Lady and Gent is a 1932 American drama film
directed by Stephen Roberts and starring John Wayne.
Another rarity,featuring, future cowboy star, Charles Starett.
Paramount hired Duke on a freelance basis, for a supporting role as,
a young professional, prizefighter, but his screen time was less than 6 minutes.
However, this film was much better, than the ones he had been making at Columbia,
and represented a step, back into the major league, not bad for an actor,
currently making serials, for Mascot.
User Review
QuoteDisplay MoreAuthor: Arne Andersen
This is very tedious early talkie that seems to go on forever.
The direction takes its cue from George Bancroft's painfully slow line delivery and is sluggish at best.
He plays Stag Bailey, a punk fighter, who loses his last match to up and coming Buzz Kinney
(an early performance by John Wayne).
When his manager is killed in a holdup attempt to win money lost on the fight
, Stag and his girlfriend, Singer/Nightclub owner,
Puff Rogers (Wynne Gibson) find that they have inherited a ten year old boy, the son of the manager.
They do the decent thing and set up housekeeping, growing old and raising the boy,
ultimately turning him away from a desire to make quick cash in the ring.
The only thing of interest here is Wynne Gibson, a marvelous comic actress,
who does a wonderful job with Puff, balancing the wisecracks with the pathos of aging.
The Story earned an Oscar nom but isn't much of anything, in fact owing a bit to
1930's STREET OF CHANCE in its storyline.
This is an extremely rare film and even rarer on video.
John Wayne has little to do and practically no dialogue but looks promising in this early film
(one of eleven he would make that year).
