ) his unrelenting drive to the top. The three women in his life, the men who pluck him virtually from the gutter and raise him to fame and fortune, are left forever with the sordid bruises caused by con¬ tact with this idol of an adoring public. No one who knows him es¬ capes uninjured. , Carl Foreman wrote the screen play for “Champion,” with Mark Robson directing. Robert Stillman served as associate producer, Ivan Yolkman as assistant • director. Dimitri Tiomkin, famed musical composer who recently completed the score for David O. Selznick’s “Portrait of Jennie,” was signed to a unique contract at Screen Plays, calling for him to compose and con¬ duct the score of “Champion,” and from this develop a modern sym¬ phony to be played by the nation’s leading orchestras this Spring. Ex¬ change of letters between Tiomkin and leading symphony orchestra leaders indicate high interest in this musical project. The three beautiful female leads wore clothes designed by Adele Parmenter, one of Hollywood’s top fashion designers. As for the completely realistic fight sequences, former welter¬ weight champ Mushy Callaghan was brought in by Producer Kramer to see that all details were carefully worked out before screening took place. He also trained star Kirk Douglas. Several professional pu¬ gilists were also signed on by the producer to play in preliminary fight sequences in the film. Top featured players in “Cham¬ pion” include Paul Stewart, Harry Shannon and Luis Van Rooten. “Champion” Packs Real Wallop— Based On Ring Lardner Classic (Prepared Review ) The eagerly awaited, and much- talked-about film adaptation of Ring Lardner’s classic short story, “Champion,” arrived on the screen of the Theatre last night, with Kirk Douglas giving a mag¬ nificent performance in the title role. Stanley Kramer produced the film for Screen Plays, Inc., with United Artists releasing. Co-star- ring with Douglas are Marilyn Maxwell and Arthur Kennedy, with Ruth Roman, Lola Albright and Paul Stewart sharing featured hon¬ ors. In the past many producers have toyed with the idea of filming the story of Midge Kelly, handsome, ut¬ terly ruthless contender for fight honors, who climbed to fame leav¬ ing a trail behind strewn with the bruised men and women who had aided him. But it took Stanley Kra¬ mer to have the ecu age to portray this character in all its savage in¬ tensity. He is to be congratulated for bringing to the screen a story that is as fascinating as it is star¬ tling. A humorist of the sardonic school. Ring Lardner knew his fight characters better perhaps than any writer of his time, and few changes have been made in his original story. We first meet Midge Kelly (Kirk Douglas) with his crippled brother Connie (Arthur Kennedy) on their way by boxcar to Los Angeles where Midge ex¬ pects to take over an interest he has purchased from a friend in a road¬ side eatery. Sidetracked at Kansas City, Midge engages in a profes¬ sional fight for a small sum. Hope¬ lessly out-fought, Midge neverthe¬ less captures the interest of Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart), a fight man¬ ager who offers to train him. He also meets a big-league fighter, Johnny Dunne (John Day) and his flashy blonde girl-friend, Grace Diamond (Marilyn Maxwell). Midge cannot get his “business” out of his mind and he goes on to Los Angeles only to learn that he has been gypped. He falls in love with Emma (Ruth Roman), the daughter of the present proprietor of the eatery who forces Midge to marry her. Furious, and utterly in¬ different to Emma’s love for him, he leaves her and, with the ever faithful Connie in tow, he visits Tommy Haley at a downtown Los Angeles gym. Haley teaches him everything he knows about the fight racket and soon Midge is climbing higher, ever higher until he is something of a sensation. When, against orders from the fight syndicate, he decides to win a fight against Johnny Dunne, instead of throwing it, he becomes the idol of every sports fan in the nation and the subject for every sports writers’ eulogies. He also becomes the fa¬ vorite of Grace Diamond, who only loves a winner. Midge finally throws Grace over for Palmer Harris (Lola Albright), the socialite wife of Jerome Harris (Luis Van Rooten) , a famous fight promoter, with whom he has signed a contract, cancelling out all his fox*mer obligations to Tommy Haley. He also breaks with Connie, who finds Emma, with whom Connie has always been in love. At the end, in a climax that is more exciting than any ever before filmed. Midge is still undefeated champion of the world — paying a price for it so staggeringly high that audiences yesterday left the theatre emotion¬ ally exhausted from the intensity and realism of the story they had just seen come to life on the screen. Due credit must be given Carl Foreman for a compact script that captures every nuance of Midge Kelly’s character without losing sight of the dramatic action of the story, and Director Mark Robson deserves high praise for transfering it to the screen so competently. As Midge, Kirk Douglas turns in a per¬ formance that will have producers begging for his services from now on. In fact the entire cast was so good, one felt one was living this story of Midge Kelly, not seeing it from an orchestra seat. “Champion” Time— In what is believed to be the most economical demonstration of “A” picture making in the history of independent production. Screen Plays’ film adaptation of the Ring Lardner classic, “Champion,” was wrapped up in just 24 shooting days. United Artists is releasing “Cham¬ pion,” which has Kirk Douglas in the title role and Marilyn Maxwell and Arthur Kennedy in co-starring roles. Douglas recently chalked up a big hit for himself in “A Letter to Three Wives,” whereas Arthur Kennedy is now dragging them in on Broadway in the terrific play, “Death of a Salesman,” in which he plays one of Lee Cobb’s sons. As for Miss Maxwell, she recently ap¬ peared as co-star with George Raft in “Race Street.” The “Champion” production team, headed by Producer Stanley Kramer, Associate Producer Rob- Turned Out Fine Tribute (Advance Feature) ert Stillman, Director Mark Rob¬ son, script writer Carl Foreman, Production Designer Rudolph Ster- nad and Cameraman Franz Planer, beat an original budget of almost a million dollars and 36 shooting days. Kramer stresses the fact that no story, production or cast values were slashed in striving for econ¬ omy and speed. The secret rests en¬ tirely in complete advance prepara¬ tion, and definite adherence to plans. He also said that without the unstinting cooperation of top star Kirk Douglas throughout prepping and shooting, the swift wrap-up would not have been possible. The method of making “Cham¬ pion,” which was closely watched by other independent producers, started with pre-designing through sketches, after spirited meetings held by Kramer and his staff. Kirk in Record to Producer Douglas joined this group for final drafting of the script to convey personal viewpoints on the “feel” of his film character of Midge Kelly. Sketches then became the basis for two weeks of rehearsals staged by Director Robson with the leading players, including Douglas, Marilyn Maxwell, Arthur Kennedy, Ruth Roman, Paul Stewart and Lola Al¬ bright. Another important factor in econ¬ omy of shooting was selection of five locations. These were picked so that interiors as well as exteriors could be filmed, and no matching outside or inside portions had to be made at the studio. Producer feels sure that results on “Champion” will revolutionize previous concepts of movie making. Previews on the picture have packed a tremendous wallop, and boxoffices are expected to coincide. Lovely Ruth Roman is the first girl to capture the attention of Kirk Douglas in his role as the prizefighter in Stanley Kramer’s high- tensioned drama, “Champion,” due next . at the Theatre through United Artists release. Still 9 Mat (2A) Whrn he becomes champ, Kirk Douglas’ affections turn toward social¬ ite Lola Albright. Scene is from United Artists’ “Champion,” now playing at the Theatre. Still SK-109 Mat(2B) Kirk Douglas, Ruth Roman and Arthur Kennedy in an important scene from “Champion,” the United Artists release now running at the . Theatre. the . Theatre. Still SK-76 Mat (2D) Page Nineteen