THE MIGHTY McGURK

US, 1947, 85 mintues, Black and white.
Wallace Beery, Dean Stockwell, Edward Arnold, Aline Mac Mahon, Cameron Mitchell, Dorothy Patrick, Aubrey Mather, Morris Ankrum, Clinton Sundberg.
Directed by John Waters.

The Mighty Mc Gurk was one of Wallace Beery’s last films. It also features Dean Stockwell who made a number of films at this period, a very attractive young actor who continued his career in his adult life. There are various MGM supporting cast including Edward Arnold being nasty as usual, Aline Mac Mahon being demanding, Cameron Mitchell as a young hero and Dorothy Patrick as the attractive fiancée.

The film has elements of many other films made by MGM, especially echoing Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper in The Champ. This time Beery is a has-been fighter, his reputation depending on a lie. Edward Arnold is the owner of a saloon, scheming to expand, especially with the taking over of the Salvation Army building across the street. The Salvation Army is led by Cameron Mitchell, a former boxer who was coached by Beery but pulled out. Dorothy Patrick is Edward Arnold’s daughter, in love with the Salvation Army man. There are a variety of crooks as well as ‘characters’ from the Bowery.

This was one of Wallace Beery’s last films and he spends a lot of time mugging as well as echoing such performances as his Oscar-winning The Champ. Dean Stockwell is forced to have a British accent, which he doesn’t do too well, and seems to follow in the footsteps of Freddie Bartholomew.

The director was John Waters, a second-unit director of many films, directing only small-budget films himself.

1. An MGM programmer of the mid-1940s? For Wallace Beery fans? For Dean Stockwell?

2. The Bowery settings, old New York, the recreation of the period? The saloons, the Salvation Army? Uptown? Investment offices? The wharves? The streets? An authentic atmosphere? The score – and the medley of old familiar songs?

3. The title, the focus on Slag Mc Gurk? His boxing career, his being a champion – and the opponent taking a fall? His belt? His doing work for Mike Glenson? His antagonism towards Mamie? The price on his belt in her pawnshop window? Their continual bickering? His borrowing money? Going to the wharf to meet Caroline, missing her, the fight, his taking the commission on fifty men to go to Albany? His hiding, his encounter with Nipper? Nipper and his being an orphan, alone, not wanting to go with his uncle? His going back to the Bowery with Slag?

4. The relationship between the two? Slag, hard surface, soft heart? His interest in Nipper, the story? Looking after him, the false philosophy about friends and enemies, teaching him to fight? In the house, Nipper getting the dog? The dog and the bed? His taking him to his uncle, meeting the crooks, the promise of the reward? Looking after him? In the saloon, with Mike Glenson, with Mamie, the police stopping the fight? The decision for staying or leaving? Never packing, Slag and his soft heart? The brawl for the Salvation Army building? Nipper and his going to the Salvation Army, the preparation for the adoption papers? The future of the two together? Slag as a father?

5. The character of Nipper, his age, British background, the orphanage, the death of his mother, not wanting to go to his uncle? At the wharf, ingratiation himself? His very British manner and vocabulary? Going to the saloon, the fights, in the house, the dog? Going to his uncle’s? His realising the truth? His decision to go, packing? His going to the saloon, the fight, the Salvation Army, his staying?

6. Mike Glenson, the tough man, the saloon, the brewers from Chicago, wanting the Salvation Army building? His relationship with his daughter? The final brawl, the police? Urging his daughter to go to Johnny?

7. Johnny, the fighting, with Slag, leaving him, the Salvation Army, playing in the streets? And the irony of Slag going undercover, playing the drums in the procession? Caroline, the wharf? Their love for each other? The finale and her father urging her to go to Johnny?

8. Mamie, tough, pawnshop, lending the money? The belt and the price? Her arguments with Slag? The final proposal and the happy ending?

9. The characters around the Bowery, the pub? The contrast with the criminals uptown?

10. Popular entertainment – dated now?