RKO left Val Lewton alone to make his movies, and the results saved the studio from bankruptcy and resulted in a run of timeless films that still entertain, provoke, and chill.
Champion (1949), one of many boxing films of the 1930s and 1940s, made a sculpture – and a star – of Kirk Douglas. In one of the few non-fight scenes, Douglas, as middleweight Midge Kelly, agrees to pose for an artist (Lola Albright), but quickly gets bored.A bruiser in and out of the ring, he’s got his eye on the artist. So he drops his robe, crushes his clay likeness, and moves in, even though she’s his manager’s wife. Midge is always on the make. What Midge wants, he takes. Women, trainers, managers. And he bails on them like a snake sheds its skin.