Iron Man

... Todd Browning directing a movie about prize fighting?? But if you give it a closer look it really is Todd Browning's style. After all, Browning usually directed films about familiar human emotions - love, revenge, longing - in an unfamiliar setting whether it was Freaks or the Lon Chaney collaborations. So what is this film's central theme? Oddly enough it really has nothing to do with prize fighting and everything to do with unrequited love.

Lew Ayres is Kid Mason, the Iron Man that actually doesn't look much like a fighter at all. Very much in character is Robert Armstrong as George Regan, Mason's manager. Harlow is just getting started at playing the platinum blonde femme fatale, and she is pretty good here. Finally there is the unfairly forgotten John Miljan, playing the early talkie slimy villain that he did so well.

The basic plot is a familiar one - Kid Mason is all wrapped up in his wife Rose (Harlow) who is only interested in the Kid when he's on top and in the dough. At the beginning of the film she dumps him after he loses a series of fights. With Rose gone the Kid concentrates on his training and pretty soon he's won the championship. Oddly enough - or not - Rose suddenly finds the Kid irresistible again and the poor Kid, whose head more than his muscles seems to be laden with iron, is like a dog on a leash once more.

Now manager Regan has plowed a lot of time, money, and energy into training Mason, and he would have a right to be sore about all of this. However, he really doesn't act like a brother figure, father figure, or even your James Gleason style "why don't you get wise to yourself" wise-cracking kind of manager. Instead of being angry at the Kid's blindness to Rose's intentions, he acts like a man thrown over - drinking heavily after Mason deserts him surrounded by photos of the Kid.

Watch for yourself and see what you think. It's just another example of one of the odd little films that could only have been made in the precode era and probably only at Universal, a studio that would seemingly try anything in the early 30's.

For a boxing movie, there really isn't a lot of boxing in the movie, perhaps ten minutes total. Apparently the original ran 73 minutes and the version I saw on Youtube ran 68 minutes. I suspect the missing five minutes were boxing scenes.

This may be a blessing as Lew Ayres is certainly too handsome and collegiate looking for a boxer. Without muscles, he certainly does not physically resemble any contemporary boxers.

However, the reason to watch this story is not the boxing, but to watch a strong tale of friendship between a coach and an athlete and the selfish, sinful woman who disrupts it.

The acting is terrific. Robert Armstrong had only been starring in movies since 1928 when this was made in 1931, yet this was his 20th starring role. This was two years before his career making performances in "King Kong," and "Son of Kong," but it is easy to see why he was chosen for the lead in those movies. He gives a rock solid, believable performance here.

Lew Ayres is a bit uneven at the beginning, but eventually grows into the part. He was 23 years old and only in his fifth starring role, with the first being the classic anti-war film "All Quiet on the Western Front." It seems that Ayres was trying to develop a tough guy image after the romantic image he portrayed in that first film. My guess is that it was the studio's decision. It worked with song and dance man James Cagney, but not with Ayres. Still, he's a great actor and is easy to watch throughout.

I was surprised at how well Jean Harlow did. We should remember that she was only 21 and this was only her fourth starring role. She is quite despicable in the movie, but that was her part. She plays it with intensity and believably. I think reviewers here are criticizing her unfairly, because she doesn't show much of her comic or sexy siren side here. However, that is not the role. She is a jaded, mean, despicable woman and she plays it straight.

Again, this is a good dramatic piece and those looking for a sports movie or light comedy (although it does have moments of humor) will be disappointed. Those looking for sharp direction from Tod Browning and wonderful performances from three great actors will enjoy the movie.

IRON MAN (Universal, 1931), produced and directed by Tod Browning, stars Lew Ayres, a recent success at the time for his breakthrough performance as a German youth in the battleground of war in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (Universal, 1930). While IRON Man pales in comparison from the Academy Award winning anti-war drama, it's interesting on its own merits due to its supporting players headed by the platinum blonde bombshell, Jean Harlow (in her only film for Universal), who's HELL'S ANGELS (United Artists, 1930), stirred quite attention to her bad girl personality, and Robert Armstrong, for many known for his role of Carl Denham in the iconic classic, KING KONG (RKO 1933). While Armstrong recently played a prizefighter in BE YOURSELF (United Artists, 1930) opposite Fanny Brice, this time he does better taking secondary role as prizefighter manager.

Following the unscored boxing glove punching bag image super-imposed through the title credits, the story introduces "Kid" Mason (Lew Ayres), a young boxer who just lost his championship prizefight. George Regan (Robert Armstrong), his best friend from his childhood days as well as his boxing manager, quits on him because he refused to fight the way he tells him. Mason's biggest problem is his wife, Rose (Jean Harlow), whom he deeply loves, but her affections are hardly the same especially after his most recent downfall. Rose soon walks out on him and sets for Hollywood to accomplish herself as an actress in the movies. With her out the way, Mason reunites himself with Regan, and becomes a new "Wonder Boy" of the boxing ring, fighting better than he's ever done before. All goes well until Rose, pretending to be seriously ill with the flu, connives her way back into Mason's life again. Living in a luxurious apartment surrounded by liquor bottles and Rose's rowdy friends, Mason's career as a boxer declines once more. Rose becomes responsible for breaking up her husband's friendship with Regan, and acquires a new boxing manager in Paul H. Lewis (John Miljan) for Mason, a man Rose met in Hollywood, with intentions on getting her into the movies. In the meantime as Mason gets a championship boxing match with Rattler O'Keefe (Morrie Cohen) at Madison Square Garden, Rose and Lewis go on their cheating ways, in more ways than one. Others in the cast include: Ned Sparks (Gus Riley, a gambler); Claire Whitney (Louise Lewis); Mary Doran (A show girl after Mason); Eddie Dillon (Jeff); Mildred Van Dorn (Gladys DeVere); Mike Conlon (McNeil); and Tom Kennedy (The Bartender).

