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» » There Ain't No Justice (1939)

Short summary

A young boxer falls in with a crooked fight promoter.
A young boxer falls in with a crooked fight promoter.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Monn
    This is the first direct-oral effort of Pen Tennyson,who was a protégé of Alfred Hitchcock.Unfortunately he only made 3 films as a director as he was killed in an air crash in the war. This film was made at Ealing and would appear to be an "expose" of the fight game in this country.Its leading man,Jimmy Hanley played the role of slightly simple minded leads throughout his career with certain variations.It has to be said that when he is in the ring he looks more like a raging calf than a raging bull.His physique is rather flabby and so he is not very believable as a boxer. There are a lot of familiar faces in this film including a very young Michael Wilding who looks a bit like a spiv.His girlfriend works in a milk bar which became all the rage in the 1930s. It has to be said that the story is fairly routine and predictable,although nonetheless entertaining.However Hanley has none of the raw energy of James Cagney or John Garfield so the film has none of the raw edge of its American counterpoints.So worth a look but don't expect anything like a Warners opus.
  • comment
    • Author: WOGY
    Only 5/10 this time I'm afraid but at least London Live t.v. showed today a "new" Ealing film which they haven't transmitted before.Lately they have been repeating them rather frequently in their 2-4p.m. Mon.- Fri. slot in the London area.Even for Jimmy Hanley it seemed an early film but as the other user aptly commented, he did not have the physique of a professional boxer even for a flyweight.Surely Ealing casting dept. could have cast a more suitable and believable rugged actor in the lead role.

    The only other actors I recognised were Edward Chapman (a deacon in "Gone to Earth" 1949) and Norman Wisdom's Mr Grimsdale and Mary Clare (the baroness in "The Lady Vanishes 1938") and (a landlady Mrs Wallis in "A Girl Must Live" 1939).Classy Michael Wilding, 27 at the time, had difficulty acting down playing a spiv so much so that I wondered when Anna Neagle his female lead in many 1940s films was going to appear!Perhaps the miscasting by Ealing was due to contractual obligations.

    The screen play was rather weak with cardboard characters
  • Cast overview, first billed only:
    Jimmy Hanley Jimmy Hanley - Tommy Mutch
    Edward Rigby Edward Rigby - Pa Mutch
    Mary Clare Mary Clare - Ma Mutch
    Edward Chapman Edward Chapman - Sammy Sanders
    Phyllis Stanley Phyllis Stanley - Elsie Mutch
    Jill Furse Jill Furse - Connie Fletcher
    Nan Hopkins Nan Hopkins - Dot Ducrow
    Michael Wilding Michael Wilding - Len Charteris
    Gus McNaughton Gus McNaughton - Alfie Norton
    Sue Gawthorne Sue Gawthorne - Mrs. Frost
    Richard Norris Richard Norris - Stan
    Michael Hogarth Michael Hogarth - Frank Fox
    Richard Ainley Richard Ainley - Billy Frist
    Al Millen Al Millen - Perce
    Mike Johnson Mike Johnson - Harry Dunn (Tommy's Trainer) (as Mike Johnson Snr.)
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