The fame of HitchcockĀ“s late american movies tends to overshadow his earlier work and not least his earliest silent period. Back then he was still trying to find his style and fighting for more personal control and this, his fourth film, comes after a huge success of his first British film "The Lodger" and a change to a new film company, that was more open to creativity. He even wrote the script himself, for the first and only time. What is specifically interesting from this period is the expressionist inspirations he brought home from his time in Germany and how he incorporates them into the overall framework of his movies.
Jack "One round" Sander (Carl Brisson) is a fairground attraction working as a boxer. He has never been defeated and apparently he usually knocks his opponents out in the first round, hence his nickname. The owners daughter Mabel (Lillian Hall-Davis) with whom he is engaged to be married, works as the ticket seller while her dad rouses the passers by to enter the "show".
One day a tall and handsome fellow comes by and is "provoked" into facing Jack in a match. What Jack does not know is, that his challenger in fact is heavyweight champion Bob Corby (Ian Hunter) and he is beaten for the first time. MabelĀ“s is aroused by the sight of this strong, dominating man and his charms makes her desire him instead of Jack.
Secretly Bob buys an arm bracelet for Mabel and she lies by telling Jack that Bob bought the bracelet for her not really wanting the money he won in the fight. Meanwhile BobĀ“s manager is impressed with his skills and offers him a trial match to become BobĀ“s sparring boxing partner. Mabel looks reluctant when she agrees to marry Jack if he wins the match.
Bob jokes at the marriage, that he wished he had won Mabel instead of the money at their first fight. Jack understand what he is up to and they fight another fight as a show off. Bob wins once more and he keeps hitting at Mabel who is still more attracted to Bob. Jack finally realize that something is rotten and he wants to get Bob down. But since he is out of BobĀ“s league he has to fight a number of fights to advance to his level.
When he finally reaches the world title against Bob, he wants to surprise Mabel in their home and has invited all his boxing friends. But Mabel does not show up and they wait for her all evening until the friends leave. When she finally turns up late at night in BobĀ“s fancy car, Jack confronts her obvious attempt at cuckolding him and they have a row. Jack lets Bob know that he is the contender for the title at a nightclub and in a drunk fight Jack hits Bob to the floor.
The day of the title match finally arrives. This is going to be the fight that settles it all. Bob looks like a winner from the get go and Jack looks more and more beaten. Mabel is in the audience and seing Jack getting close to defeat, rushes up to the ring to tell him, that she wants him after all. Reinvigorated with this news he pulls his last energi out and ends up defeating Bob.
Despite the potential action environment of the boxing ring, the plot never gets beyond average melodramatic story telling. The cuckolding provoked menage a trois is quite predictable and the boxing scenes are not that impressive. The three main characters are stereotypical silent era personalities. What lifts this movie to special hights are the added "spices", in the form of delicious expressionist bits and pieces all the way through. I have deliberately chosen screenshots that pinpoint these lovely shots that really fascinates me. Honestly I have no problem sitting through an average melodrama, if such creativity is thrown in for kicks, at a steady frequency.
The scene where Jack promises to marry her is shot as a reflection in the water. When her "cuckold" bracelet falls off, it disturbs the water and distorts the image of the "perfect pair". Actually there are "rings" all over the place. He works in the boxing-"ring", his nickname is "one-round" (a fancy way of describing a circle), he indicates their promised marriage by a ring and her affair with the alpha male stranger is also represented by a bracelet "ring". Then there are the rings in the water, that disturbs the image of the perfect couple. Talk about symbolism !
The scene with the distorted piano keys with string instruments and a phonograph multi exposure is pure german expressionism and then there is the shot of Jack through doorways to a reflection from another room. Very evocative and mood setting. The comic relief is one of his boxing buddies and during the wedding he drinks a few pints too much and then his vision slides out of focus and he slowly falls down. All made in a single shot of a distorted reflection i suppose. These shots are worth it all and i suppose it may be too little for some, but I will recommend it nevertheless. One point I would want to add is, that the plot is generally described as "two men fighting for a girl", while the truth is really "A girl lying to her man about an affair she has with his rival"
Rating: 6/10
