Body and Soul

At a time when right wing politicians are again waging war on freedom of expression under the banner of patriotism, our latest Film Studies series explores the works of leftist writers, directors and actors in the late 1940s, before the McCarthy era interrupted many careers through the House of Un-American Activities Committee hearings and Hollywood’s self-imposed blacklist. Each film in this five week series (Mondays at 11am) will be introduced in a 15-20 minute talk by writer and film critic Mike Archibald.

Robert Rossen’s Body and Soul is gritty and poetic in equal measure. It tells the story of Charley Davis (John Garfield), a boxer who rises to fame under the management of gangsters. Screenwriter Abraham Polonsky uses the crooked world of boxing as an example of capitalism at its worst, and he sets up a grave moral dilemma for Charley: stay rich as a scoundrel or choose decency and mortal danger.

Shot by the great James Wong Howe in rich monochrome, Body and Soul is an exemplary film of its decade: its expressive camera movement, dynamic staging, and use of shadow reflect the benevolent, wide-reaching impact of Citizen Kane (1941), the ur-text of 40s Hollywood. Polonsky’s writing fuses streetwise macho bluster and raw tenderness; it’s a combination perfectly suited to Garfield, who radiates power and vulnerability in equal measure. This is one of the great boxing movies — compelling as drama, powerful in its political critique, and graced with one the best closing lines of dialogue that the movies have ever given us.