This was one of my favorite movies as a child when it showed on TV in the 1950s. It displays the old-fashioned values that made The Greatest Generation (as well as the comic book Superman). Joe E Brown plays his usual character, a good-hearted nobody who rises to greatness when the occasion demands. The McGuffin (i.e. plot device) is a serum injected into him by a college professor who takes pity on his apparent ineptness. The serum gives him great physical prowess that he dare not reveal in public. But his relationship with the girl friend of the Big Man on Campus, who strings him along as a joke until she finally comprehends the inner strength behind his humility, is what makes the movie special. The film is best watched, not as a cinematic version of a previously published novel, but for what it is, a lighthearted tale with a strong sense of decency.
Review of The Gladiator
