KID GALAHAD

      KID GALAHAD has a lot going for it - a great cast, solid direction, plenty of action - but it still fails to be anything but an average Warner Brothers potboiler.  Edward G. Robinson, as a smalltime boxing promoter, doesn't do anything special with the part except be Edward G. Robinson, meaning you get his usual megaton of energy in nearly every scene, but you can almost sense him and Humphrey Bogart setting themselves on autopilot. Despite being third billed (below Bertte Davis), Bogie has almost nothing to do except look menacing and spout gangster cliches while snearing.  Being Bogart, he's very good at this, but it is still one of his least rewarding parts.  It's up to Bette Davis to make something out of nothing, playing Robinson's girl who falls in love with his new and inexperienced boxer, Ward Guiesenberry, aka "Kid Galahad".  It's not a terribly rewarding part for her either, but she gives it her all and manages a winning, winsome performance..

    As with so many Warner Brothers pictures from this period, it's entertaining, but no classic.  It's so average, the 1940 remake THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT, starring Humphrey Bogart as a circus owner promoting a new and inexperienced lion tamer(!) is actually superior on several points. - JB

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