The Set-Up

I was impressed with Robert Wise's film noir classic, The Set-Up (1949). The director's name seemed familiar and saw that he directed several blockbusters later in his career (The Sound of Music and West Side Story). Here is already on top of his game with this story of a proud boxer on his way down and out, "Stoker" Thompson (Bill Ryan) who gets in a fix with some gamblers. His girl. Julie (Audrey Totter) is tired of seeing him take a beating in the ring and has been begging him to quit. Wise gets all the details right as he has constructed a seedy town, Paradise City, with a neon flit backdrop of seediness and sin. The fights scenes are well done with expressive cuts to the colorful characters in the crowd.