THE MIRACLE KID (1941)

Madame Gloria runs the Academy of Mental Science which is in competition with J. Hamilton Gibbs (her ex-husband) and his branded business of selling healthy living through vegetables, fruits and nuts (the movie gets some comic mileage out of emphasizing the word "nuts," and also out of the fact that Gibbs himself doesn’t follow his own diet suggestions). Unknown to them, PR man Al Bolger is working for both of them, and his current job is doing a photo shoot for Gibbs' Physical Culture Girl of the Year contest at a gym where boxer Jimmy Conley works as an instructor. Jimmy is dating Pat, Madame Gloria's assistant, and he talks Pat into entering the contest which she wins, to the joy of Gibbs who sees this as a way to needle his ex-wife. Pat owns some land which, after they marry, she and Jimmy plan to turn into a health camp for boys. Jimmy takes part in one last boxing match, and he unexpectedly knocks out Tiger O'Brien; Tiger claims that Jimmy put a hex on him, but actually Tiger had been flirting with a beautiful blonde in the audience and not paying attention. Even though Jimmy has told Pat that he'll quit, Bolger decides to push Jimmy as the "miracle kid," and works to break up Jimmy and Pat's relationship. Pat leaves, Jimmy goes back to the ring, and his manager arranges in secret for Jimmy's opponents to lose. Meanwhile, Pat goes on a national tour as the Physical Culture Girl, and through various machinations on the parts of various people, Jimmy and Pat reconcile, and Bolger is exposed as pitting Gloria against her ex.

Cute B-romantic comedy with a sports backdrop, though there are only two boxing scenes in the movie, filmed mostly in little detail from several rows back in the auditorium. Tom Neal (pictured), who plays Jimmy, had been a boxer in college but he doesn't really get a chance to show off his moves--still, he's handsome and charming in a B-movie way, as he usually is, and he's the main reason I stuck with this. As is the case in many classic-era B-movies, the plot, especially in the last half-hour, gets a little too muddled for its own good--it's never really confusing, but it would be a breezier film if it lost one of its plotlines. Carol Hughes, busy B-actress of the 40s (she played Dale Arden in a 1940 Flash Gordon serial) is fine as Pat. I wasn't familiar with most of the other supporting players, including Betty Blythe as Gloria and Ben Taggert as Gibbs, but they're all mostly OK. B-comedy fluff for those inclined. [YouTube]