The Joe Louis Story
“POWERFUL... as his battering fists! THRILLING... as his fighting heart! GREAT... as his never-to-be-forgotten story!”
About The Joe Louis Story
Sportswriter Tad McGeehan writes up Joe Louis after the 1951 loss to Rocky Marciano. The story goes back to Detroit, where a teenager named Joseph Louis Barrow spends his violin-lesson money on boxing and is taken up by trainer Jack Blackburn. He turns professional, marries Marva Trotter, loses to Max Schmeling, and knocks Schmeling out in June 1938. The marriage strains under the title years. Against McGeehan's advice he returns in 1951, and Marciano beats him.
Cast & crew
More about The Joe Louis Story
Robert Sylvester wrote the script. Stirling Silliphant produced it, and United Artists released it on September 18, 1953. Dave Kummins edited. Coley Wallace, a heavyweight, plays Louis.
Themes
Background
Louis held the heavyweight title from 1937, when he beat James J. Braddock, until 1949. The film frames that reign through the 1938 Schmeling rematch and the 1951 Marciano fight.
Making
Joseph C. Brun photographed it in black and white. George Bassman wrote the music. The fights are staged rather than built only from newsreel, with Wallace in the ring as Louis.
Look
Joseph C. Brun shot the picture in black and white, including the staged ring scenes.
Music
George Bassman composed the score. Anita Ellis is credited as a nightclub vocalist, with Ellis Larkins at the piano.
Preservation
A complete print circulates. The film is in the public domain in the United States.
Notes
- Hilda Simms plays Marva Trotter Louis. James Edwards plays Jack Blackburn. Paul Stewart plays Tad McGeehan.
- John Marley plays Mannie Selamon, Dots Johnson plays Julian Black, and P. Jay Sidney plays John Roxborough.
- Referee Ruby Goldstein and pianist Ellis Larkins appear as themselves. Anita Ellis sings in a nightclub scene.
- Coley Wallace had beaten Rocky Marciano in an amateur bout. In the film Marciano is the man who ends Louis's comeback.
- A telegram address in one scene is given as 5220 Congress Street; the telegram Marva receives is addressed to 60 East 47th Street.
Scenes
- Johnny Kingston talks the teenager into spending his violin-lesson money on boxing.
- Louis knocks Max Schmeling out in the 1938 rematch.
- Rocky Marciano beats him in 1951, and McGeehan closes the story.
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheJoeLouisStory)
- Wikimedia Commons
