Has some things in common with Wilder's Big Carnival...

This is one of my favorite boxing films and one of my favorite Bogart films. I just finished watching it again and seeing Jan Sterling in it reminded me of Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole.

Both stories involve down-on-their-luck newspapermen looking to score big; Kirk Douglas's Chuck Tatum wants a story that will put him back on top, and Bogart wants that big payday so he can walk away.

Both stories also involve a big lie: Toro really can't fight, all his matches are fixed. In Ace, the trapped miner can be easily rescued within a day or so, but Tatum, in collusion with the sheriff and the contractor, choose a longer method so the story can build and newspapers can be sold.

Both films are gritty, b&w fifties film noir; both had excellent music scored by the great Hugo Friedhofer.

Jan Sterling is great in both films, but she plays completely different characters. In Ace, she's the trapped miner's wife, a really unlikeable person; here, she's a sympathetic character who's really Bogie's conscience.

However, Ace has a downbeat ending while Bogart's Eddie Willis fights back and begins to redeem himself.

Two of my favorites from that era.