Thursday, March 16, 2023

PALOOKA (Benjamin Stoloff, 1934)

 

Knobby Walsh Inka Dinka Doo’s when he shoulda Inka Dinka Don’t in this corkscrew comedy of the squared circle, a farcical rise and fall of a simpleminded son who becomes the Big Palooka even if for a short while. Benjamin Stoloff’s direction is adequate which is complimented by the journeyman cinematography: it’s not art but still an enjoyable pugnacious romp and circumstance. It’s Jimmie Durante’s film even though it’s named after the father/son duo of Pete and his abandoned protege Joe, a naive and unsophisticated boy who has inherited his father’s penchant for pugilism. 

The first act focuses upon Pete’s boxing championship and his taste for a good time, specifically without his wife! But Mayme Palooka (Marjorie Rambeau) is no pushover and gives the adoring floozy Trixie (Thelma Todd) more than the high-hat, she gives her a right cross! Ha! The film then jumps 20 years ahead as Mayme has escaped to the country to raise their child (Pete is the father, though there’s a nice Pre-Code-only joke questioning this later in the film) while Pete chooses the bright lights and big city haunts of his diminished glory days. But a serendipitous crash with Knobby Walsh and his current pug allows Joe to knock out the reigning champ and leave his small town for the big time. Joe’s lovely girl Anne (who seems to always just miss her chance to kiss him. Played by the adorable Mary Carlisle) and his fierce mother Mayme aren’t happy about his decision, but they are supportive enough not to harangue him, to allow him to choose his own path. They are vigilant and hopeful even when the headlines scream of loose women and looser morals! I love these two women. 

Soon, Knobby sets up his dimwitted client for a great fall (and his own windfall) by scheduling a bout against the reigning champeen’ Al McSwatt (William Cagney). Ok, this ain’t winning no Pulitzer. [Side note: Wow, does William look exactly like his brother Jimmy! Though he doesn’t have a big speaking part, he walks with that Cagney strut and his closeups have an eerie effect like we’re seeing Jimmy’s face flash-burned into our retinas and superimposed upon someone else. When he speaks, he doesn’t have the machine-gun cadence of his younger brother or quite the hand-waiving etiquette.] But McSwatt is nursing a brutal hangover because he doesn’t take the fight seriously and Joe takes the championship. Knobby, once again his manager and main schnozzle, secretly pays off other boxers to dive for their dough while ducking a rematch that Joe’s bound to lose. Joe’s trophy gal is Nina (a beautiful Lupe Velez who shakes her stuff and boy does she shake her stuff!) whose loyalty is to the champion whomever that may currently be. Through various conflicting contortions Joe loses the fight yet wins the war, his award a lovely family amid the peace and quiet of a country store. But it’s Knobby who gets the trophy! 

It’s Jimmy Durante’s manic antics that dominate the story, full of self-deprecating humor, one-liners and put-downs like jabs in the boxing ring! He croons his signature song to a mannequin in a store display (after breaking the window with a brick) and DP Arthur Edeson makes sure to accentuate the nose with proper lighting and often hilarious compositions. The final shot of PALOOKA may be the most disturbing in Pre-Code history, more than the Universal horrors or the Warner wickedness: a close-up of Knobby’s infant, conceived with Nina, whose Durante-ish visage is swaddled in blankets and who chatters “Ha-cha-cha-cha”. Fuck it if I didn’t laugh hysterically yet at the same time suffer some deep emotional trauma.

Final Grade: (B-)