Golden Boy [VHS]

Barbara Stanwyck purists--and who isn't one?--are in for a treat with Golden Boy, a little-seen but true gem of a hard-knocks romance. The film's pedigree is aces: Based on a play by Clifford Odets, directed by the great Rouben Mamoulian, and starring not only Stanwyck but Adolphe Menjou, Lee J. Cobb, and a fresh-faced William Holden, in his breakout screen role. The film crackles with 1939 pre-noir atmosphere, with the New Yawk guys and dames spinning slang out of the sides of their mouths.

Stanwyck sparkles as Lorna Moon, a gruff gal running around with the married Tom Moody (Menjou), a boxing promoter looking for the Next Big Thing. In walks the dreamy young Joe Bonaparte (Holden), part violin prodigy, part boxing phenom--though he doesn't look the pugilist part at first. "He's got curls, too!" sneers the scornful Moody. But Joe makes a believer out of him--and of the slinky Lorna. When fists start flying, so do the sparks. Some of the dialogue is dated (not to mention the young wife who likes being smacked around), but the snapshot of the era is spot-on, and Stanwyck, as always, steers the film to a higher ground.

Extras include a Ford Theatre TV episode, "Sudden Silence" from the mid-'50s; a cartoon, "The Kangaroo Kid"; a crazy comedy short called "Pleased to Mitt You" starring Stooge Shemp Howard (!); and other great vintage tidbits. Get ready to go 15 rounds with Golden Boy. --A.T. Hurley