Surprisingly directed by Tod Browning, best known for unique melodramas as Lon Chaney in THE UNKNOWN (1927) and Bela Lugosi as DRACULA (1931), IRON MAN is quite ordinary, with little of his ideal structures carried onto this production. Aside from notable camera tracking over a gathering of people seated at a long dinner table, the duration of the story relies more by the acting by its performers. The boxing sequences, which usually are highlights, are mostly brief with camera capture usually in long shots. Although credited at 73 minutes, the available print runs at 68, indicating some tightening through its jump cuts. Aside from Harlow's unfaithful wife portrayal as she did in HELL'S ANGELS, Armstrong gets his running gag line several times whenever he sees Ayres' Mason half-naked by telling him, "Put your clothes on ... you want to get pneumonia?"

While IRON MAN s typical boxing-ring story taken from novel by W.R. Burnett, IRON MAN was remade again, first as SOME BLONDES ARE DANGEROUS (1937) with William Gargan, and again as IRON MAN (1951) starring Jeff Chandler. The IRON MAN title would later be used for an entirely different story in a 2008 motion picture starring Robert Downey Jr. playing a Marvel comic action figure rather than a boxer.

Unseen on commercial television for decades, especially when last broadcast on New York City's WOR, Channel 9 in 1965, IRON MAN was never distributed to home video nor (to date) presented on cable TV. This, along with GOLDIE (Fox, 1931), are thus far to be the most rarely shown/revived Jean Harlow feature productions from her pre-MGM days (1932-1937). This original IRON MAN gets by on its own merits more for its casting than for its golden glove punches. (**1/2 boxing gloves)

Lots of talent on this one, but a creaky film, even considering the era. It's not helped by video and audio quality issues (at least in the print I watched), but the real issue is the story-telling from director Tod Browning, which was disappointing. He moves things along too slowly and doesn't take advantage enough of three pretty decent performances and a script that had some nice one-liners. ("You'll get your fur coat, Rose." / "Sure, if I go out and shoot a couple of cats!"). There's not enough crackle or emotional zing in what he shows us, despite the film's themes of standing up for one's principles, losing sight of them with fame, and betrayal from a loved one, which had potential.

Jean Harlow makes the film worth seeing, despite the pretty standard role of a gold-digger. This was right around the time of her rise to fame, and you can see at least a little bit why here. I love how she shoots daggers out of her eyes when her two-timing ways are challenged. Lew Ayres shows the necessary toughness and body of a boxer, even if the footage in the ring seemed mostly canned, and Robert Armstrong has the right presence as his manager. Wondering how this might have gone in a silent film from Browning's past (e.g. One with Lon Chaney), I imagine deeper emotions on close-ups, more pathos, and faster cuts. It's a shame we didn't get that here. If you like Harlow or are a Browning completist, it's worth 73 minutes, otherwise, pass.

Lightweight boxer Lew Ayres (as "Kid" Mason) loses an important fight by not pacing himself, which irks childhood friend and manager Robert Armstrong (as George Regan). To make matters worse, the young fighter's sexy show-girl wife Jean Harlow (as Rose) leaves New York for Hollywood. Then, Ayres begins following Mr. Armstrong's directions, and wins the championship title. Unsuccessful at movie stardom, Ms. Harlow returns to enjoy "Iron Man" Ayres' newfound wealth and fame.

But, Harlow has a secret lover, John Miljan (as Paul Lewis) helping her gain control over Ayres' bank account. They plot to get rid of Armstrong, who has a weakness for alcohol to match his fondness for Ayres. Armstrong had Harlow figured as a tramp from the very beginning, but hadn't the heart to tell his young friend. This is telegraphed to you, "radio drama"-style, with Armstrong's line, "It's about time that you knew that she…" Other lines are less obvious.

Director Tod Browning shows little of his flair, but gives old "extra" friend Eddie Dillon (as Jeff) a good amount of screen time.

"Iron Man" is a classic, often re-told, boxing story, with the subtleties of later revisions less buried; for example, the contention that sexual relations drain a boxer's strength. Also interesting is the age difference between Armstrong and his beer-sharing boyhood "pal"; the casting, while perhaps unintentional, suggests the older man had an unrequited love for his handsome young charge. When he says his final, "Put on that robe, you wanna get pneumonia," perhaps Armstrong has won Ayres' love at last.

****** Iron Man (4/30/31) Tod Browning ~ Lew Ayres, Robert Armstrong, Jean Harlow, John Miljan