Sonya Bartow: “I love you too, Paul. . . in my own funny way.”
A stepping stone in the right direction for Tony Curtis, helping him move from his heartthrob era into a more well respected star in the late 1950s, 1952’s Flesh and Fury (originally to be titled Hear No Evil), directed by Joseph Pevney (The Strange Door), demonstrated that he was someone who could handle more serious roles.
Following a deaf and mute boxer named Paul Callan (Curtis – Some Like It Hot) – seemingly based upon late 1940s and early 50s deaf-mute boxer ‘Silent’ Hairston, he is a nobody until his bouts start catching the eye of some well respected people in the pugilist realm, arguably most importantly Jack ‘Pop’ Richardson (Wallace Ford – The Breaking Point), a kindly manager who has seemingly retired from the sport after one of his past boxers was killed in the ring – seriously traumatizing him.
Perhaps less favourably, Paul also attracts the sultry blood and money hungry Sonya Bartow (Jan Sterling – The Harder They Fall; Mystery Street), a fatal femme who is more interested in driving the man to the championship belt and the riches that come with it rather than anything that could be good for him.
Hoodwinking him into giving her much of his money and pushing off a marriage proposal until he becomes the champ, she often bumps heads with the much more protective ‘Pop’, who wants him to slowly ease into climbing the ranks of the dirty boxing world.
Further complicating things, kindly Ann Hollis (Mona Freeman – Danger Signal), a writer for a magazine, is looking to do an interest piece on him. Sharing a lot of similarities with the boxer, her father was also deaf, while they both love boats and sailing. Also offering the man a chance to volunteer with deaf children, when an opportunity arises for him to get surgery to give him his hearing back in his left ear, he jumps at it. . . but while sound may be prized by almost everyone, might it be a curse to him – as he can all of a sudden hear everything, the good and the bad, including the bullying jeers and jokes aimed at him that he didn’t know much about before the surgery.
As the big bout draws closer, which of the two very different women might Paul choose? When it comes to the fight, will he be able to drown out the new to him sound? And perhaps most importantly, upon learning that he may risk his new gift of hearing by deciding to fight in the title match, is it even worth it?
Featuring many intriguing elements in its hour and twenty-three minute runtime, not only does Sonya put all of the money she has grifted from Paul on the current champ in their upcoming bout (a classic femme fatale move), but the whole sound angle is quite fascinating – as the very loud world forever unknown to Paul becomes a major distraction for someone who never needed to deal with that before – the new predicament impacting his focus that came so easily. Integrating some striking cinematography as well, especially during the evening scenes, it adds some iconic chiaroscuro film noir lighting often found in this era.
With some tragic human condition elements revolving around Paul, the ending may leave a bit to be desired for film noir fanatics (though this is more of a sports drama with noir-adjacent elements), but Flesh and Fury generally excels as a motion picture. Centered on some realistically excellent boxing sequences (much authenticity came from prize fighter and referee Frankie Van, who was hired as a technical advisor. . . it didn’t hurt that former champ Joe Gray got a role as Paul’s training partner – he also helped Curtis train; while other real boxers Jack Perry, Tommy Herman, and Rito Punay also played roles in the movie), clever uses of audio, and many a dynamic character (with Tony Curtis’ very quiet role featuring perplexing looks and lost stares being quite memorable, while Sterling’s wicked temptress also stands out), the poster advertising for the feature must also be highlighted – as the artwork most definitely pops off the paper (check out the original American insert poster to your right as a prime example). So, battle to find this hidden gem of a knockout, it’s definitely true what you’ve heard.