The Personality Kid

Personality Kid, The (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Warner drama about a boxer (Pat O'Brien) with a level head who soon starts to want the high life, which costs his his career but with some good luck he might get one more shot with a comeback. Even by 1934 standards this thing follows all the sports clichés right down the line. O'Brien is probably best known for his supporting roles next to Cagney. In those films he usually manages to be very good to excellent but in his solo roles it seems he's often giving a Cagney inspired performance, which is the case here. He's decent in the role but Glenda Farrell steals the show as his manager/wife.

The story of a chump boxer better known for fancy footwork and showmanship than his talent. Pat O'Brien as Ritzy McCarthy gets ahead through a series of, unknown to him, fixed matches. His ego swells and a romantic triangle soon develops between the fighter, his wife-manager (Glenda Farrell) and Claire Dodd as the other woman. The New York Times reported that Pat O'Brien was a former boxing champion at Marquette University and was trained for the film by boxer Jackie Fields. Also two former boxing champions, Mushy Callahan and Marvin Shechter provided opposition in the ring. The review followed this bit of information with the opinion "All this impressive statistical work adds up to zero. Mr. O'Brien and his various opponents in the film paw each other like long-lost brothers and some of the theoretical sleep-producing blows would hardly jar the script girl." The writer liked the picture overall though, calling it a "rather pleasant prizefight film that follows formula…acted with some proficiency and humor by Pat O'Brien and Glenda Farrell." Be on the lookout for silent era comedian Heinie Conklin as a heckler and "Queen of the Hollywood extras" Bess Flowers as a nurse. I screened this film at Cinefest in Syracuse, New York.

The Personality Kid is an apt title for this boxing movie in that it takes the combined personalities of Pat O'Brien and Glenda Farrell to put this one over. Especially in this case Glenda Farrell.

O'Brien plays a club fighter of no particular noticeable talent except for some fancy footwork. Farrell doubles as both his wife and manager and she does the best she can with what she has to work with. O'Brien however gets a swelled head and that leads to all kinds of problems.

O'Brien also catches the attention of society artist Claire Dodd and she comes between O'Brien and Farrell. In the end though Dodd proves to have a bit more character than you originally think. .

Some problems with the story line which is a bit incredulous keep this from being more than a B picture filler which Warner Brothers intended it to be. Still the stars are the ones who put this over.

If you like boxing movies, you're in for a treat, because this one has a very nice cast. However, it isn't the most exciting film, and if you don't like boxing movies, you might find yourself getting rather bored now and then. Ritzy McCarty (Pat O'Brien) is a boxer with some very fancy trademarks, like dancing around in the ring. He gathers quite a crowd, so a big shot promoter decides to take him on, along with his manager wife (Glenda Farrell). Unfortunately, the success goes to his head, and Ritzy takes up with a wealthy society dame (Claire Dodd) who is rather amused with his interest in her. Of course, his large appetite dooms him.

The most exciting cast member for me is Farrell, and she opens the film with many scenes, but as Ritzy takes more of an interest in Dodd, her appearances fade away. She makes a comeback at the end, but her part isn't quite the typical sassy girl. She has her moments, and the character is certainly strong-willed, but she doesn't have any super-snappy and memorable lines.

In many ways this was a very dumb film--no doubt because of the casting of Pat O'Brien as a boxer!! While it never made much sense to give O'Brien the macho roles he was given throughout the 1930s, this one was significantly worse because they made the mistake of showing him shirtless. The paunchy and petite-muscled O'Brien was just ridiculous playing a boxer. Heck, leading lady Glenda Farrell probably might have been just as convincing as a pugilist! And then to make matters worse, O'Brien showed all the boxing skill and grace you'd expect of an out of shape, slightly balding, uncoordinated and under-muscled man. To try and make the public believe in his machismo, they paired him with boxers who appeared too clumsy to be believed--falling all over themselves as O'Brien danced around the ring. And while dancing doesn't require the same type of musculature as boxing, O'Brien even did a shabby job when it came to his footwork--requiring the studio to splice in a double's legs in close up shots (the double had hairier legs if you look carefully).

Now if you can ignore the ludicrousness of this casting, the film itself is pure 1930's Pat O'Brien with all the usual clichés and nothing good in particular to distinguish it. Once again, he's down and out and his pride won't let him tell his girl the truth but by the end of the film he's regained his old swagger and pride.

Considering how many excellent boxing pictures have been made, I only recommend this to fans of O'Brien--all others will probably be unable to finish this formulaic bit of tripe.