Kid Galahad is a 1937 film directed by Michael Curtiz.
Nick Donati (Edward G. Robinson) is a boxing promoter. As the movie opens Donati is watching his fighter lose to a fighter managed by gangster Turkey Morgan (Humphrey Bogart). Nick and his girlfriend (maybe? it's vague) Louise "Fluff" Phillips (Bette Davis) soon find out that Morgan gave their fighter a $25,000 payoff to take a dive. In any case, they have to find a new boxer.
Enter Ward Guisenberry, an amiable, good-hearted, kind of dumb bellhop at the hotel where Nick and Fluff are staying. A confrontation between Nick and Morgan in Nick's hotel suite leads to Ward laying out Morgan's associate, Chuck McGrew with one punch...and McGrew happens to be heavyweight champion of the world. Excited by Ward's punching power, Nick decides to groom him as a boxer. Ward's clean living and gentle nature lead Fluff to christen him "Kid Galahad".
Naturally, complications ensue. Fluff winds up falling in love with Ward, although it's unrequited. Nick sends Ward off to Nick's family home in the country to keep him away from Turkey Morgan, and Ward falls in love with Nick's sister, Marie. This makes Nick very very angry.
This film was remade in 1962 as a vehicle for Elvis Presley.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: When Ward is getting in the ring for his first fight Fluff says "Seems like I'm always ringside for the first fight—and the last." She says this again in an even more melancholy mood right before the climactic fight, which Ward has already said will be his last.
- The Chanteuse: After she leaves Nick, Fluff goes back to her old job as a cabaret singer. (Bette Davis would later sing a song in Thank Your Lucky Stars but in this movie she's obviously dubbed.)
- Death Glare: Turkey Morgan does this a lot, like in the scene where his moll purrs at Ward and Morgan gets jealous.
- Establishing Character Moment: In the opening scene Nick summarily fires his boxer for disobeying instructions and losing (this before he found out about the bribe), demonstrating that he is a tough taskmaster.
- Everybody Smokes: Fluff, working as The Chanteuse, is holding a cigarette as she sings her song!
- Instant Death Bullet: Because he is the bad guy, Turkey Morgan keels over and dies instantly. By contrast Nick, the protagonist, lingers long enough for a climactic scene where both Fluff and Marie are looking over him as he expires.
- The Lady's Favor: Parodied when, after "knighting" Ward as Kid Galahad, Fluff ties her handkerchief to his arm. This of course is a mating signal from Fluff that Ward totally misses.
- Mr. Fanservice: Not only are lots of women shown to be attracted to Ward, Nick tells the newspaper reporters that they're going to market Ward to women.
- Mutual Kill: Nick and Morgan both draw their guns and fatally shoot each other.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Nick has taken great pains to have his sister get educated at a convent, and has been strict about keeping his family separate from his work. So he gets very angry when he finds out that Ward and Marie are in love. So angry, that he starts manipulating events in order to have Ward take a beating from (and hopefully get killed by) Chuck McGann.
- Oblivious to Love: Ward never does figure out that Fluff is head over heels for him.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Fluff walking down a lonely alley, after Nick dies.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Bette Davis is used for more Fanservice in this movie than she usually was, as in the opening scene Fluff is wearing a slinky cocktail dress that doesn't have a back and is very tight in the front.
- Throwing the Fight: Nick's boxer took $25,000 to take a dive against Turkey Morgan's boxer.
- Time-Passes Montage: Ward's rise up the boxing ranks is shown with a montage that consists of clips of Ward punching people mixed in with newspaper headlines about his triumphs.
- Title Drop: The talk about Ward needing a nickname ends when Fluff says "I dub thee Kid Galahad".
- The Trope Kid: Louise comes up with the nickname after people observe that "Guisenberry" is never going to work in newspaper headlines.
- Worst News Judgment Ever: "KID GALAHAD MOBBED BY WOMEN" is the top headline in the newspaper.
