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There Ain't No Justice
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Wikipedia article
'There Ain't No Justice' is a 1939 British sports drama film directed by Pen Tennyson and starring Jimmy Hanley, Edward Chapman and Edward Rigby. The film is based on the 1937 novel of the same name by James Curtis.
Plot summary
Tommy Mutch (Jimmy Hanley) is a garage mechanic and small-time boxer. With his family in financial difficulty he needs to find money in a hurry. As luck would have it he meets boxing manager Sammy Sanders (Edward Chapman). Sammy assures Tommy he can get him lucrative main event bouts.
Tommy is promoted as the next boxing star which is reinforced with a series of convincing wins. However, Tommy discovers that the bouts were fixed by a gambling syndicate. He realises now that he has been set up by his manager and is expected to take a fall.
He has little choice but to go-ahead but needs to come up with a plan. One that will guarantee a financial return for his family while also hitting the syndicates in the pocket.
Cast
* Jimmy Hanley as Tommy Mutch
* Edward Rigby as Pa Mutch
* Mary Clare as Ma Mutch
* Phyllis Stanley as Elsie Mutch
* Edward Chapman as Sammy Sanders
* Jill Furse as Connie Fletcher
* Nan Hopkins as Dot Ducrow
* Richard Ainley as Billy Frist
* Gus McNaughton as Alfie Norton
* Sue Gawthorne as Mrs. Frost
* Michael Hogarth as Frank Fox
* Michael Wilding as Len Charteris
* Richard Norris as Stan
* Al Millen as Perce
* John Boxer as Mr Short
* James Knight as Police Constable
Production
James Curtis adapted his own novel, 'There Ain't No Justice' to provide the screenplay for the film. He had done so the year before for one of his own novels, 'They Drive By Night', for the film of the same name. As with that adaptation he found himself having to remove areas of dialogue and story that would not get by the censors of the time. Many of these would be depictions of graphic violence against men rather than the sexual nature of his previous novel.[http://lostlondonlit.blogspot.com/2010/04/there-aint-no-justice-james-curtis.html There Ain't No Justice, Lost London Literature]
This was the first film directed by Pen Tennyson, who had served as Assistant Director to Alfred Hitchcock from 1934. He would go on to direct two further films before being killed during World War II.[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/868927/index.html Pen Tennyson Profile at BFI Screenonline]
The film features an uncredited role by real life boxer Bombardier Billy Wells,[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0920115/ Billy Wells at IMDB] best remembered as one of the gongmen featured in the Rank Organisation films logo.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090417065508/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/film-world-mourns-man-who-banged-the-paper-gong-for-rank-410952.html Film world mourns man who banged the (paper) gong for Rank, The Independent]
Release and reception
It was released theatrically in the UK with the slogan "Real people, Real problems, a human document". Due in part to its distinctive realistic portrayal of the boxing world it became a critical success.[https://books.google.com/books?id=3TnKziu7zNIC&dq=%22there+ain%27t+no+justice%22+1939&source=gbs_navlinks_s The history of British film: 1929:1939, Rachael Low, p. 254]
However, the author Graham Greene, having praised the previous year's James Curtis adaptation ('They Drive by Night'), was not convinced. He considered the film to be timid and too refined in its depiction of the subject matter.[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/868927/index.html Pen Tennyson Profile at BFI Screenonline]
It is available on DVD in the UK on Volume Eight of Network's Ealing Studios Rarities Collection. It is often shown at film revivals in both the US and UK and was shown in May 2010 as part of BFI Southbank's "Capital Tales" season.[http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/events/projecting_the_archive_/_capital_tales/capital_tales_there_aint_no_justice There Ain't No Justice, BFI "Capital Tales"] It was also shown on the London Live television channel on Sunday 13th Sept 2015.
References
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