Synopsis
He Traded His Soul for a Smile From Her Lying Lips!
Gifted German wrestler Polokai falls in love with ex-con Laura, who persuades him to emigrate to America and gets him involved with crooked promoters.
Gifted German wrestler Polokai falls in love with ex-con Laura, who persuades him to emigrate to America and gets him involved with crooked promoters.
John Ford’s 1932 film Flesh is a far superior film than Arrowsmith, but that’s like saying getting stabbed in the face is better than getting stabbed in the eye; either way, you’re going to suffer. Real bad.
The story goes like this: Wallace Beery plays Polakai, a simple-minded German wrestler who spends most of his time wrestling, drinking beer, being strong manly man, and saying DATS GOOD. One day, Polakai comes across a helpless Laura Nash – an American woman who was recently released from prison in Germany – and decides to help her out. Laura Nash is played nastily by Karen Morley, who gives the character NO redeemable quality. She steals from Polakai, uses her sexuality to fool Polakai…
John Ford's take on pro-wrestling. And he dares to suggest that some matches are fixed! While there is a lot of wrestling talk, the only real wrestler to appear in this is Wladek Zbyszko, the lesser known brother of the popular World Heavyweight champion of the 1920s, Stanislaus Zbyszko.
Wallace Beery is the nicest brute in the Germany where he wrestles and works as a waiter. He falls for a confused lady who's just been released from prison. Karen Morley has no other choice then to accept his offers of kindness and ends up staying with him and his friends. However, her partner in crime and lover Ricardo Cortez shows up and together they continue playing the nice man for…
Karen Morley plays Marlene Dietrich to Wallace Berry in this John Ford pre code film. If Sternberg could ocuppy himself of something as low as wrestling he might’ve knock it off the park. Material is a bit alien for Ford but in the best sequences he and Berry find real meat on his character's moral dissolution.
The lead role of a German wrestler (Wallace Beery) in this film is far too dopey for my taste, both in the character and the performance. This leads to some really lame humor especially in the first half of the film, e.g. slopping beer around, banging through a door instead of unlocking it, and accidentally breaking an egg. Karen Morley plays the woman with a past that he naively takes in, and things get a little more interesting when her lover (Ricardo Cortez) shows up. Morley almost always impresses me, and the scenes with just the two of them crackle with the tough banter of 1932, making me wish that they had somehow been more of the focus. As it…
John Ford’s “Flesh” seems to be exactly the sort of film that Barton Fink was trying to write in the Coen film. It’s a comedy! It’s a romance! It’s a gangster film! It’s a hooker with a heart of gold! It’s a WRASSLIN’ picture!
And it also is anchored by a pair of shockingly good performances from the leads. Wallace Beery in particular gives perhaps the best performance of his career as the gentle giant Polokai, and Karen Morley is superb as Laura as well giving a surprisingly varied and textured take on her character’s relationship with Polokai.
Surprisingly tender and funny and sincere and warm for the first half of the picture, the film quickly goes off kilter when…
You got the dough, and we took the rap, so it's your turn to play cards.
-Laura
Early John Ford movie that has some confusing information regarding it online. IMDB lists him as "unaccredited" but lists no one else as the credited director. Then in the trivia section it claims that this is the movie Barton Fink is trying to write in the 1991 Coen Brothers movie while Wikipedia claims the Coens had never heard of this movie while writing Barton Fink.
Now this film is a bit unintentionally funny as Wallace Beery plays a professional wrestler that at one point has a moral dilemma when he's asked to fix a professional wrestling match. How dare they ask him to…
Amiable, innocent wrestler Wallace Beery falls in love with Karen Morley. Morley, newly released from prison, loves sleazy, but handsome, Ricardo Cortez. After Cortez deserts her, pregnant Morley marries Beery. Lots of complications ensue before goodness wins out in the end.
John Ford directed this surprisingly touching soap opera with Beery at his most syrupy [a la The Champ (1931)]. Karen Morley is very good. Ricardo Cortez was the best sleazy villain in the movies [see also Her Man (1930), Midnight Mary (1933), and Mandalay (1934)].
He may have taken his name off this during his lifetime, but there's no doubt it's a John Ford picture: broad, low "ethnic" comedy (in this case, German) balanced by beautifully shot or revelatory poignant moments.
A kinetic film, despite covering a rather hoary narrative. It may be pure rumor, but I get a kick imagining Barton Fink struggling to write this Beery feature.
Gritty, hard little film heavily influence by German Expressionism with Karen Morley as a grabber with a conscience and Ricardo Cortez as one with none who set out to use good-natured wrestler Beery, almost unbelievably gullible, when they are released from prison. The film doesn't go for easy answers which makes it better than most.
Provocative title would never be used today since it conjures up the inference of either a bloody horror film or pornography but it suits this film well.
Laura is released from a German prison and meets the popular wrestler Polakai. When her former lover and partner in crime Nicky returns to America, she manipulates Polakai into going, too. Once there, Laura's old habits and Polakai's love for her combine into a toxic blend, leading the wrestler to become involved with Nicky and other crooked promoters. What will happen once the naive German realizes the truth about Laura? "Flesh" is an early John Ford film, with a screenplay boasting help from Moss Hart and an uncredited William Faulkner. It's a solid drama with fine performances.
[Ford no. 13]
The thirties were so wild. The studio exec would be like “So, what’s your picture about?” And you’d go “well, a big dumb idiot falls in love with a conwoman, then they move to America where she doesn’t make a single good decision & he becomes an alcoholic, pro-wrestling murderer,” and then you’d just go make that movie. Wallace Beery is good.
Strong opening but just doesn't play to Ford's strengths at all, little scope and no room for emotional complexity. Would have been stronger if the opening act was about Karen Morley and Ricardo Cortez, with Polakai introduced later on as Cortez's get-rich-quick scheme that Morley begins to feel guilty about, develops feelings for Polakai, etc. As it is, it's a 96 minute movie that goes on for a half hour too long. Ford's later silents >>> his pre-codes, by the looks of it.
Dreadful John Ford pre-code melodrama starring Beery as a dim-witted German wrestler manipulated by an American ex-con (Karen Morley). One of the legendary director's most forgettable outings.
The lead role of a German wrestler (Wallace Beery) in this film is far too dopey for my taste, both in the character and the performance. This leads to some really lame humor especially in the first half of the film, e.g. slopping beer around, banging through a door instead of unlocking it, and accidentally breaking an egg. Karen Morley plays the woman with a past that he naively takes in, and things get a little more interesting when her lover (Ricardo Cortez) shows up. Morley almost always impresses me, and the scenes with just the two of them crackle with the tough banter of 1932, making me wish that they had somehow been more of the focus. As it…
John Ford’s 1932 film Flesh is a far superior film than Arrowsmith, but that’s like saying getting stabbed in the face is better than getting stabbed in the eye; either way, you’re going to suffer. Real bad.
The story goes like this: Wallace Beery plays Polakai, a simple-minded German wrestler who spends most of his time wrestling, drinking beer, being strong manly man, and saying DATS GOOD. One day, Polakai comes across a helpless Laura Nash – an American woman who was recently released from prison in Germany – and decides to help her out. Laura Nash is played nastily by Karen Morley, who gives the character NO redeemable quality. She steals from Polakai, uses her sexuality to fool Polakai…
Flesh is a pre-code proto-noir from John Ford that plays on the morals of Americans while pushing blind love to the limit. The film feels more like a studio effort than a John Ford picture, but it’s still an enjoyable enough output.
Apparently the inspiration (and shares the same name) for the film the titular character in Barton Fink tries to write. Beery is endearing and makes this early John Ford film watchable.
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