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Champion (1949); The Men (1950)

Champion (1949)
August 23, 2013 - 7:30 pm
Billy Wilder Theater
In-person: 
Sally Kellerman.

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive, in cooperation with National Telefilm Associates, Inc. and Republic Pictures, and with funding from The Packard Humanities Institute, Cowboy Booking, and The American Film Institute/National Endowment for the Arts Preservation Grants Program.

Champion (1949)

Directed by Mark Robson

Producer Stanley Kramer was noted for having brought this stylish feature in under budget and ahead of schedule.  He also provided a career-defining vehicle for actor Kirk Douglas, as ruthless, ambitious boxer Midge Kelly, seeking fame at all cost.  The film, a dark horse and a great success, was thus an important building block of Kramer’s career, both at the box-office and within the Hollywood community.

United Artists Corp. Producer: Stanley Kramer. Based on the short story by Ring Lardner. Screenwriter: Carl Foreman. Cinematographer: Frank Planer. Editor: Harry Gerstad. Cast: Kirk Douglas, Marilyn Maxwell, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman.

35mm, b/w, 100 min. 

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive, in cooperation with Republic Pictures, and with funding from The American Film Institute/National Endowment for the Arts Preservation Grants Program.

The Men (1950)

Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Actor Marlon Brando’s carefully considered first feature (following his phenomenal Broadway success in “A Streetcar Named Desire”) was this thoughtful portrait of post-WWII wounded veterans returning to an America ambivalent about their role in civilian life.  Shot in a Birmingham veterans’ hospital, and featuring many of the actual patients as actors, the film was a sobering look behind the trappings of military victory.

United Artists. Producer: Stanley Kramer. Screenwriter: Carl Foreman. Cinematographer: Robert de Grasse. Editor: Harry Gerstad. Cast: Marlon Brando, Teresa Wright, Richard Erdman, Everett Sloane, Jack Webb. 

35mm, b/w, 86 min. 

Part of: 
Champion: The Stanley Kramer Centennial