Ring frei für die Liebe

A very uncharacteristic John Ford film, lacking any of his usual stylistic or narrative traits.A Hollywood soap opera, yes, but with real emotional depth, from all 3 main characters, and a very somber tone. An expressionistic, Germanic look matches the narrative (quite a bit of which takes place in Germany). Looks more like The Informer than Fort Apache. held me all the way through. By the way, if you want to see a great film with both (the underrated)) Karen Morley and Ricardo Cortez, watch The Phantom of Crestwood.

Wallace Beery is Polakai, wrestler and beer garden worker. He befriends Laura (Karen Morley ), who just got out of prison. She has no money and no place to stay, so she stays with Polakai. And of course, he wants to marry her. But when her old boyfriend Nick (Ricardo Cortez) shows up, it throws a wrench into everybody's plans. Laura wants to have her cake and eat it too, as they used to say. How will this work out? How long can they take advantage of Polakai? This is good, but moves pretty slowly, until the big showdown match. Beery had just won the oscar for Champ. Directed by John Ford. Ford made all those films with John Wayne... won a bunch of oscars. Written by Edmund Goulding. Goulding directed Grand Hotel, Dark Victory. How did he not even get nominated for those??

Yes, it's a predictable, old fashioned, transparent soap opera, but there are things which keep you interested to the end.

Beery has a difficult task. Being a wrestler (he was no Mr. Universe), holding onto a German accent, and playing a slow witted character. He does it. He seems to be doing his own wrestling (I zoomed in with slow motion), his accent doesn't slip, and being dumb, as hard as can be to be performed..he carries it off with only a bit of his patented "Ain't I the lovable slob" shtick.

Morley nails it as a cynical, world weary woman eager to make the wrong choice in men. Cortez is at his best playing slick sociopaths, and he does it here again. Their performances keep you watching when Beery and his Germanic crew get too schmaltzy

Flesh (1932)

*** (out of 4)

John Ford's drama about an ex-con named Laura (Karen Morley) who gets released from prison with nothing and after stealing some food it appears she's going back until Polakai (Wallace Beery), a German wrestler, comes to her aid and soon takes her in. It doesn't take long for Polakai to fall in love but what he doesn't know is that Laura has a partner (Ricardo Cortez) in prison who is about to cause trouble. FLESH isn't the greatest film in Ford's career but I found it to be one of those unique ones that really doesn't get enough credit or any credit at all. It seems that all great directors like Ford, Hitchcock or Bergman have films that are special but they get overlooked because they don't quite measure up to the masterpieces. I think that's where FLESH falls in because while it's no where near the masterpiece of THE SEARCHERS, it's still a pretty unique movie on a number of levels. The best thing going for the picture is Beery who easily steals things. You'd think Beery playing a wrestler wouldn't be that much of a stretch but the actor brings so much to the role that you can't help but be impressed with him and fall for the character. Playing dimwitted is never easy and most actors fail but Beery perfectly nails it. Even better is the way he brings across this certainly level of feeling and emotion for everything that happens in the story. Morley is also extremely good in her part as she makes you believe everything you're watching. The chemistry between the two leads is quite remarkable. Cortez is also good in his supporting bit as is Jean Hersholt. The one problem is FLESH is that it's a tad bit too predictable and has one too many clichés but the performances and the look and tone Ford delivers makes it worth seeing.

Flesh is the story of two people who would seem to be unlikely alliances. This is just one example of how films in the golden days of Hollywood center on character and how they relate to each other to further the plot rather than action or violence. There is something natural or humanely real and raw about this film. That's probably why it's called Flesh. But it's not centering on lust or sex, like today's films would, with Flesh for its title. This is about the basic need to give and receive love and acceptance to each other, even in the last place you'd look. If you're looking for an intelligent film about human relationships and don't mind the early 1930s look of black-and-white, this film shows Karen Morley, a vastly underrated actress and largely forgotten today, and Wallace Beery at their best. This could very well be Ms. Morley's finest hour in films. To not see this film would be missing a lesson in love.