Born To Fight

Boxing phenomenon Bomber Brown seems destined to get a shot at the heavyweight title. When big shot gambler Smoothie Morgan suggests he throw a fight, Brown knocks Smoothie out cold in a crowded New York City restaurant. Facing assault charges, he takes his manager's advice and heads to Chicago. On the way, the fighter meets a scrappy street kid named Babyface Madison. Seeing boxing potential in the boy, Brown offers to train him as a professional boxer. Beginning a new life in Chicago as Tom Hayes, Bomber devotes himself to Babyface's career while keeping a low profile. His two lives are fated to intersect, though, as Babyface is offered a featherweight title bout at Madison Square Garden, and Tom Hayes must return to the city that knows him only as Bomber Brown...fugitive.

The son of circus aerialists, Frankie Darro appeared in numerous silent films as a youngster, including a series of westerns opposite Tom Tyler. As he grew older, his diminutive stature kept him playing characters considerably younger than his actual age, usually the smart aleck with a heart of gold. He made notable appearances in a number of serials, including Gene Autry's The Phantom Empire, was teamed with comedian Mantan Moreland for several pictures, co-starred in a series of Bowery Boys vehicles, and had enough riding skill to be routinely cast as a horse jockey. An excellent athlete, Darro often did his owns stunts, and found television work later in his career on the "Red Skelton Show," playing a little old lady prone to pratfalls.

Corruption runs rife throughout the boxing world in this black-&-white feature from 1936. A stab at the World Heavyweight title should be the highlight of Bomber Brown's (Kane Richmond) career, but when he is urged to throw the fight to appease a gambling ring, his world falls in around him. Quitting the game, Brown decides to change his name, and focuses his attention on training a scrappy street kid to become a professional boxer. But as the kid climbs the ladder to fame, Brown's past life inevitably comes back to haunt him.