I rented this movie from a store the other day.
I had never seen it before.
I thought it was pretty good.
Joe Louis stars as Joe Thomas.
He leaves Alabama to search for work in Detroit,hitch-hiking etc..
Once there,he gets a job "massaging dishes", and Mantan Moreland convinces him to take up boxing after he knocks out
a bully loader at a shipping company(who looked sort of like Jack Johnson)
The fights were choreagraphed of course,but when Joe Louis trains to fight the Heavyweight champion(who is Jack Sharkey-esqe)
The sparring looks real,he even clocks an oppontent with a left hook that sends him sagging toward the ropes.
I would recommend this movie to all Joe Louis fans,as I dont think I have ever seen any of this on any documentary on the Brown Bomber.
The one drawback is the print looks a washed out,B/W 66 minutes.
Its availabe from Alpha video classics.
I know this movie appeared on TCM a few times in the past,but I never got a chance to see it on there,so maybe they have a better print then on the DVD thats out there now.
Spirit of Youth(1937)starring Joe Louis
boxing opponents
I checked the credits as to who the boxers were in the movie,that Joe Louis fought,but for some reason most are uncredited except,
Willie Callahan
and Seal Harris(sparring partner).
Also in the various books about Joe Louis,the books state this movie was made in the Spring of 1936,however IMDB states the movie premiered in Washington D.C in January 1938,this is backed up by articles from newspaerarchive.com,that say the fight scenes were filmed November 1937 at American Legion Stadium in Los Angeles.
So for sure Joe Louis was already Heavyweight Champion of the World when this movie was filmed.
Willie Callahan
and Seal Harris(sparring partner).
Also in the various books about Joe Louis,the books state this movie was made in the Spring of 1936,however IMDB states the movie premiered in Washington D.C in January 1938,this is backed up by articles from newspaerarchive.com,that say the fight scenes were filmed November 1937 at American Legion Stadium in Los Angeles.
So for sure Joe Louis was already Heavyweight Champion of the World when this movie was filmed.