There Ain't No Justice
Encyclopedia
There Ain't No Justice is a 1939
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...

 British black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...

 film based on the 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
    Jimmy Hanley
    Jimmy Hanley was a British actor.Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Hanley began his career as a child actor before becoming popular in juvenile roles...

     as Tommy Mutch
  • Edward Chapman
    Edward Chapman
    Edward Chapman may refer to:*Edward Chapman *Edward Chapman , British comic actor, best remembered for his work with Norman Wisdom*Edward Chapman , British academic and Conservative politician...

     as Sammy Sanders
  • Edward Rigby
    Edward Rigby
    Edward Rigby was a British character actor.-Early life:Rigby was the son of Jamaican-born Dr. William Harriot Coke and his wife Liverpool-born Mary Elizabeth of 17 High Street, Ashford. He was educated at Haileybury, and Wye Agricultural College...

     as Pa Mutch
  • Mary Clare
    Mary Clare
    Mary Clare was a British actress who performed in films, on the stage, and later on television.-Biography:...

     as Ma Mutch
  • Phylis Stanley as Elsie Mutch
  • Michael Wilding
    Michael Wilding (actor)
    -Early life:Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, Wilding was a successful commercial artist when he joined the art department of a London film studio in 1933. He soon embarked on an acting career.-Career:...

     as Len Charteris
  • Nan Hopkins as Dot Ducrow

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
They Drive by Night (novel)
They Drive By Night is the second novel by British author James Curtis published in 1938. It is a crime thriller set in 1930s London and the North of England dealing with working-class themes in a Social realism style.-Plot:...

, for the film of the same name
They Drive by Night (1938 film)
They Drive by Night is a 1938 British black-and-white, crime thriller, directed by Arthur B. Woods starring Emlyn Williams as 'Shorty', an ex-con and Ronald Shiner as Charlie, the café proprietor. It was produced by Warner Brothers - First National Productions. The film is based on the novel of the...

. 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.

This was the first film directed by Pen Tennyson, who had served as Assistant Director to Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

 from 1934. He would go on to direct two further films before being killed during World War II.
The film features an uncredited role by real life boxer ”Bombardier Billy Wells.
He is best known for being the second gongman
Gongman
The Gongman is a company trademark for the Rank Organisation. It was used as the introduction to all Rank films, many of which were created at their Pinewood Studios)....

 at the beginning of many Rank Organisation
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....

 films, replacing Carl Dane.

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.
However, the author Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...

, having praised the previous years James Curtis adaptation (They Drive by Night
They Drive by Night
They Drive by Night is a black-and-white film noir starring George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, and Humphrey Bogart, and directed by Raoul Walsh. The picture involves a pair of embattled truck drivers and was released in the UK under the title The Road to Frisco. The film was based on A. I...

), was not convinced. He considered the film to be timid and too refined in its depiction of the subject matter.
While not currently available on DVD it is often shown at film revivals in both the US and UK. It was shown in May 2010 as part of BFI Southbank
BFI Southbank
BFI Southbank is the leading repertory cinema in the UK specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films and is operated by the British Film Institute.-History:...

's “Capital Tales” season.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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