This is a reel of silent boxing highlights, mostly drawn from films released by Castle Films to the home market in the 1940s. It begins with Louis facing Max Schmeling on June 19, 1936 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York. Schmeling won in the 12th round by knocking out his opponent; this was Louis’ only knockout defeat during his first run. At 1:48, Louis is shown at a rematch in 1938 — Louis achieved a first round knockout (3:14). At 3:31, Louis is shown as champion facing Billy Conn. This match occurred on on June 18, 1941, in front of a crowd of 54,487 fans at the Polo Grounds in New York City. It is commonly considered one of the greatest heavyweight boxing fights of all time. Louis knocked Conn out with two seconds left in the thirteenth round (10:35). At 10:52, the film shows Louis before he was champion — facing Max Baer, brother of Buddy Baer, on Sept. 24th, 1935 — again at Yankee Stadium. Baer had lost the heavyweight title only three months earlier. Louis knocked Baer down twice in the third round, the first time he had ever been knocked to the canvas in his career (16:50). At (17:35) the film shows Louis vs. Arturo Godoy on June 30, 1940 at Madison Square Garden, New York. This difficult match ended after 15 rounds, with the scorecards split and with Joe Louis coming out on top. As you can see at (22:14), a post-match fracas ensued. At 22:53, a match vs. Buddy Baer is shown on May 23, 1941. Louis dropped Baer with a right in the sixth round. The challenger rose at the count of seven, only to be knocked down again. Baer staggered to his feet at the count of nine, and the bell rang to end the round. Louis didn’t hear the bell, and he floored Baer with a right. Baer was knocked out and the match ended with a disqualification after he couldn’t return to the ring for the seventh round. The film ends with Sgt. Joe Louis in his U.S. Army uniform saluting the audience. At the time, Louis had enlisted and had volunteered to be the focus of a recruitment campaign aimed at African-American men, despite the military’s racial segregation. When he was asked about this seeming contradiction, Louis famously said: “Lots of things wrong with America, but Hitler ain’t going to fix them.”
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 until his temporary retirement in 1949. He was victorious in 25 consecutive title defenses, a record for all weight classes.Louis had the longest single reign as champion of any boxer in history.
Louis’s is widely regarded as the first person of African-American descent to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during World War II because of his historic rematch with German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938. He was instrumental in integrating the game of golf, breaking the sport’s color barrier in America by appearing under a sponsor’s exemption in a PGA event in 1952.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
