Despite the joint attraction of director Tod Browning and heavy, Jean Harlow, in Iron Man (1931), this is just another of those boxer-loses-but- then-boxer-comes-good fight dramas that Hollywood used to turned out just about every month of every year.
This specimen follows the standard plot almost to the letter. Jean Harlow, of course, is always well worth seeing, while Miljan plays the villain with his usual polish, and even Lew Ayres becomes more creditable as the fighter as the movie progresses. But then he turns boorish!
So by the time we get to the climax, if it were not for Jean Harlow's presence, I would be inclined to write the whole film off as a disappointing small-budget item of little consequence.
The DVD was formerly available on a 9/10 disc from VintageFilmBuff.
This specimen follows the standard plot almost to the letter. Jean Harlow, of course, is always well worth seeing, while Miljan plays the villain with his usual polish, and even Lew Ayres becomes more creditable as the fighter as the movie progresses. But then he turns boorish!
So by the time we get to the climax, if it were not for Jean Harlow's presence, I would be inclined to write the whole film off as a disappointing small-budget item of little consequence.
The DVD was formerly available on a 9/10 disc from VintageFilmBuff.