| Primo Carnera Primo Carnera has always fascinated me. Not because of his size (touted as 6ft7 though he was actually 6ft5 1/2 but why let a couple of inches get in the way of a good story) or the fact he was a world heavyweight boxing champion but because he popped up in a film directed by my favourite film director of all time, the great Carol Reed. The film was A Kid for Two Farthings (1955), perhaps one of his lesser known works but you've got to see it to realise just how underrated it is. The fusing of harsh reality (set around Petticoat Lane in the East End of London) and fantasy has rarely been bettered on the big screen. And what a cast. Celia Johnson is as good as she ever was (though she could have appeared in Hollyoaks and given it class); Diana Dors a revelation; Brenda De Banzie supporting admirably and shamefully forgotten today; and Primo Carnera is rather good and acclaimed by anyone who has seen it. Why it fascinated me was when I first saw this film I didn't realise Primo was in it. It came as something of a shock when the ex-heavyweigh champ suddenly popped in in a great film that is now considered by many as a work of art. Occupation: Boxing Giant Boxing record THE AMBLING ALP: Primo Carnera was heavyweight champion of the world from 1933 to 1934. A gentle, decent and trusting man, virtually illiterate, he was picked up while working as a circus strong man by French entrepreneur Leon See, who dreamed of making him the greatest pugilist of all time. To give his fighter confidence, he arranged for Carnera to win 12 of his first 14 fights (he won the other two honestly), which was sufficient to give him a reputation in Europe. Moving to the U.S. in 1930, the Italian was taken over by a group of gangsters headed by Owney Madden, who arranged to have his protege win his first 14 fights here. Eventually Carnera got a title fight and won, only to be badly beaten by Max Baer a year later. His boxing career left him with only a few thousand dollars, and in 1946 he began to earn big money as a wrestler and an occasional bit player in Hollywood. He died at 61 in 1967. Paul Page, December, 2012 FURTHER READING: Primo Carnera: The Life and Career of the Heavyweight Boxing Champion These prints are available at amazon.com |
